On the evening of Thursday, Oct. 23, at the Queens College Student Union Building, hundreds of people lined up in the cold to see former President Bill Clinton speak at a pre-election event sponsored by New York State Rep. Anthony Weiner. The event, which was supposed to start at 7:30 p.m., drew a far larger audience than anticipated. The growing crowd disappointed many eager, and then angry, New Yorkers who were in the end told to go home.As early as 2 p.m., people began lining up in the hopes of getting a seat in the auditorium. However, as the evening wore on and the line grew longer, people began to worry that they had been waiting for nothing. Indeed, by 8 p.m., when Clinton finally arrived in a motorcade, those in the lines outside had grown increasingly restless. Many of them had received postcards in the mail "personally" inviting them to the event, while others had been instructed to RSVP via e-mail to ensure a seat at the event. With over 1,000 people already in the auditorium, and hundreds still waiting to see if they would get in, many started to give up and go home.
Finally, at around 8:30 p.m., an hour after the event was planned to begin, police officials announced by megaphone that the room had reached capacity and the estimated 500 people still outside, including around 200 Queens College students, would have to go home. While most simply left, many were extremely angry, insisting that they had skipped work to attend the event and felt they had been mistreated.
One official, police officer Paz, said that while many people took their complaints up with police officers, "It's Secret Service who are turning people away. We can let all the people we want into the building, but Secret Service won't allow anyone else into the room where Clinton is speaking, not even me, and I've been working the crowd since the afternoon." According to Paz, "We let over 700 people in and still had to turn away hundreds. We didn't expect this many people to come." The huge attendance reflects a high-energy political season with many New Yorkers eager to hear Clinton's opinion on issues like the economy, Iraq and the democratic campaign this election season. "I guess we'll just have to watch it on television like everyone else," said Paz.While some people were so disappointed that they shouted, "Vote for McCain," as they walked to their cars, others were still hopeful that they would get a glimpse of the former president. Bertha Cornejo, a longtime Queens resident, said that she had come to see Clinton. She insisted on waiting in the lobby of the Student Union Hall even after most of the crowd had given up. "Maybe he'll come down to say hello to the people who are waiting to see him," said Cornejo.
Police officials said that along with an unexpectedly large turnout, the problem was caused by miscommunication among the event planners who had not been consistent in their decision to let people in based on RSVPs or on a first come, first served basis.
Photo captions: Former President Bill Clinton addressed Queens College along with New York State Representative Anthony Weiner. Media Credit: Zach Stern
