http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/24/ny...24protest.html
Judge Rejects One Bid for a Central Park Protest
By DIANE CARDWELL
Published: August 24, 2004
A federal judge in Manhattan refused yesterday to force the city to allow a rally on Saturday on the Great Lawn in Central Park, after the Bloomberg administration and protest organizers failed to reach a compromise during a sudden round of weekend negotiations.
But city officials argued that since the $18.2 million restoration of the Great Lawn in the late 1990's, they have strictly limited large-scale events there with careful crowd control policies and plans to cancel events in wet weather. Without a way to guarantee a limit on the size of the crowd, an acceptable contingency plan and a bond to pay for damage, officials said, they could not agree to the rally.
-Rudey