Annapolis weathers Mideast summit

Traffic gridlock didn't occur and the demonstrations were small. The high-security Middle East peace conference was, well, peaceful.

Despite fears of traffic congestion and disruptive protests, Tuesday's summit at the U.S. Naval Academy was barely felt beyond a few city streets that were closed near the school's main gate.

Officer Kevin Freeman, a spokesman for the Annapolis Police Department, said there were no arrests during demonstrations. "Everything went very smoothly," he said. "There were no conflicts with police."

While demonstrators with different points of view occasionally argued, authorities kept an eye out for disputes and officers quickly stepped in between groups and asked people to respect each other's space.

Some residents who live along several blocks by the academy had to present identification to return to their homes, but Freeman said they were only delayed for several minutes. Some curious neighbors even walked their dogs near the demonstrations to get a closer look.

"It seems like everybody's well-behaved," City Councilman Sam Shropshire said.

Commuting was surprisingly easy and business was brisk for downtown gallery owner Meg Evans, who said sales at her Artfx store were triple the normal pace for late November.

"It's been a really successful day for me," she said. Evans said many of the sales were to people in town for the summit.

Peace conference participants, journalists and security workers filled four downtown hotels, accounting for 800 rooms, said Connie Del Signore, president of the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Conference and Visitors Bureau. The visitors should boost November hotel occupancy by 10 percent to 15 percent, she said.

"This would normally have been a very slow month," Del Signore said.

Not all businesses benefited. Del Signore said some were closed and some workers stayed home to avoid the predicted traffic problems. Michelle Kownacki, owner of Paws Pet Boutique, blamed those factors for a 50 percent drop in her sales.

"I think it scared people off — too much going on downtown, too much of a hassle to get down here," Kownacki said.

Tarah Smith, manager of the Annapolis Cigar Co., also said business was way down Tuesday. Regulars mostly stayed away, while the customers who came into the store on Main Street were mostly people she had not seen before.

"We've done about 10 to 15 percent of the business we'd usually do" this time of year, Smith said.

Inside the Naval Academy, meanwhile, thoughts were returning to Saturday's football showdown in Baltimore with archrival the U.S. Military Academy.

"Everything should be back to normal," academy spokeswoman Deborah Goode said.

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Associated Press writers David Dishneau and Kristen Wyatt contributed to this story.