Occupy Protests Are Peaceful: Charlotte Basks in Successful DNC Convention

In Charlotte, the Democratic Convention is over now and the bus schedules and routes have gone back to normal. The extra help from police departments from across the state and region has all gone home. The food ordered for the cancelled outdoor presidential speech at BOA Stadium has been donated to Second Harvest Food Bank. And things have pretty much settled down in Charlotte – except for the weather (it’s still raining!).

News14Carolinas aired an interview with Charlotte Mayor, Anthony Foxx, this morning, in which he more or less gave a post-mortem assessment of the week. You can see the entire interview and story here. Mayor Foxx was especially pleased to have received compliments upon the welcome given to visitors by the Queen’s City – even those who came to protest. Police only made 25 arrests in Uptown (we call our downtown Uptown – it is one of our charming quirks) during the Convention and 15 of those were for “obstructing traffic.” 

We even had some impromptu police entertainment, which you can watch here, on the CNN Video page (click on "Dancing Police Direct Traffic during DNC" video). It gave passersby and delegates a lift and a smile. Southerners love street entertainment and will perform almost any time and any place. Peaceful and serene were the watchwords outside the convention hall. You have to give everyone – even Occupy Charlotte – huge kudos for that.

Charlotte has been preparing for the event ever since the convention site was announced, over a year ago. All that hard work and community outreach paid off and hopefully we will see more big convention events in the future.