Be sure to read this email if you're coming to DC on Sept. 24!
~ please circulate widely ~
10 pieces of essential information
about the September 24 rally and march
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1) What is the plan for September 24? 2) Bus drop off at the rally site 3) Bus parking & pick up after the rally 4) DC public transportation (metro) system 5) Car and van parking 6) Main rally & mass march 7) Tabling 8) Contingent assembly 9) Housing in DC 10) Donations urgently needed! |
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If you are organizing a bus, riding a bus, or coming by van, car, train, plane or metro to the September 24 rally and march, this email contains essential information for your trip to DC. If, after reading this email and checking out the links to the A.N.S.W.E.R. website, you have additional questions, please review the A.N.S.W.E.R. Logistics Page or call the National Office at 202-544-3389. This email includes links to several maps that you can print to carry with you on the 24th and to hand out to bus drivers and riders.
1) What is the plan for September 24?
A permit has been obtained for a mass rally on the Ellipse in front of the White House on Saturday, September 24.
The White House/Ellipse rally site opens at 7:00 am. Buses will begin arriving and contingents will begin assembling early in the morining. Groups will be setting up literature and informational tables. This will be a great opportunity to learn more about different social justice groups who are all coming together for the joint activities at the White House. Come early to the White House/Ellipse to visit the exhibits and tents! (See below for more information on tabling and contingents.)
Starting at 10:00 am at the Ellipse we will have music and spoken word. At 11:30 am there is a scheduled joint rally. After the joint rally, we will march.
The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has secured a permit from the Metropolitan Police Department for the mass march on September 24 that will take the demonstration directly in front of the White House on Pennsylvania Ave. This is the first time in many years that a march permit has been secured for a mass assembly march and protest on Pennsylvania Ave. right at the doorstep of the White House. (See below for the full march route.)
2) Bus drop off at the rally site
Buses can drop off passengers on Pennsylvania Ave. between 13th and 14th Sts. NW - just two blocks from the rally and march site. This is the south side of "Freedom Plaza", located just two blocks from the northeast corner of the Ellipse (the main assembly area). There will be bus greeters and directors here to help everyone find their way directly to the rally and march step off location. We have a written agreement with the Metropolitan Police Department for the buses to drop off at this location.
We strongly recommend that all buses utilize this drop off point. This will ensure that everyone arrives on time and does not miss the rally and the start of the march. Buses have dropped off in downtown DC for all of the massive anti-war rallies involving hundreds of thousands of people. Because buses arrive over a period of several hours, there will not be a heavy back-up of buses. Though there will be some street closures due to the IMF and World Bank meetings, these are on the other side of the White House and will not impact the bus drop off area.
Those whose buses drop off at the outlying metro stations may not arrive on time for the rally and the march step off. It will take a minimum of 45 minutes to ride the metro to the White House area, you may have to transfer metro lines, and it will cost over $2 per person. It is only a few minute walk from the Pennsylvania Ave. bus drop off point to the rally site.
3) Bus parking & pick up after the rally
After buses drop off passengers, they should proceed to the designated parking locations for the buses.
Bus organizers should designate a bus pick up location at the most convenient outlying metro station. Please see the map below for recommendations based on where you are driving from. You should give slips of paper to each of the bus riders so they remember which station to take the metro to at the end of the day (see below for PDFs of these slips customized for each station).
Printable directions for bus drivers & riders
Please select one of these scenarios in advance. You can print out information sheets for drivers and riders. Please note that these information sheets refer to the map that includes the location of metro stations.
If you are traveling from the north/west on 70 East / 270 South, park at the Shady Grove station. Printable 8.5x11 inch PDFs for bus drivers and bus riders.
If you are traveling from the north/east on 95 South, park at the Greenbelt station. Printable 8.5x11 inch PDFs for bus drivers and bus riders.
If you are traveling from the south/west on 66 East, park at the Vienna station. Printable 8.5x11 inch PDFs for bus drivers and bus riders.
If you are traveling from the south/east on 95 North, park at the Branch Ave station. Printable 8.5x11 inch PDFs for bus drivers and bus riders.
