Is there really a purpose for political conventions anymore? The networks don't carry them. People don't watch them, for the most part. The outcomes are predetermined - it's all scripted, and there's no real drama. Political conventions are a tremendous drain on time, energy, and resources, a major inconvenience to the locals, and paint a bullseye on the host city. The whole exercise is pointless anymore:
In New York, the cost of security is expected to exceed $75 million, of the total convention cost of about $166 million, as concerns have broadened to include not only the week of the convention, but also the weeks before and after it.Note to DNC and RNC - next time, just mail in the picks to the Federal Election Commission. That would save a lot of people a lot of grief, accomplish the same thing, and cost just $0.37.
The Police Department will increase uniformed and plainclothes patrols in many parts of the city, focusing on landmarks, tourist sites, sites related to the convention, bridges and tunnels, airports and simply places where people gather. Much of the focus will be on the subway system.
For Boston, the security bill is now estimated to reach $50 million, twice the original estimate and more than half the roughly $95 million overall convention cost.
The Secret Service has ordered some 40 miles of roads closed around the Fleet Center, where the Democrats will meet, including Interstate 93, a section of which runs above ground just 40 feet from the arena. The shutdown of major roads near the convention site is the central and most controversial part of a complex security plan. The plan involves multiple police agencies and includes random checks of handbags and packages on buses and subways by police and bomb-sniffing dogs, as well as closed security zones.
