Those of us who live and work on the NYC area have been bracing for the coming GOP convention for the past several weeks. To hear some people talk you would think that the apocalypse is upon us. Of course the city is predicting a business bonanza that will run over 250 million dollars. A couple of questions pop into my mind, first how did Boston make out? I seem to remember hearing a fair amount of stories from local businesses in the area of the Fleet center that business sucked that week. Now maybe the hotels saw an increase in business but it seems that in the summertime they would be doing quite well even without the convention. The Bloomberg administration is also touting all the jobs that were created for the convention but it seems to me that they would be temporary jobs at best. Far too often we hear all of these pronouncements from the City but I wonder if these gains ever fully materialize. Another question is what is the true cost of providing security for the convention? I know that there were not a lot of protests in Boston but NY has already spent quite a bit of money fighting several different groups in court to block them from gathering in Central Park. Supposedly the Feds are kicking in some bucks to help cover the security costs.
Personally I am somewhat glad that the convention is coming to town as I get to work from one of our recovery sites that is 3 miles from my apartment in NJ for several days. I also think that it good that all the moonbats will be out in full force. It will be good for everyone to see them making fools of themselves.