Today the organizers received confirmation from the Greene County Sheriff’s Department that two off-duty officers will be on hand to facilitate street closures. This street closure element was the very last requirement to get the March For Science event permit for April 22nd. With this confirmation in hand we will now have the permit in hand by the beginning of next week. Unfortunately the Sheriff’s Department cannot donate their services to the cause so the organizers will be hiring the officers to include the 4 hour minimum requirement and the workers comp rates.
Ultimately this will cost the organizers a total of $240 for their services. We encourage those who can to head on over to the GoFundMe campaign to donate what they can. And we want to extend a very special thank you to all those who have already donated.
In the early days of organizing the event, just after the date was announced by the main march in DC, we debated about if this event would be something small with just a few people or something much larger in the 500 to 1000 or more people range. If the march was small and with no rally, we could use the sidewalks to march and wouldn’t need a permit, it’s a constitutional right to do so. However when streets need to be blocked off, then the city requires a permit, insurance and law enforcement to close down the streets so we, the marchers, don’t get hurt by cars passing across the road and through the crowd.
We are grateful for their services to keep us safe as we March For Science.