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Request to council: Give peace a chance
By JON WILSON, Times Staff Writer
ST. PETERSBURG -- A grass-roots group will ask the City Council on Thursday to oppose military action in Iraq, one of the first focused antiwar efforts here since the Vietnam War. Jay Alexander, the effort's coordinator, said he is asking the council to adopt a formal antiwar resolution, which a number of other cities around the nation have done. "I'm hoping this movement gets people educated and motivated to be aware of what's going on," Alexander said. Alexander said he started circulating an antiwar petition in late October at the Circus McGurkis, an annual event billed as "the people's fair" that is sponsored by the Tampa Bay Peace Education Program and the Religious Society of Friends. Three people spoke against war at the Nov. 7 City Council meeting. Alexander, 45, said he expects about 20 to show up Thursday to talk or offer support. The council is scheduled to meet at 8:30 a.m. The antiwar activists plan to speak during the open forum period, when members of the public can raise issues. They also plan to gather before the meeting on City Hall steps to picket, petition and distribute leaflets. City Hall is at 175 Fifth St. N. Bill Reed, 63, said he will be among those present. "I'm not what you'd call a pacifist, for openers. My whole family has been military," Reed said. Reed said that both he and his father served in the military, though it was his son who actually saw action, losing his right foot during the Persian Gulf War when he stepped on a mine. "I take this very personally," Reed said. He said the war, if it comes, likely will be fought by "poor, working class and minority people. The upper class, the Cheneys and Bushes, their children and none of their grandchildren will ever be put in harm's way." Local governing bodies such as city councils are being asked nationwide to oppose the war, said Amy Quinn, a spokeswoman for the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank established in the 1960s during the height of the Vietnam era. "I think people are working on the city level because it's the level of government where they can have the most impact and have the most access to officials," Quinn said. The IPS is tracking developments in the "Cities for Peace" movement, Quinn said. About 25 cities have passed resolutions opposing war, she said. Monday night, the Baltimore City Council did so 18-0, with one abstention, according to a city clerk. Quinn said the New York City Council will consider a resolution, and a similar one is before the Chicago council. Alderman Joe Moore introduced it and 24 of his colleagues support it, said Michael McConnell, director of the Chicago region's American Friends Service Committee. "He'll get more," McConnell said. The Cities for Peace effort strikes some as a futile effort because city governments do not make national policy and their influence on national affairs is seen as minimal. But activists believe they have have the most impact at the local level, Quinn said. She said a talking point may be that federal dollars spent on war won't be available for city programs that use federal grants, thus affecting municipal budgets. Alexander said another reason for St. Petersburg officials to be concerned is that a war would be detrimental to the area's leisure and resort industry. "You have to go the local level, grass roots. If you do that, there'll be a groundswell nationwide," he said.
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