[image-1]After a federal judge intervened and overturned the city's RNC security measures, Cleveland officials and ACLU officials sat down to hash out a settlement. Today, the city announced a
smaller "event zone" and a different parade route that will
bring participants back to East 9th, rather than languishing on Orange Avenue.
The "event zone" refers to the entirety of RNC activities downtown, the places into which you can't bring guns, for instance, or drones, fireworks or tennis balls. The new "event zone" pretty much covers everything from the river to the north-south portion of the Innerbelt. (The former "event zone" included broad swaths of the west bank of the Flats and the West 25th Street corridor, as well.)
At the same time, the parade route has been expanded to allow greater visibility to participants. Now, paraders will travel down the Lorain-Carnegie bridge, turn right onto Broadway and then turn left onto East 9th before ultimately heading east down Carnegie. Parade permit details can be found
here.
In a public statement today, ACLU Ohio Director Christine Link said: “This agreement prevents the 2016 RNC from being defined by an unnecessary conflict between freedom and security. The RNC offers a unique stage to groups from all sides of the political spectrum to lift their voices to a national audience. The new rules ensures that people have meaningful opportunities to express themselves on some of our most important national issues.”