Go Home Already: Shouts and Murmurs
Man Stops Traffic at 17th and K to Demand $200 Million
Compromise Uncertain on Same-Sex Marriage Law
Fire at 17th and L NW Forces Evacuations
Judge Throws Out WTU Suit Over Teacher Layoffs
Good morning, Washington, and welcome to the first day of the Obama presidency. Yesterday didn't go too badly, huh? At the moment it looks as if D.C. hosted close to two million people without so much as a single arrest. If you spent the day out in the cold and away from your computer, you can click here to catch up on our extensive inauguration coverage. As you might expect there isn't a lot of non-inaugural news today, so we'll keep this morning roundup short and sweet. Stay tuned for posts throughout the day examining how the city handled the big event and its aftermath.
Va. Politics Heats Up: Yesterday's Washington Post article about the contentious prospects for this session of the Virginia General Assembly — which is confronting not only a budget shortfall but also a potential change in its majority party — is already looking prescient. Today's Post reports that Va. Republicans are claiming that governor and newly-minted DNC chair Tim Kaine has painted an overly optimistic portrait of the state's finances, and that his proposed budget cuts don't go nearly far enough. More immediately, the February special election in Fairfax is looking to be hard fought, too: the Post also discusses that race and the possibility of the county board of supervisors shifting from Democratic to Republican control.
Briefly Noted: More than 4,000 ticket holders weren't able to make it past security yesterday due to screening delays... This winter has been unusually rough on area pipes... Public safety initiatives may be among trimmed programs as Md. deals with budget shortfall... As you might imagine, yesterday marked a new Metro ridership record... Still no sightings of convicted murderer who escaped from Maryland prison over the weekend... BREAKING: LARGE CROWDS GENERATE TRASH...
This Day in DCist: One year ago we got our hopes up about baby elephants while Jimmy's Tire Shop burned.
Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user sdean8
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yeah, no arrests, but there was still crime. dc alerts sent enough notices of hold-ups, muggings, etc., to make it sound like it was just like a normal day in the city.
I, for one, would like to congratulate DCist for its excellent coverage of the inauguration. But now that it's over, what are they going to post about?
Way to crap on "the Nation's front yard" America. Bra. Vo. "Where's the trash can, bro? Aw, fuggit. I don't live here."
And the neocon bloggerati were burning up the Twittersphere with impotent rage yesterday. I just hope they do better than trying to recycle Sarah Palin three years from now. Because I don't think I can sit through "Who's Nailin' Paylin?" again. The acting for the most part was just atrocious, but Nina Hartley turns in a brilliant performance as Hillary Clinton.
The trash left on the mall was embarrassing. You put a large group of people anywhere for five or six hours, and a mess it to be expected, sure. But what that place looked liked after the speech? It made me cry all over again. There were large sections where I could go and not touch the ground for yards, the newspapers were so thick.
It didn't help that there was a lot of advice for people to stand on newspaper, cardboard, or plastic bags to keep their feet warm. I'm sure very few of them thought to haul that stuff home.
I saw some almost arrests when some jackasses decided to climb up a holly tree to get on the roof of the old stage next to the Washington Monument. A couple officers in riot gear showed up and ordered them down but since it was in the middle of Obama's speech I didn't see/hear what happened after that.
I have come to the conclusion that the reason why there was almost no violent crime in DC during the innauguration was a combination of the extremely low temperatures, the presence of snipers on the rooftops, and the bars serving alcohol until 4am. I strongly urge Jim Graham to sponsor the Protection of Children and Puppies Through Global Warming, High-powered Rifles, and Late Night Binge Drinking Act of 2009 with all due haste. Lives are at stake, Mr. Graham. Now is the time for bold leadership, jacketed hollowpoints, and all-night drink specials! Can we do it? YES WE CAN!
I'm of course glad the day went well, overall, but I was one of the thousands of people who were stuck outside of the gates. We hadn't gone looking for tickets, but somehow ended up with three to the purple section. We were, of course, excited, but in retrospect I wish we had just stuck to our original plan to get on the Mall.
