Bernie Sanders Rally at Washington Square Park... Sort Of

This is a somewhat unusual post for this blog because it's more about an event instead of a block. And a current event, no less.

I tried to cover as much as I could of the Bernie Sanders rally on Wednesday April 13, 2016 in Washington Square Park. I made it through the afternoon and early evening, but decided to bail before Bernie took the stage. But I got everything other than that! Oh wait, that's the most important part. Well... if you've ever wondered what the lead-up to a big rally is like, then this is for you... and you have very specific interests.

Before we even get to the park itself, it's worth mentioning that this was the same day that Verizon workers went on strike along the eastern U.S. I saw the number of striking workers ranging in news articles from 36,000 to 40,000. 

There is a Verizon store a few blocks away from Washington Square Park, on Broadway just south of Houston Street, and there was a group of strikers outside holding signs and making noise.

 Flyers were being handed out:

This issue seems to fit in nicely with a key part of Bernie Sanders' campaign message and sure enough, before the Washington Square rally he appeared earlier in the day with some striking workers and expressed his solidarity.

The CEO of Verizon, Lowell McAdam, took offense to this, writing a long critique of Senator Sanders that started with him calling Sanders' views "uninformed" and "contemptible." 

Then Bernie Sanders tweeted this, which included a reference to GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt: "I don’t want the support of McAdam, Immelt and their friends in the billionaire class. I welcome their contempt." Spicy!

Well, there's only one mature way to settle this: arm wrestling match. Okay, it's not the mature way, but it is the best way. Joking aside: way to go, Bernie.  

Now let's get to Washington Square Park, which was already shut down for security when I arrived around 2pm. The first thing I saw even before all the barricades around the park was a guy selling merchandise:

I wonder if it's the same merchandise people who follow the candidates to each event and through each state? Or maybe it changes from region to region. If it's the same people throughout the country, that would be kind of a cool way to work and travel a lot. Or maybe not, since you're always hanging out at political events... I guess it actually wouldn't be so great. Anyway, that wasn't the only merchandise I saw being sold, believe it or not.

The 4 streets around the park were closed to traffic, along with pretty much all the streets even within another block or two. Pedestrians could walk around the park's borders except for Washington Square North, which was completely closed to the public and was closest to where the speaking podium was set up, near the arch. 

Here's the southeast and northeast corners of the park in the afternoon:

The above photo was taken at Waverly Place looking west. I took a photo looking east from there down Waverly to show the street closed to traffic and with lots of police cars, which was typical of many nearby blocks during the day.

I also saw some reporting going on in the general northeast area of the park:

We'll be right back...

And we're back. 

There was a lot of area closed off to the public just north of the park, which again was probably because the podium and stage were near the arch.

On the streets around the park where pedestrians were allowed, it was pretty nice having them closed off to traffic and being able to walk down the middle of the street. More of Manhattan should be like that. This is Macdougal Street between West 8th and Washington Square North:

Washington Square West was News Van Row:

In the southwest corner, West 4th and Macdougal were also closed to traffic and free to be walked down with impunity. So luxurious!  

Even as early as 2:30 to 2:45, there were plenty of people arriving and forming long lines along the mid-south and southeast areas of the park.

The first line I saw was along Washington Square South at its intersection with Thompson Street. It started there and went one block down Thompson, then east one block on West 3rd, then north on LaGuardia Place, wrapping around much of the square block that includes NYU's Kimmel Center. It started behind the guy holding up the Bernie Sanders illustration:

The energy built as rally time drew closer and more people showed up, but even in the early to mid-afternoon, there was a positive air of excitement and certainly plenty of people. 

There was a second line for the rally that seemed to start on LaGuardia and would eventually be let into the park closer to the southeast area of Washington Square. Here's an early look at that line, around 2:40pm:

And this person in that crowd:

There's always one at every rally. At least one, that is. 

There was an alternative newspaper being handed out nearby, and a flyer.

I wonder what a Donald Trump rally at Washington Square Park would be like. I hope that remains something I can only wonder about. 

