This originally appeared on Facing South, the online magazine of the Institute for Southern Studies

  • Date on which the Democratic National Convention begins in Charlotte: Sept. 3
  • Amount in federal funds the city will spend on security for the gathering, expected to draw 6,000 delegates and 30,000 visitors: $50 million
  • Number of officers the money will be used to hire from outside departments: 3,400
  • Miles of 9-foot-tall “anti-scale” fencing the funds will be used to purchase: about 5
  • Miles of concrete barriers the Secret Service has requested for the event: 2
  • Date on which the Charlotte City Council, in anticipation of the convention, passed a law empowering the city manager to declare an “extraordinary event,” designating a section of the city where police have broad powers to search and arrest people carrying potential weapons, projectiles or other items, including permanent markers, coolers and backpacks: Jan. 23
  • Date on which Charlotte-based Duke Energy held its annual shareholders meeting, among the gatherings already declared “extraordinary events”: May 3
  • Date on which Charlotte-based Bank of America held its annual shareholders meeting, another officially declared “extraordinary event”: May 9
  • Number of national groups involved in “The Coalition to March on Wall Street South,” a reference to Charlotte’s position as the second-largest U.S. financial center behind New York, that are planning to peacefully protest at the convention: 80
  • Estimated number of churches that will gather Sept. 2 in Charlotte’s Verizon Wireless Amphitheater for a service organized by anti-gay rights and anti-abortion activists: 40
  • Percent of Charlotte’s Uptown commercial district that will be inside the DNC’s “extraordinary event” perimeters: 60
  • Amount of federal money the Republicans received for their convention in Tampa, Fla., which begins Aug. 27: $50 million
  • Number of officers who will be patrolling channels and waterways in the downtown area at any given time in boats mounted with automatic machine guns: 150
  • Number of organizations that have endorsed the March on the RNC, a protest set for Aug. 27: more than 60
  • Number of people expected to occupy pink tents inside a protest camp on leased land in downtown Tampa dubbed “Romneyville”: 300