4) DC public transportation (metro) system
Printable map of DC Metro System
Below are PDFs of an 8.5x11 map of the DC metro system. You can print these and give them to the bus driver and bus riders.
Please see above for a map of the rally area that shows the closest metro stations.
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There are many, many parking lots in the White House area. Below are just a portion of them. All listed below are open on Saturday - addresses, hours and cost is listed below. Those lots that accept vans are noted. If you arrive early, you may find street parking. Please check first to make sure the space has not been designated as "no parking" for the day. Most meters do not have to be paid on Saturdays!
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Central Parking System Central Parking System MCM Parking Colonial Parking PMI Central Parking System Monument Parking |
Intern Parking QuikPark National Place Parking Inter Park PMI PMI MidTown Parking |
Printable map of rally site, bus drop off & metro stations
Below are PDFs of an 8.5x11 inch flyer that includes a map of the rally site, bus drop off and metro stations. You can print these and give them to the bus driver and bus riders, and bring one for yourself.
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Following the main rally with major speakers and music, the mass march will take place. The march will assemble at and leave out of the Ellipse. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has obtained a permit for the march which will proceed from the Ellipse and then North on 15th St. to Pennsylvania Ave., West on Pennsylvania Ave. (directly in front of the White House) to 17th St., North on 17th St. to H St., East on H St. to 14th St., South on 14th St. to Pennsylvania Ave., East on Pennsylvania Ave. to 9th St. (directly in front of the FBI Building and the Justice Department), South on 9th St. to Constitution Ave., and West on Constitution Ave. to 15th St.
Printable map of march route
Below are PDFs of an 8.5x11 flyer that includes a map of the march route. You can print these and give them to bus riders.
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We have arranged plenty of space at the Ellipse for all groups that want to set up informational tables. We are providing tabling space for free. It is available on a first come, first serve basis in the designated tabling area. Please review the map of the tabling area. If you are planning to set up a table, please email your group name and a contact name and number to [email protected].
Please bring your own table. If you have other structures associated with your table set up, please call 202-544-3389 before you bring them to confirm whether or not these will be allowed on the Ellipse.
You can begin your table set up at 8:00 am on the Ellipse at September 24 and stay for the entire day.
Click here for a printable 8.5x11 inch PDF with the tabling map and policy.
(This is different than the image below.)
The A.N.S.W.E.R. National Office is helping to coordinate contingent assemblies on different areas of the Ellipse at the White House (the main assembly area for the massive rally and march). We recommend that contingents assemble in this area in order not to miss the main rally or the march step off. You can designate a particular banner, flag, balloon, or other marker as something for people joining you to look for, and make sure to bring extra high poles to elevate it above the crowd. This way, everyone coming to your contingent can follow the crowd from the bus drop off location to the main assembly area and then find you - rather than having to find another part of Washington DC.
Please contact the A.N.S.W.E.R. office to let us know about your contingent and to coordinate your assembly point. Please email [email protected] with your group name, a contact name and phone number, and the plan for your contingent.
Below is a map showing recommended areas (in yellow) for contingent meeting points. Please note that two of the side panels on the east side of the Ellipse are closed for construction - the sidewalks and roadways are open to enter, but the grassy areas are inaccessible. There are side panels on the south and west sides, and if you have a high banner, flag or balloon you can assemble right in the Ellipse on the south side.
Click here for a printable template flyer for your group to use to advertise your contingent to your constituents. (This is different than the image below.)
Click here for a list of DC area hotels.
The hotels that accept buses for parking are noted. If your bus driver is going to a hotel to rest and the hotel does not have bus parking, he/she can park at the designated metro station and then take the metro to the hotel.
The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition is the organization that has the full responsibility for the costs of the stage, sound, and set-up at the joint rally where all the major anti-war groups are coming together beginning at the White House (Ellipse) at 11:30 am on September 24. The costs are in the many tens of thousands of dollars, and we urgently need your help for this massive joint rally and march.
Volunteers are working around the clock to make the day a huge success, but we can't do it without your help. Please click here to donate today.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
www.ANSWERcoalition.org/
[email protected]
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-694-8720
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
For media inquiries, call 202-544-3389.