Mayor Cancels Y2K Celebration

The fireworks display will go on as planned and so will all of the events planned at the Center during the daytime. But the 45,000 to 60,000 people who were expected to gather at the Center to watch the fireworks will have to make other plans.

The arrest of Ahmed Ressam two weeks ago at Port Angeles played a major part in the decision. Ressam is accused of smuggling bomb making materials into the US.

After that, the thought of having thousands of people in one place at one time began to weigh heavy on the minds of city council members and the mayor.

So, late Monday they decided to pull the plug on the big gathering New Year's Eve.

Again, the fireworks will be ignited at midnight. But spectators will have to watch from city parks or roof tops. Or watch it all live on KOMO ABC 4 with continuing coverage here on the Web. We will have extensive coverage all evening long on the events here in Seattle as well as around the planet.

Security fencing will be installed as planned starting Wednesday as added protection for all of the daytime activities.