JOY IS OUR RESISTANCE!

October 18, 2025
Start time 12 p.m.
End time 1:30 p.m.

OUR HUB
This is not for participant parking.
Former Friendly’s parking lot
81 Centre Drive
Plattsburgh, NY

This is the “nerve center” for our event. What happens in this lot?

Safety Team Station
Trunk-gating

What is trunk-gating? Sponsoring groups can open up a car trunk or tailgate from small
pickup or van so that they can distribute information about their sponsoring group.

Indivisible Plattsburgh
Adirondack Voters for Change
Sons of Liberty
Visibility Team
John Brown Lives!
For the Common Good

Accessible Space for Wheelchairs, Walkers
For people who cannot handle the sidewalk line of signs.

DESIGN OF EVENT

“Rules of the Road”|
A core principle behind all No Kings events is a commitment to
nonviolent action and no civil disobedience. We expect all
participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with
those who disagree with our values and to act lawfully at these
events. Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted,
should not be brought to events.

NOTE: Mace and pepper spray are weapons. DO NOT BRING THEM. This includes
the safety team.

Did we say?
JOY IS OUR RESISTANCE!
We have a chant leader! Be ready to join in.

We are building sections of people, holding signs, one by one next to each other, along the south sidewalk of Cornelia St. Each section will have its own safety marshal and de-escalators. The line begins at Friendly’s and will move east toward downtown. We are discouraging people from holding signs on the opposite side of Cornelia. Why? It’ll be safer for our marshals to respond to any exterior needs (hecklers and the like) if we’re on one side. It’ll be easier for our de-escalators (who are paired with marshals) to assist in calming people down. If we have counter-protesters, they’ll be 4-5 lanes of traffic away from us. In all the trainings I’ve attending for NK, distance is an important element in safety.

We are not marching. We must remain only on public sidewalks. Because the town’s sidewalk is broken up by intersections at traffic lights and entrances into tiny shopping strips, our line will appear as segments. Ideally, we want enough people on the Safety Team to place safety marshals along the sidewalk to remind you to:

• Start with a buddy.

• Stay with the group.

• Remain on public sidewalks.

• Leave space on the sidewalk for passersby.

• Stand on the edge of the public sidewalk that is furthest from the curb, avoiding stepping into traffic by mistake.

• Keep the line one-person deep. That will allow for passersby to use the sidewalk. We must not block the public sidewalk. True, not many people use these public sidewalks because they’re so unfriendly . . . so we’ll have to keep our eyes open if we lose our free pathway for folks.

• Stay out of intersections. We will try to have enough safety marshals to assist you at major intersections going east at crosswalks.

• Do give small businesses your patronage! Buy coffee, donuts, burgers, nibbles.

• Do not block any entrances to/exits from parking lots of private businesses.  Cars must be able to enter and exit these small parking lots; remember, people sometimes pull into these little business lots at a clip. Our participants must be standing in a safe area.

• Use the buddy system throughout the entire event and to return to your car.

• Bring water in your reusable bottle.

ALL THINGS PARKING!!!
Park near where you will be standing. There is no “sign-in” for our event.

Plan ahead where you might want to park and find your spot along the line of people that will initiate at Friendly’s and extend east along the South Side of Cornelia St.
We’re thinking these larger lots are good ones that can absorb cars. Avoid smaller lots — We do not want to disturb anyone’s business! We want to build
community, not create splits in our community. Be respectful and use good judgement.

Here are larger lots:

• Market32/Lowe’s lots

• Consumer Square large lots: avoid any smaller lots.

• Family Dollar (Corner of Healy and Cornelia). This is just past the Town of

Plattsburgh line and in the City of Plattsburgh).

• Plattsburgh Plaza (This is located on the north side of Cornelia, at the

intersection of Cornelia and Broad Sts.)

DO NOT USE SMALLER LOTS THAT LINE CORNELIA ST. Here are a few that are on the south edge of Cornelia. But do give them your business!

• Comfort Inn

•Wendy’s

• Verizon and places along that strip

• Knight and Brennan car lots

• Payson’s Jewelers

• Adirondack Coffee Roasters

• Taco Bell

• Starbucks

• McDonalds

• Tech Cellar

• KFC

• Dominos

• Hong Kong Jade

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS: the BOODA loop

B – Breathe
O – Observe
O – Orient
D – Decide
A – Act

DE-ESCALATION: the 6 D’sDirect intervention:

– Use open non-threatening body language

– Use active listening

– Lower volume, slow movement

– Do not touch angry people, or police

– Use appropriate content, be flexible, sing or chant

Delay: Wait it out, if that is an option

Distract: Direct attention elsewhere

Delegate: Work with a buddy or allies. Alert to your marshal or de-escalators

Distance: Put space between you & the problem

Document: Let people involved know you are filming, from a safe distance if possible.

Thank you in advance for holding nonviolent principles.
JOY IS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE (poet Toi Derricotte)