[Peace] Post article on Cities for Peace

[Kranich, Kimberlie]

washingtonpost.com 
At Local Government Level, Opposition to Iraq War Rises 
By Edward Walsh
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 14, 2003; Page A26 
Joe Moore peered through a black, wrought iron fence yesterday, politely
asking for permission to deliver what he considers compelling evidence of a
rising tide of public sentiment against war with Iraq. He was at the head of
an unusual band of antiwar activists, more than two dozen local elected
officials from cities, towns and counties that have passed resolutions
opposing war.
Moore wanted someone to accept copies of the resolutions, but just inside
the northwest gate to the stately mansion, a lone uniformed guard seemed
unimpressed with him and the others. "There are no deliveries at the White
House," he said to Moore. "Any deliveries you may have, put it in the mail."
A few minutes later, the standoff ended, and the local officials dispersed.
But in a larger sense, as the episode illustrated, divisions over President
Bush's policy toward Iraq are far from over and appear to be growing in
cities and towns in many -- but not all -- parts of the country.
On Jan. 16, Chicago, where Moore is one of the 50 aldermen on the City
Council, became the largest city in the country to approve a resolution
opposing "a unilateral, preemptive U.S. military attack on Iraq." The vote
was 46 to 1.
At the time, 23 other state and local governing bodies had passed similar
resolutions. But now, according to organizers of yesterday's "Cities for
Peace" antiwar event, the number has swelled to at least 90 and is still
climbing.
At a news conference before they walked to the White House with copies of
their resolutions, the local officials put their opposition to war with Iraq
largely in economic terms, contrasting estimates of the cost of armed
conflict with what they described as the increasingly desperate financial
condition of the nation's cities.
"The [homeless] shelters are jammed in my city, and we have a deficit of $1
million" because of increased homeland security expenses, said Detroit City
Council President Maryann Mahaffey. "We believe in our City Council that the
needs of our cities and the people who live in those cities are paramount."
Serena Cruz, a commissioner in Multnomah County, Ore., which includes
Portland, said, "War would not make us in Portland any safer. We have not
seen compelling needs for this war. On the other hand, we see compelling
needs of our people every day that go unmet."
To those who question why a Chicago alderman or any other local official
should have anything to say about national security policy, Moore replied,
"The answer is that few decisions have a more profound effect on the quality
of life in our cities, towns and villages than going to war."
The local officials said they represented grass-roots sentiment across the
country. But growing opposition to war with Iraq also appears to be
concentrated among Democratic politicians and in regions of the country that
Bush failed to carry in his 2000 campaign against Democrat Al Gore, giving
the antiwar movement an increasingly partisan tone.
Asked at the news conference whether any of them were Republicans, none of
the local officials replied. In federal court in Boston yesterday, a lawsuit
was filed challenging Bush's right to invade Iraq without a formal
declaration of war by Congress. The lead plaintiffs in the case are six
House members, all of them Democrats.
A map displayed by the local officials yesterday resembled a graphic of the
electoral college on election night 2000. Red pins denoting the location of
communities that have passed antiwar resolutions were concentrated in the
Northeast, the industrial Midwest and up and down the West Coast, all
regions that Gore carried or where he ran strongly. Elsewhere, the map was
largely devoid of red pins, although organizers of the event said they have
active campaigns to pass antiwar resolutions throughout the country.
Antiwar resolutions have been passed in such traditional, big-city
Democratic strongholds as Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Newark, Baltimore
and Washington. They have also been adopted in large numbers of college and
university towns, often hotbeds of antiwar sentiment, such as Ann Arbor,
Mich.; Madison, Wis.; Berkeley and Palo Alto, Calif.; Boulder, Colo., and
Chapel Hill, N.C. The only red pin on the map in Bush's home state of Texas
marked Austin, home of the University of Texas.
In some places, local politicians are clearly divided over the issue of war
with Iraq and its impact on their communities. By a vote of 4 to 1, the
Multnomah County Commission adopted its antiwar resolution Jan. 30. But a
week earlier, the Portland City Council deadlocked 2 to 2 on the issue, and
a similar resolution failed to pass.
Cruz said the Portland business community opposed the City Council
resolution, calling it a "distraction" from dealing with the city's
deepening fiscal problems.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company 
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