[Imc] Fwd: {FP} Arrests at WBAI

Wed Jan 24 07:28:25 UTC 2001

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>Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 22:47:50 -0500
>To: NYC-DAN at topica.com, savewbai at lists.tao.ca
>From: Eileen Sutton <efsutton at earthlink.net>
>Subject: {FP} Arrests at WBAI
>Sender: owner-freepac at recordist.com
>Reply-To: freepacifica at recordist.com
>
>WBAI News and Free Speech Radio News reporter Miranda Kennedy reported the 
>following tonight, via cell phone, from the hallways of WBAI (the station 
>is on the 10th floor at 120 Wall St.; please excuse any misspellings and 
>omitted last names; arraingment info at bottom):
>
>At roughly 5:30 p.m., about 40-50 peopled gathered in the downstairs lobby 
>of 120 Wall St.--listeners and local advisory board members--who were 
>trying to go upstairs to the station to hold a scheduled meeting.  (Please 
>see release below for background).  There was a restricted list on the 
>ground-floor lobby of the building today; only producers with programs 
>were allowed in.
>
>WBAI's interim general manager Utrice Leid then allowed Joanne Bob, chair 
>of the LAB, to go upstairs and act as go-between.  She negotiated with 
>Leid, and apparently the demands of the board were also read to Leid.  The 
>demands included the right to hold the meeting at the station--a 25-year 
>tradition--and to preserve the public-comment period which naturally 
>included listeners.  It had apparently been decided in advance that if 
>both LAB members and listeners could not enter, no one would go in, which 
>is what Bob told Leid.
>
>Leid then allowed only board members up.  Leid said it couldn't be a 
>public meeting because too many people created a fire hazard (this seems 
>to contradict Leid's former statements about equipment-safety threats--see 
>below).  More negotiations ensued.  Two women, both in wheel chairs--one 
>now on the LAB, one formerly on the board--managed to get upstairs before 
>anyone else.  These two women had had some kind of altercation with 
>Leid.  They announced they were there for the meeting.  They say Leid 
>claimed she hadn't been told about the meeting, that she didn't have 
>enough notice, that Leid only knew about it when she received a fax 
>yesterday.  The two women said Leid had been sent a certified letter 2 
>weeks ago regarding the LAB meeting at the station.
>
>There were, at the start, 5 security men outside the door of the station 
>on the 10th floor, as well as building security people downstairs, 
>including the building's owner.  NYPD were at first stationed downstairs, 
>but they came up later--roughly 10 officers were inside the 
>station.  Later on, when things heated up, more arrived, for about a total 
>of at least 20 officers in various locations.
>
>At this point, Leid allowed a select group upstairs--board members (there 
>are 20 in all), media, legal observers, listeners.  The group came up in 3 
>elevator rides.  She spoke to them outside the station. But once assembled 
>on the 10th floor, Leid again said only board members could enter.  She 
>insisted she was not locking anyone out, that she never wanted to lock 
>anyone out, and again invoked  the fire-hazard dilemma.
>
>People shouted and chanted for some time in the hallway: WHO'S STATION, 
>OUR STATION, and the situation appeared quite tense.
>
>At 8:00 p.m. the group was still negotiating, when Leid also said she 
>wouldn't let the listeners in because there was a *banned person* among 
>them.  The culprit?  Janice K. Bryant.  When asked again why Bryant was 
>banned several weeks ago, Leid was characteristically silent.
>
>Another long-time community activist also had an altercation with 
>Leid.  There was yelling and supposedly name calling.  This activist was 
>then banned from the station--whether for the night or indefinitely, it 
>wasn't clear. Leid once again vanished inside the station.
>
>Then, with one security guard at the door, listeners tried to open the 
>door of the station.  At that point the NYPD came upstairs. Downstairs, 
>there was still a sizable crowd in the lobby.  The building owner then 
>announced that those in the lobby had to leave because they were 
>trespassing.  Then more NYPD arrived.  There were now a line of roughly 20 
>officers in the lobby of the building.  All were cleared from the lobby, 
>and the chanting continued outside in the street.
>
>Then Leid came out a second time. The NYPD went into the station, spoke to 
>Leid and one officer came out and spoke with members of the board. He said 
>just the board could go in, and hold the meeting for one hour. And the 
>door was opened.
