Category: Events

With the coming of summer, we figured it was time for another hyper-local social gathering — just a couple dozen neighbors, some seasonal fruit punch, and information about local progressive candidates.

I made a series of diagrams to help record and understand the extent and progress of the crowd at the No Kings 3 march in New York City.

The charts show how quickly several contingents were able to move along the route, including ones at the front, middle, and back of the march.

(The timeline data is based on Signal chatter and overhead photographs, and I’m sure it contains many small measurement errors, but I think the overall shape is accurate.)

Observations

The charts help to visualize a few notable elements of the march dynamics:

• The Seventh Avenue front moved very slowly from 56th to around 50th (around 5 minutes per block), due to severe media congestion around celebrities marching with the front banner, then sped up to our “normal” speed (around 3 minutes per block) after they left the march.
• The Broadway front started from further north, but got ahead of the Seventh Avenue front and had to wait to ensure it didn’t reach Times Square first — then, once in Times Square, it paused there, as scheduled to allow space between the two sets of banners.
• A wave of people who had gathered along Seventh Avenue south of 57th Street were misled by police movement ahead of the march and accidentally left before the front banners, forming a false front that arrived in Times Square more than twenty minutes ahead of the main march. The accessibility contingent got caught up in this, and remained ahead of the lead banners until 42nd Street.
• Groups in the middle and back moved very slowly down to Times Square, then sped up after passing the congestion at the merge point.
• When the march was about to step off at 2:00, between a third and half of the crowd was south of 58th Street.
• Marching at half speed (5-6 minutes per block) can be frustrating — but it’s better than barely moving at all while waiting to march.

Diagrams

The charts are available as a PDF file and also attached below; you can click to enlarge.

With the massive No Kings march behind us, we’re turning our attention to hyper-local organizing — connecting with the folks on our block and our immediate neighborhood to build connections so that we can face the challenges ahead together.

On Saturday, November 15, as part of Hands Off NYC’s Day of Community Action, we will be hosting a little sidewalk party from 3:00 to 6:00 here on 106th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam — sharing hot chocolate and mulled cider, folding zines, and handing out safety whistles to our neighbors — so if you’re in the neighborhood, come on over and join us!

Or if you live elsewhere in the city, figure out something you can do to start conversations and build community in your neighborhood — and sign up to host your own event! There are useful organizing tips at www.handsoffnyc.com/nov15.