It all would have been OK if there was someway for us to hear what what was going on -- what people really wanted was to experience it in a group of people, and we could have done that outside of the gates. But no speakers of any sort were provided. Worse is that there was absolutely no communication between security and the crowd. There were few to no indications about where we were supposed to go, so the crowd sort of swirled around aimlessly for a while. Because of poor crowd control, people who had gotten there at 4:30am got stuck outside while people who arrived literally at 10:45 or 11 managed to get in. If we were told that the crowd there wasn't able to fit into our section (which strikes me as bizarre, since you would think they knew ahead of time how many tickets had been given out!), we could have bailed and gone elsewhere to at least see the swearing in and speech in real time. Instead, we managed to hear the gun salute, and that was it.
It was bad enough for me, my husband, and a friend of ours, but we were talking to people who had crossed the country to see this, older people who had been waiting their whole lives for this, and so on. People were crying when it became clear that it was over and we had missed it. There was a woman in a wheelchair who, when we explained as we were leaving that the cap police had yelled back at someone that they weren't going to let anyone else in (the only communication of any value during the whole experience, and something only a few people could hear -- and, by the way, yelled back in anger at a guy who was yelling at the officer), she said she wasn't leaving until she could go up to the gate that had kept her away from experiencing the inauguration. Although the crowd had been by and large patient and well behaved throughout, towards the end things started to get a little ugly and scary -- people behind us were pushing and feeling panicky, we were close to the fence, and it started to feel like something bad could happen. And yet, still no help from any sort of security force. Gainer this morning said they couldn't let anyone else in to the section because people could have gotten hurt due to overcrowding, but no one was trying to prevent something ugly from happening on the other side of the fence. It was just horrible.
So to recap, I think people would have been disappointed but not devastated if a) there had been some way to hear the swearing in and his speech, and b) if there was some attempt (anything!) to communicate with the crowd about what was happening. Cap. police and company completely failed in those two very basic needs, I think -- and moreover I believe put people in jeopardy by not telling us what was happening. Things could have gotten bad at the end, and people could have gotten hurt.
I didn't get in either after waiting about 3 hours but I only had to walk 3 block so all I lost was some time and a little bit of feeling in my toes.
I agree that the real travesty is that people who traveled so far and waited their who lives for this were denied. We ran into people from all over the country and even from Togo, Ghana, and Australia. I don't know for sure if all those people were denied entry but to think they were is devastating. Also, seeing people in wheelchairs struggle though grass and gravel only to get shoved around by douche bags from New Jersey is a sad.
"I agree that the real travesty is that people who traveled so far and waited their who lives for this were denied. We ran into people from all over the country and even from Togo, Ghana, and Australia. I don't know for sure if all those people were denied entry but to think they were is devastating."
Hmmm...I wouldn't say that it's worse for a foreigner not to get in vs. a local U.S. citizen just because they traveled farther. It's our President, and we made it happen by voting, after all.
I understand people being disappointed that they couldn't get through the gates, or be close enough to see/hear. But to use terms such as travesty, devastating, waited their whole lives for this, etc. is a bit much. The media made it pretty clear how large the crowds were expected to be, and what that meant for getting around. Everyone who attempted to go knew (or should have known) there was a decent chance they wouldn't be able to get in, ticket or no ticket. If someone was willing to travel across the country to take a shot at seeing it, great, more power to them, and I'm sure it will be something they'll remember even if they ended up being stuck outside the gates. Attending the inauguration is a privilege, not a right. Even at previous ones it's taken a good amount of luck (in addition to getting there early and picking a good spot) to actually see it in person.
Not to pour salt in your wounds. But half of the purple section never filled up. I had 5-10 feet of personal space the whole time. You can tell in this shot too if you know where to look:
http://specials.washingtonpost.com/inauguration/satellite/?hpid=topnews
Trash is bad, but it can be picked up. But growing grass again on the Mall maybe impossible. Large sections look like moonscapes, with little trampled Obama flags.
we're going to have to suck it up and shut down parts of the mall for over a year if we intend to see a decent lawn there ever again.
chances of that happening—zero.
The Park Service always re-seeds after the Fourth of July and major Mall events. You'll see those plastic don't-walk-here fences in no time.
