Peace, Love and Neighborhood Disruption at UN

By MODOU NYANG

Charles Chow, a 40-year resident of East 43rd Street overlooking the UN Secretariat on the East River, has a daily routine.  He walks down the Sharansky Steps onto First Avenue with his dog Opie. But at this time of the year for a period of about two weeks in September, the 74-year-old Manhattanite finds it difficult to freely walk around his neighborhood without being stopped.

And he hates it.

On a recent sunny day Chow was on his usual daily walk with Opie. He had just come down the steps where a group of around ten people were gathered around a man who appeared to be taking them on a tour of the area. Across the avenue in the expansive courtyard of the UN building, loud music espousing peace and love including the classics, Heal the World by Michael Jackson and War, by the late Jamaican singer Bob Marley, was blaring as hundreds of people in white, many, if not all, UN staff, were gathered to sing peace and love; while a lone man holding a large placard, trying to attract the attention of people going in and out of the UN compound, protested against the Chinese government.

With Opie in hand, Chow stepped forward, closer to the group at the bottom of Sharansky Steps to hear what was going on. Suddenly, a man in dark sunglasses came over from the group came over to him and quietly asked him to move along.

“I live here,” Chow told him, but the man insisted and Chow moved away, visibly unhappy. It’s the time of the year when the world converges in the Upper Eastside of Manhattan for the UN General Assembly meeting.

“It’s very disruptive,” said Chow who is aware that this year’s assembly will feature addresses by Pope Francis, US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“So we have a trifecta, three bad things,” said Chow. “That’s a big problem, especially when you are in a city that is open. Is not like Russia, they closedown everything. In China …they would close the whole city.” Chow who lives with his wife said he didn’t realize how disruptive his daily activities would be when he moved in the neighborhood in 1975.

“Back in the days” Chow said. “I walk down here; I go by the business center. I go by Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, it was quiet. There are few tourists. There was less protesting. I did not realize how much of a circus it’s gonna be, but with years and years and with the internet now, it’s getting more disruptive.”

Every year the NYPD sends out a press release notifying the public about traffic and street closures in the vicinity of the UN. This year, detailed notice lists several streets that would be affected beginning Monday, Sept. 21 to Sunday, Sept. 27.

“My routine is normally quiet,” continued Chow. “I come down, I walk two miles. There would be few tourists, not many police around. They don’t tell you where to go, what to do and so forth.” “As opposed to when the UN (General Assembly) it would get worse. This road would be closed off. You won’t be able to come down here.”

Chow said during the General Assembly, he gets stopped at least 20 times by security personnel. “They will be checking my ID, asking me where I live. I can’t go to the restaurants I want to go to. Is harder to travel in the subway, and am just doing my normal things, and I can’t.”

The disruption of normal daily activities is not limited to residents like Charles, UN staffers who also spend the week among the many office buildings working for the UN system, also undergo the change of normal weekly activities.

“There are a lot of people here during this time,” said one UNDP staffer who asked not to be named. “Me, and many of my colleagues spend our break out here. We buy Halal food from the vendors out here, but during this time, you have to deal with the security even outside the buildings.”

Chow said he understands that that the restrictions to his normal daily activities are necessary for security reasons. “But for the average person,” he said, “It’s very disruptive. Even my mail I won’t be able to get on a regular basis because the mailman won’t be able to go through the security areas. Last year I didn’t get my mail for three days. When am expecting a mail or something that’s important to me, I have to go to post office to get my mail.”