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Residents: Pope's visit brings hassles, blessings to New York City

By Marlene Naanes and Matthew Sweeney, amNewYork Staff Writers | MNaanes@am-ny.com and msweeney@am-ny.com

April 18, 2008

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI is bound to bring blessings to the many New Yorkers in the next few days, but the pontiff is also guaranteed to bring lots of chaos in his seven security-laden visits in and around town.

George Broderick, whose Yorkville apartment faces St. Joseph's Church where the pope will hold an ecumenical service Friday evening, said he resents Pope Benedict XVI's visit and the security and barricades that have popped up around the neighborhood.

"I just want to get the hell out of here," he said, adding he planned to head to New Jersey Thursday night. "I'm not going to put up with this stuff. There'll be snipers on the roof."

Metal barricades lined York and First avenues, and several clusters dotted 87th Street near St. Joseph's Thursday. Concrete blockades were dropped off on one corner, and flyers circulated the neighborhood telling people 87th Street would be closed at 3 p.m.

Barricades, NYPD sharpshooters, police escorts, driving restrictions and bus re-routes are just some of the chaos residents in Yorkville, the Upper East Side, lower Manhattan and the Yankee Stadium areas are expecting.

Many residents will be required to carry identification to go to and from their homes, and some blocks will be closed to people without tickets hours before the pope's events.

"It's going to change my whole life this weekend," said Suzanne Nason, whose Upper East Side apartment faces Park East Synagogue, where the pope will visit Friday.

Nason was planning to drive upstate to visit a sick relative at 5 p.m., but when she learned the pope would be coming onto her block around the same time, she decided to head out after he left.

She predicted that traveling to and from her apartment this weekend will be a nightmare because her route crosses through the Yankee Stadium and Yonkers areas, two of the pope's other scheduled stops.

Another stop Friday morning will be at the United Nations, where workers and residents are veterans when it comes to dealing with street closures and heavy-security events. Lillian Ortiz and Delores Ovid planned to leave up to one hour early for work at a construction company blocks away where some of their coworkers were taking the day off to avoid the chaos.

"They make it really hard for people in the city when they have stuff like this going on," Ortiz said.

Other New Yorkers were embracing the pope's visit, some are having parties and others are planning to take photos or video of the pontiff.

Linda Calotta, whose apartment faces the Park East Synagogue, plans to have what her doorman coined, a "pope-viewing party," with her son, husband and father-in-law.

"It's really special, and I think we're being blessed all around," she said. "I better charge my camera battery."

Her neighbor June Golden, 58, who expected to be on duty as an auxiliary policewoman, is hoping to get a glimpse of the pope entering the synagogue. She didn't mind any inconvenience his visit may pose to her shopping for a Passover meal.

"Let's face it, New York is never easy, and at least this time it's for something good," she said.