Probably a couple years. Since the ground is like cement they'd have to do a major soil overhaul before they could even think of growing new grass.
Cement is the key factor here. All the more reason they need to "reseed" the Mall with Astroturf® and replace those pebble bike lanes with waterslides full of barbecue sauce.
I was one of the purple gate people who did manage to get in eventually -- we arrived at 8:30am and got through the bottleneck/gate at 11:13am and sprinted to the west lawn.
You could point to a million mistakes made -- bad signage, no barricades to create lines, information printed on the tickets about checkpoints that didn't match where the checkpoints were -- but the worst problem was the lack of communication. The police all huddled together by the gate and never sent anyone down the crowd to offer information. Not once. No bullhorns, nothin'.
I'm glad I got in, it was glorious, and I'm glad the people near me in the crowd were always respectful and calm (though enough pushing happened near the end that I really did fear we might have one of those little trample fests you read about in the papers). But we got no help from the people who were supposed to help us, and that was shameful.
In contrast, whoever was responsible for crowd control at the metro stations, l'enfant plaza in particular, did a fabulous job of producing sanity out of sheer chaos.
Question: did you wait in the line that was in the tunnel when you got there at 8:30? Or were you above ground and massed into the swarm of people up there?
I was in line at 6:45am and made it just outside the tunnel around 11:00, to be told to turn around. I feel like those people in the tunnel were totally ignored and were cut in front of--either because of actual intent or because of ignorance, not realizing (due to horrible crowd control) that there was already a line of people who got there earlier than they did and should get to go in before they did. I'm honestly not asking to accuse you of anything or flame, I'm seriously just wondering what the 'eff happened that you and others got there later than me, yet made it in... I'm totally flabbergasted by the whole day and wondering why I bothered standing in line for 3 hours to pick up the tickets on Monday and then got up at 4:30 am to walk from my house in LeDroit in the freakin' cold.
I just keep reminding myself that a marriage is less important than the wedding, but damn I really wanted to go to this party!
I can say I didn't even know there were people in the tunnel. I got there at about 10 (I was in the wrong line for 2 hours, but at least that was above ground) and quickly realized the line wasn't moving toward the entrance point. I climbed a staircase and figured out that the crowd was swirling aimlessly with a slow trickle of people getting in the 1 open gate 2 at a time at c and louisianna, not at 1st and Constitution like on the ticket.
the line getting in was coming from the ne (union station side, and those in the tunnel, well, you were on the wrong side of that. I don't think 1 person in the tunnel got within 2 blocks of the gate before the closed it.
I also don't know why they closed it, there was no one around me. We speculated they would delay the start for tv sake and when they didn't I was surprised I didn't hear a chant 10,000 strong of "let us in"
It was a really poor job of communication of a really poor plan. I blame Secret Service for what that's worth.
I fear that the Capitol Police and other law enforcement agencies will take the wrong lessons from yesterday's disaster. Instead of recognizing the folly of trying to run 300,000 people through metal detectors on city streets and closing off a huge section of the city, they will decide they need more equipment and more personnel. I guess it's a good thing there weren't stampedes crashing the gates, because if there were, next time around they'd all be armed with tear gas and rubber bullets. There was plenty of room for all the people, and they would have been better distributed and had a better experience if they had been allowed free movement beyond the capital grounds.
I don't want to add too many sour grapes to what was a overwhelmingly a great day, but the crowd control procedures and restrictions were ridiculous. There was no reason to restrict access to the mall to the extent it was restricted.
Tickets are also a terrible idea (and as evidenced by the many complaints, don't work). Bleachers, which have been used for the last few inaugurations, also severely gum things up and reduce the number of people who can stand along the parade route.
There are a huge number of agencies in this town that will always feel it their responsibility to "manage" crowds for these type of events. Someone above them needs to step up and tell them to back off next time.
