MANHATTAN — Downtown residents concerned that their neighborhood would become a locked-down security nightmare during the forthcoming 9/11 terror trials won a major victory Thursday when the Obama administration told the Justice Department to consider venues outside of Manhattan.
Opposition to the trials of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other alleged terrorists had been mounting for weeks, starting in Chinatown, which would have been locked down road closures, metal barricades and armed guards for the trial
"President Obama is still committed to trying Mohammed and four other terrorist detainees in federal court," White House spokesman Bill Burton said, according to the Daily News. In a signal that New York was no longer the only possible location, Burton said Obama was confident that the trials could be "litigated successfully and securely in the United States of America."
While at first, opposition to the terror trials being held in Manhattan was dismissed by some politicians, the chorus in favor of the move began to swell this week and include Mayor Michael Bloomberg and local members of Congress.
"It would be an inconvenience at the least, and probably that's too mild a word for people that live in the neighborhood and businesses in the neighborhood," Bloomberg told reporters at a press conference about the city budget.
Bloomberg also said he had called U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder about moving the trial. Other politicians joined in the call, including Gov. David Paterson, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Republican Congressman Peter King, from Long Island, vowed to introduce legislation to block the trials from being held here.
Earlier this week, Community Board 1 passed a resolution requesting that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder move the trial and suggested several alternative venues, all upstate, including a federal courthouse in White Plains, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, and a federal institution in Otisville. Prior to this resolution, the board had requested the trial be moved to Governors Island.
Chinatown residents and business owners were outraged at the proposed security plan for the trials, which were outlined by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly at a New York Press Club event. It called for roads to be blocked off with metal barricades and other restrictions.
"It is clear that our government does not give a damn about its citizens," said Chinatown resident Jeanie Chin said at a board meeting last week. "This is the beginning of the end for Chinatown as we know it."
A Justice Department spokesman told the New York Times that no decision had been made yet to shift the trial from Manhattan, adding that the Southern District of New York could still handle the case “while minimizing disruptions to the community to the greatest extent possible consistent with security needs.”
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said it would cost more than $200 million a year to pay for trial security, a tab that would reach $1 billion for a trial lasting four and a half years, which he believes is possible.
Otisville, where there's a federal prison, is at the head of the Justice Department's list of new sites, the New York Post reported.
"People were upset, the politicians were upset, the government's upset — they realized it wasn't a smart decision," an unnamed source told the Post. "So the White House told the Justice Department to do an analysis of any other possible venues."
