LARGE DEMONSTRATION PLANNED AT CONFERENCE OF MAYORS

A local group is appealing nationwide for protesters to join a mass
demonstration at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Madison this summer.

And dozens of other local groups are now organizing for action.

Mayor Sue Bauman and police are preparing for anything that could happen.

"We are preparing for a lot of people," Bauman said.

A new group, Creative Peoples Resistance, has already skewered Bauman and
the conference at a recent event, and has a slick Web page calling for
support from throughout the Midwest and nation.

"A lot of people in town were upset the conference was organized without
community support and with the community not involved in events," Madison
activist Nick Kropotkin said Tuesday. "It's an elite gathering." The 70th
annual conference, set for June 13-18 at Monona Terrace, is expected to
attract more than 600 mayors and guests - and perhaps President Bush.

To protest the alleged coziness of big business and government, protesters
may organize a flotilla on Lake Monona, an "anti-capitalist walking tour"
and "anarcho caddies" tailing mayors on golf courses, Creative Peoples
Resistance said.

The group also may try to organize a tent camp at a city park as a "safe
area from police repression," Kropotkin said.

"We're going to do it up right," he said. "It's up to the police if they're
going to repress it."

Asked about crowds, Kropotkin said, "We're hoping big. Thousands, whatever
that means."

Creative Peoples Resistance isn't alone.

The local liberal political party, Progressive Dane, is spearheading an
effort to create an umbrella protest organization called Cities for People.

About 60 groups, including the Wisconsin Greens, Urban League of Greater
Madison, teacher and labor unions have been involved in preliminary
discussions, said Progressive Dane organization coordinator Ben Manski.

Cities for People doesn't have a schedule of events yet.

But the effort will assure mayors "pay greater attention to concerns of
real people than they night otherwise," Manski said.

The city is preaching cooperation and preparing.

The protesters should realize that cities provide services that are closest
to them, Bauman said. Groups may have valid concerns, but issues should be
presented to the conference so they can be put on the agenda, she said.

Madison Police Central District Capt. John Davenport went to last year's
convention in Detroit and has been meeting with area law enforcement
agencies for months. He wouldn't discuss specific plans.

"As the public would expect, we are preparing a plan that would prepare for
any contingency," Davenport said.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors differs from other big events in Madison -
such as Rhythm & Booms - because of the presence of outside groups,
Davenport said.

The police usually discuss major events with local organizations.

"(But) when a national group comes in it's difficult to do that," Davenport
said. "It's the unknown and lack of opportunity for communication."

City officials are scheduled to meet today with long-time activist Ben
Masel to discuss his request for a permit to close Martin Luther King Jr.
Boulevard on June 14-15 for a rally to legalize marijuana and push other
issues.

After Masel's request, the city's conference host committee sought a permit
to close the street at about the same time for a parade of mayors.
Officials say compromise is likely.

Andy Solomon, a spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington,
D.C., said legal, nonviolent protests aren't a problem.

"We respect everyone's right to free speech," he said. "It would be our
hope that no one crosses the line to disrupting an important policy meeting."