Reps. Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene move America First rally from OC to Riverside

[TexasTowelie]

Event was originally scheduled in Orange County, but that venue canceled due to controversy surrounding the GOP Congress members.


Republican U.S. Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene have moved Saturday’s planned America First rally east, from Orange County to Riverside, after their original venue abruptly canceled them last week and their teams spent a week trying to find a new O.C. location.

Gaetz, who represents a Florida district, and Greene, a representative from Georgia, said they won’t share where the event will be held until 24 hours in advance, citing “security concerns.”

But Greene’s spokesman Nick Dyer confirmed the move to Riverside on Thursday, July 15. Ted Weggeland, CEO of the company that runs the downtown Riverside Convention Center, said Thursday afternoon: “We believe (the rally) will be held Saturday night at the convention center.”

Weggeland said he didn’t have details of the rally contract and referred questions to Scott Megna, president of Raincross Hospitality Corporation and convention center general manager. Megna could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

Read more: https://www.pe.com/2021/07/15/reps-matt-gaetz-marjorie-taylor-greene-move-america-first-rally-to-riverside/
(Riverside Press Enterprise)

[IcyPeas]

1. Couple of insurrectionists came from Riverside. Maybe they'll be there, meet up with some comrades..

[riversedge]

2. I hope they to pay a pretty penny for the site. But it will be donor money anyway.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

3. Security concerns my ass...

they're worried local business/govt. will shut them down again.

[Phoenix61]

4. It's not being inclusive to include groups that hate everyone not in their group.

That’s just being nice to asshats.

[IngridsLittleAngel]

5. Par for the course for this shitty...

Last edited Fri Jul 16, 2021, 12:58 PM - Edit history (1)

You'd be amazed how many people assume Rivershit must be some "liberal utopia" because it's in CA. Honestly, this shithole would fit in better in Alabama or South Carolina or something. This area was heavily pro-Prop 8 in 2008, it's one of the hotbeds for the attempts to recall Newsom ("BECAUSE MUH FREEDUMBS!!!&quot , and many of the cretins here don't even bother to hide their racism and hatred for the LGBTQ community. A few years ago, I had a police officer admit to me "It's still 1888 out there" on the subject of race, LGBTQ issues, etc.

The Press-Enterprise themselves have had to shut down comments to all of their articles because every damned article - no matter the subject - would get the usual extreme-right comments. Attacks on POC. Attacks on LGBTQ's - especially T's. "Stop the squeal!" and "libs are ruining Murka" and "Heil Drumpf". The comments there were on par with the kind of hatred that you'd see on Yahoo when they allowed comments.

So, of course this bigoted, backwards-ass shithole city is going to gleefully embrace those insurrectionists and terrorists. Fucking unreal, when you think about it. Gaetz and Traitor Greene: Too extreme for Orange County, but welcome in Riverslime, CA. Who would you like to welcome next, Shitside? TFG? Putin? Holograms of George Wallace or Hitler?

I'm writing an email to the mayor and city clowncil member for my ward about this. I expect it to do no good. But I need to get it off my chest. I am angry, embarrassed, and honestly, more than a little frightened. But what else is new? This is how I've felt about this third-world city for years. Just even moreso this week, between Arsenio Hall's on-the-nose diss of this city, and now the city telling these terrorists "You're welcome here".

(Arsenio on Monday night, filling in for Jimmy Kimmel: "This might be one of the weirdest headlines I’ve ever seen. ‘Meth Pollution in the Waterways Turns Trout into Junkies.' That’s right. Apparently areas where people smoke meth, it gets into the water and the fish start to behave like meth heads. Yes, they lose they teeth… they move to Riverside. I guess they get they stuff from Walter Whitefish.&quot

To fucking hell with Traitor Greene, Gaetz, and this pathetic excuse of a city.

Apologies if this seems over the top, but, right now I feel like Pavel Chekov in Star Trek VI... "Guess who's coming to dinner."

[IngridsLittleAngel]

6. Follow-up: I sent an email, got a reply from the city's "Public Information Officer"

Basically saying my email made its way to their office and to see their statement at https://riversideca.gov/press/statement-city-riverside-re-america-first-rally

The City of Riverside owns the Riverside Convention Center and contracts with Raincross Hospitality Corp. to manage and operate the facility.