>
>Bruce Bentley then arrived from the National Lawyers Guild, with an update 
>from the owner of the building, who said the owner would call the police, 
>and charge anyone on the 10th floor with trespass and arrest if they stayed.
>
>At one point, according to Kennedy, a community activist and listener 
>tried to enter the station and was pushed against the wall by a WBAI staffer.
>
>Everyone on the 10th floor was forced to disperse.  As of this writing, 
>10:30 p.m., 9 people refused to leave and were in the process of being 
>arrested.  The two women in wheel chairs refused to leave as well, but the 
>NYPD refused to arrest them. Miguel Maldonado and Vincente Panama Alba 
>were two LAB members among those arrested. Roughly 50 supporters outside 
>the station remained on hand.
>
>Arraignments will take place tomorrow between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. at 100 
>Centre St., lower Manhattan.  Please come to support those arrested and 
>spread the word.  A Report to the Listener is scheduled for tomorrow at 
>7:00 a.m., 99.5 FM, streamed at www.wbai.org.
>
>onward,
>Eileen Sutton
>Banned WBAI Unpaid News Reporter
>Pacifica Reporters Against Censorship
>Crucial background: www.savepacifica.net,
>www.savepacifica.net/strike and
>http://www.radio4all.org/freepacifica
>Hotline: 718-707-7189
>To Volunteer: 800-825-0055
>Email Sign Up:  www.savewbai.tao.ca
>
>=========================================
>
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  JANUARY 23, 2001
>
>
>Contact: Karen Frillmann, (212) 982-1085, (212) 698-7189
>or cell (914) 643- 9815
>Background: www.savepacifica.net
>Email Sign-Up: www.savewbai.tao.ca
>
>WBAI LOCAL ADVISORY BOARD SET TO CHALLENGE
>BAN ON MEETING; ARRESTS EXPECTED
>
>New York, New York:  Defying a recent ban, the Local Advisory Board (LAB) 
>for Pacifica radio station WBAI (99.5 FM) intends to hold a 
>regularly-scheduled meeting at the station Tuesday, January 23 at 6:00 
>p.m. On the heels of what is now dubbed the "Christmas Coup" in which the 
>Pacifica Foundation locked out several managers and staffers at WBAI, 
>interim General Manager Utrice Leid has banned the LAB from holding its 
>meetings at the station if it includes members of the public, siting 
>alleged threats to the station's equipment by listeners.  If necessary, 
>LAB members vow they will commit civil disobedience outside WBAI's offices 
>at 120 Wall Street to secure the right to hold a public meeting at the 
>station. Arrests are expected,
>
>The LAB, composed of diverse community leaders, has historically met at 
>WBAI. Federal Communications Commission regulations require all such 
>meetings to have a public-comment period open to listeners, many of whom 
>are also subscribers. Leid has claimed that the public cannot be allowed 
>entry due to "security threats" to herself and the station.
>
>"Absolutely no evidence or documentation of these alleged threats has been 
>forthcoming from Leid or Pacifica national," said LAB member Anita 
>Dutt.  "The listeners have a right to be present at the meeting, and they 
>have a right to be at the station." The community-activist group Concerned 
>Friends of WBAI, which has held several large rallies at the station in 
>opposition to the midnight takeover has called for listeners to attend the 
>LAB meeting, authorized or no.
>
>Many say the move against the historically autonomous WBAI is reminiscent 
>of the spring, 1999 lockout at Pacifica station KPFA in Berkeley, when 
>thousands took to the streets. The actions against WBAI is also the fifth 
>take-over by the Foundation since October 1993, when management shut down 
>Pacifica station WPFW in Washington D.C. for ten days and seized control. 
>Critics say the New York lock-down is part of a five-year program to 
>mainstream the network and remove voices of political dissent.
>
>The Washington-based, community-sponsored Pacifica radio network has been 
>a bastion of free speech for over 50 years--from broadcasting Allen 
>Ginsberg's "Howl," to defying the McCarthyite congressional witchhunts, to 
>airing the commentaries of African-American death-row journalist Mumia Abu 
>Jamal.   ###
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