Seattle Cancels Y2K Countdown
By Rebecca Cook
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, December 28, 1999; 3:20 PM
SEATTLE –– The mayor has canceled the city's New Year's Eve celebration in the park below its landmark Space Needle, citing the possibility of terrorist acts in a city rattled by demonstrations and a border arrest.
"It is safer to be prudent," Mayor Paul Schell said Monday. "This is already an unprecedented, unpredictable New Year's, and we did not want to take chances with public safety, no matter how remote the threat might seem."
International media coverage of the event makes it "impossible for federal officials to rule out the area as a terrorist target," he said.
However, the mayor said federal officials have not advised him of any specific threat.
The city's nerves were strained in recent weeks by the sometimes violent protests during the World Trade Organization conference. Both Schell and Police Chief Norm Stamper came under fire for their handling of the demonstrations. Stamper later announced that he will resign.
And on Dec. 14, an Algerian man was arrested at Port Angeles and charged with smuggling nitroglycerin and other explosive materials across the border from Canada. Investigators said Ahmed Resssam had reserved a motel room near the Space Needle.
An estimated 50,000 people had been expected to gather in the 75-acre Seattle Center park below the Needle, located near the city's downtown. The 605-foot landmark, built for the 1962 World's Fair, has become a traditional gathering point for New Year's Eve revelers.
Afternoon concerts and a circus performance will take place as planned Friday, and fireworks – the centerpiece of the millennium party – will still pour from the Needle at midnight. But the center will be cleared of people and the gates locked at 6 p.m., the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported today.
Only a private party in the restaurant at the top of the Needle will be allowed, he said. The restaurant had been reserved more than four years ago.
Schell's decision is the latest in a string of moves to scale back the city's once grand ambitions for the event.
A plan to set aflame 14 giant wood-and-papier-mache sculptures – part of a $120,000 project – was canceled last Wednesday, while the mayor's plan to cover nine bridges and four parks in colored lights was scaled back to just one bridge because of cash shortages.
The city pulled the plug on the fire sculptures after officials decided the large blazes would be inappropriate in light of the fears of terrorism.
Artist Carl Smool questioned what he called the "school marm-ish" decision.
"Are we that paranoid that we really think there's some right-wing Armageddon conspiracy?" Smool asked.
© 1999 The Associated Press
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