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BOSTON, MA July 30, 2004 — After a week of Democratic National Convention coverage from Boston, many New Yorkers are wondering how the city will be affected when the Republican convention arrives next month. To answer that question, WNYC's Beth Fertig did a little poking around in Boston while covering the convention.

It's an old reporter's trick. But it always works. If you want to know what's really happening in town, just ask a taxi driver.

FALLEGA: How's business been for you as a taxi driver dealing with this. It's booming, business is good. They are tipping good and we are keeping busy and we're moving.

Assayehghn Fallega and his fellow cabbies are moving along because the streets are EMPTY. Bostonians fearing convention chaos fled town. But while that's good for taxi drivers picking up wandering delegates, it's bad for business in the rest of the city.

Downtown on Newbury Street - a mile and a half from the convention center - there are few customers at Joe's American Bar and Grill. Or anywhere else on the toney street. The restaurant's general manager Steven Slicis blames the fear factor.

SLICIS: The road closings, terrorism, everything. Just the hype stay away from Boston, stay away from Boston, stay away from Boston, and now we're starting to show it.

Most of their demonstrations were small; nothing like what the city expected.

For New Yorkers, the quiet streets weren't what they expected, either.

CAMACHO: The only thing I was surprised is to see that it's so empty.

On a bus to the Convention center, Castella Camacho worried about what will happen when the Republicans come to New York next month. The Staten Islander was thinking about subway stations shutting down, and commuters who come through Penn Station.

CAMACHO: Many people will probably take off a week or two. But I don't think many will afford to do that as they did here. Those people are going to be in trouble. How are you going to get to work? As it is commuting time is about 2 hours if you come from an outer borough.

Despite the quiet streets, getting around Boston this week has been inconvenient. This trip on a charter bus to the convention center took us halfway around the city just to avoid the street closures. And those taking the subway had to walk several blocks out of their way because there were so many security fences surrounding the Center.

SECURITY: Hi how are you. Do you have any other metal in your pockets? MAN: I'm just loaded.

For this first political convention after September 11th, security has been extremely tight - with a huge police presence. Everyone entering the building went through metal detectors. But what happened next wasn't always consistent. Sometimes umbrellas were checked; sometimes not. My reporting equipment was scrupulously examined on the first day; but it was ignored for the rest of the convention.

Inside, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall was baffled by what she encountered on the convention floor.

MARSHALL For instance even to bring popcorn or soda on the floor you can't do it. So I said why? One person tells me it's a fire hazard because things fall all over the floor. Another person told me they're worried about bioterrorism.

Of course, New York is much more used to dealing with security after September 11th. And Midtown Manhattan is a whole lot bigger than downtown Boston. The Republicans are also sure to generate a lot more protests in a heavily Democratic city. But Congressman Anthony Weiner says his hometown still has something to learn from the past week in Boston.

WEINER: One of the things we have to learn is, we have to make it easier for people to get to the local businesses. We cannot shut down Midtown entirely for this convention. But we also learned that you know a lot of people if given the choice between stick it out or flee a lot of them are fleeing here in Boston I imagine a lot of them will be fleeing in Manhattan.

Here in Boston, there are also words of advice for rival city New York. When asked how to prepare for the Republican convention, several Bostonians put it simply: Just root for the Red Sox. Reporting from the Democratic Convention in Boston, for WNYC I'm Beth Fertig.