I was checking out the lines and starting to feel that although it was not even 3:00 and the rally was set for the early evening, I should probably head to the building bordering the park that I was planning to go to. I didn't want to risk getting shut out because of swelling crowds. So I went to the building and got a different perspective from higher up.

The two white tents in the lower left were security checkpoints that people had to pass through. Here's a closer look at the stage and front area:

The black stage closest to the arch is where the podium was. 

Around 3:00, lines at LaGuardia Place started moving closer to the southeastern security tent entrances.

Hey, there's that guy again:

Throughout the mid-afternoon, as the crowds waited in line, a woman's voice could be heard yelling "Are you feeling the Bern?" And people would yell in approval.

It was strange seeing the park so empty before they started letting people in. There was a dog being led through the park and I feel fairly safe in assuming it was a bomb-sniffing dog.

The waiting crowds kept getting bigger. Here's what it looked like at 4:30:

It was right around 4:30 that the first people started to be let into the park, but because of the security checks it was the slowest of trickles. I mean it really was just a few people at a time, through the mid-south and southeast tents. 

Those who entered the park couldn't walk straight ahead to the stage area, but instead had to walk to the western part of the park before looping back around and trying to get a good spot up front. Many were jogging as soon as they got through security and entered the park. If you're going to wait that long, you may as well try to get as close as possible.

It took a very long time for the best area right in front of the stage to get full, because the security checks for each person were apparently quite thorough. This is what it looked like a full hour later:

Even at around 6:15, it was still just the front that was being filled:

Meanwhile the crowds waiting outside the park seemed to be as big as ever, and I was thinking that at this rate it would be at least several more hours before everyone was in. But I should've remembered that they knew what they were doing, and I was taking it all in for the first time...

Also, you can see a line for the portable bathrooms. I only spotted 6 of them for the whole big center area. It's okay though, because at a certain point they get so gross that they actually come back around and are clean and pleasant. Just kidding. 

Shortly after 6:30 I noticed a greater flow of people being let into the park. I couldn't tell if they were only having people walk through the metal detectors, or even skipping that and just letting everyone walk in. Either way the park started to fill up much, much faster. I guess they just had extra security checks for the people who would be right up front at the rally. Again, they know what they're doing and I'm just a guy taking it all in. 

Here's a photo from 6:46pm and then from 6:50:

 Crowds kept flowing into the park and here's a look at 6:58:

As people continued to come into the park, the rally started at 7 with a female speaker and then music by the band Vampire Weekend. There were still pretty big crowds outside the park at this point.

I don't know if they all made it inside the park but even if some had to stay just outside, I think they could've still gotten a pretty good experience of the rally. 

I left around this time because the room I was in was getting crowded and about to start an event of its own. I don't know how good any photos after dark would've come out anyway from a distance. 

Here's my last photo of the rally, during the band's performance. I think I can make out a guitar player, but I guess my camera phone didn't really do the trick for getting stage photos from such a distance.

The best time to leave was probably during the rally when the streets would be the least packed. I was even able to enjoy West 3rd Street still being closed off to traffic:

The Sanders campaign said there were around 27,000 people at the rally, while a CNN report says "A law enforcement official estimated the crowd size at 15,000." Either way that's a lot of people. 

Bernie Sanders currently trails Hillary Clinton in the New York polls, but even if he wins the state he remains an underdog to win the Democratic nomination. 

So was this big rally all for naught? I don't think so. For one, if it's not over then the race should go on. Plus, at the very least Sanders has affected the party's and the country's discussions on many issues and shown that there is a substantial portion of the country that supports the views of a truly progressive candidate. 

American politics isn't just about any one candidate or election, but building coalitions and fighting for causes over time. There have been questions about whether Sanders' supporters will remain engaged after this campaign, whether he wins or not. I hope they do, because the recent laws passed in parts of the country creating a $15 minimum wage have shown a great example of the effects that grassroots organizing and engagement can achieve. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed this look at the lead-up to the rally. Sure, any news outlet can show you the actual event and speech by Bernie Sanders, but where else will you see everything but that? Think of it as Reservoir Dogs not showing the actual robbery scene in the movie. Yes, it's just like that.