Information regarding that arrangement can be found here: https://riversideca.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=7687378&GUID=3945655B-6030-4B38-BF6A-1AE294134034

A copy of the management agreement can be found here: https://riversideca.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=7687193&GUID=D58AC432-7BE2-4E96-BEDB-5305A75A3210

The booking of an event by Raincross Hospitality Corp. is not an endorsement by the City of Riverside of the views that may be expressed at that event.

The City of Riverside is an inclusive community and has affirmed its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion through the City Council’s actions and policies.

Raincross Hospitality has worked with organizers of the America First rally and with the Riverside Police Department to ensure that adequate security is provided for the event this weekend.

Questions regarding the event should be directed to event organizers or Raincross Hospitality Corp.

The cost of providing security for the event is born by the event organizers, not the City of Riverside.

The City of Riverside will continue to work with Raincross Hospitality Corp. to ensure that any event now or in the future that is held at the Riverside Convention Center is conducted safely and in a manner that is consistent with the management agreement between the two entities.

[IngridsLittleAngel]

7. Calls mount for cancellation of Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene rally in Riverside

Outrage, demands to cancel and plans for protest flowed through Riverside on Friday, July 16, a day before Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene are set to hold an America First Rally at the Riverside Convention Center.

While a city councilman sympathized with the rally’s opponents, he said the city cannot cancel the Saturday evening, July 17, event.

The rally, part of a nationwide tour featuring two out-of-state lawmakers with reputations for far-right politics and spreading misinformation, moved to the city after being kicked out of an Orange County venue earlier this month.

Organizers on Thursday announced the rally would take place in Riverside, and while they withheld the location citing security concerns, the CEO of the company that runs the city-owned convention center confirmed the downtown facility would play host.

...

Riverside City Councilmember Ronaldo Fierro objected to a rally featuring Greene and Gaetz occurring at a city-owned facility.

“The hateful and racist rhetoric that will be perpetrated at this event by these two well-known extremists has absolutely no place in our City,” Fierro said in an emailed statement late Thursday.

Fierro said the city cannot prevent the event from going forward.

“The Riverside City Council does not have the legal ability to stop or cancel the booking of this event,” he said via email.

...

City Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes, who was sworn into office Tuesday, July 13, after her June election win, said she was “shocked and disappointed” when she learned about the event at about 2 p.m. Thursday. Shortly after that, she said, she called for an emergency Riverside City Council meeting to address the matter. That session would have been held Friday, she said.

However, Cervantes said she needed three councilmembers’ support to schedule an emergency meeting and only one member, Mayor Pro Tem Gaby Plascencia, endorsed her call for one.

Cervantes also called for the city to “immediately re-evaluate” its arrangement with Raincross for managing the convention center.

Full article at https://www.pe.com/2021/07/16/calls-mount-for-cancellation-of-matt-gaetz-marjorie-taylor-greene-rally-in-riverside/

[IcyPeas]

8. They have changed it again... now in Anaheim.

Link to tweet

?s=19

[IngridsLittleAngel]

9. Correct. It's just been canceled here in Riverside

A Riverside political rally that was to feature two controversial members of Congress on Saturday, July 17, was canceled late Friday, July 16 — less than 24 hours before it was set to begin.

The abrupt cancellation capped a day filled with outrage and demands to cancel the event as well as plans to protest the planned appearance of Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene in an “America First” rally at the Riverside Convention Center.

City officials reported late Friday they were notified by operators of the convention center that the rally planned for 6 p.m. Saturday, July 17, won’t take place.

“I recognize this was a divisive issue in our community, and I am glad it has been resolved,” Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said, commending the operator in a statement late Friday.

“Riverside is a diverse and inclusive community, so it is heartening to hear that this event will not move forward,” Mayor Pro Tem Gaby Plascencia said in a news release. “I am disappointed we even got to this point, because these speakers are the antithesis of everything Riverside stands for.”

https://www.pe.com/2021/07/16/calls-mount-for-cancellation-of-matt-gaetz-marjorie-taylor-greene-rally-in-riverside/