There is no way only 4k were turned away there were at least 10k in the purple tunnel of doom behind me when we were turned away. The worst part of the entire thing is that there really isn't going to be anything they can do to make it up to all of us, its not like i got turned away from the super bowl and could get a refund. I nearly i missed history in a grimy tunnel because of incompetence and poor planning and the lack of a 20 dollar megaphone. and only got to watch it because of how close i live to the capitol and that i was able to walk home.
alexalexalex: according to Mike Heimbach, Assistant Director of the FBI's counter-terrorism division, and not surprisingly, there was at least one terrorist threat against that event. rather than backing off, they are looking at this event as a blueprint for security at future events.
i think you might see them learn from the lack of useful communication at the event, but i doubt they will ever again open up the mall, unsecured, for any signicant gathering.
clearbluewater33: you can really tell the difference between 4,000 and 10,000 people right behind you?
I agree that the transit police did an excellent job, and I think overall the entire city did a great job. Obviously, the most important thing is that the crowds didn't get out of control and no one got hurt as a result, and of course that we now have a new President. I also get the need for tight security on events like this, and want to support the Secret Service completely. However, like I said before it seems crazy to me that some basic steps at the Capitol grounds were not taken, mainly that there was absolutely no crowd control and no communication. I'm not sure how they could have been that unprepared, as they knew exactly how many tickets had been issued (did they plan that some ticket holders wouldn't show? That would seem to be incredibly short-sighted, given what this event was).
The main disappointment we felt was that instead of experiencing this moment with a crowd of happy people, we were with a crowd of unhappy, upset, and at some points frantic people. Just not the vibe we had been hoping for. And again, the most heartbreaking part of it was seeing these out-of-town older folks, many of whom were African-American, just completely devastated because of missing it. And Terry Gainer's flip remarks yesterday didn't help (although he sounds more contrite this morning).
Ironically, the parade route was easy to get onto. We didn't even bother going to the Mall after I made the decision to abort based merely on the size of the crowd at 7:30am (the stream of people coming out of L'Enfant Plaza Metro was icing on the cake). But after the swearing-in we walked down to U St, found no crowd, hopped on a bus, and got to the parade gate on New York Ave at 15th just as they opened it up to people without tickets. There were empty bleachers, so they kept moving people to try to fill the closest one to the Presidential viewing stand, and we eventually decided to stay where we were.
It worked out pretty well for us.
As for the difference between 4k and 10k some guy in front of me was really bored, and stood up on the partition and figured out there were roughly 1000 people between light posts and that there were at least 10 sets of light posts filled with people. so maybe it was 8k or 9k or 11k but it was more then 4k
As a member of "Purple-gate", after I realized that I wasn't getting in, I found an empty garbage bag and started filling it with shredded newspaper, coffee cups, etc., in the area i was standing. It didn't make a dent, but i was hoping that other concerned and disgruntled citizens would follow suit. No dice.
Also, the Metro police should be extremely thankful that no riots broke out; there was enough tension that the scene could have gotten ugly very quickly.
We got in to the Purple section, completely by accident. We had tickets, were stuck in the "official" line (you know---the one lined up to the Purple gate? Silly us, thinking that would be where people would enter!) before giving up, sick of being pushed around and elbowed in the gut. We broke off, and were caught up in a another crowd. For some reason, the event officials (a loosely-used term) decided to open the barricade at a random point to allow this new crowd in. It took about 45 minutes of some seriously packed "get to know your neighbor" time before we cleared the gate. The ONE gate keeper just kept yelling "lift up your ticket" on a bullhorn as the masses ran past. I'd assume many non-ticket holders made it in, this way. A quick metal detector pass later, and we were in. Our area, just in front of the Capitol reflecting pool was wide open and we had a clear view of both the event (tiny, though it was) and a jumbo-screen. Amazing luck, really, and I feel for those who never made it.
At lunch afterwards, my friend pulled out her cellphone to realize that it had been cracked from the packed-in crowd.
Insane, exhilarating, frustrating, uplifting,exhausting and exciting. America in a nutshell.
..Tim Kaine has painted an overly optimistic portrait of the state's finances, and that his proposed budget cuts don't go nearly far enough.
Oh Timmy Tim Tim. If you trimmed that budget half as well as you trimmed those eyebrows you wouldn't be in this mess.
I have an idea - let's levy a tax based on the value of automobiles, assess it every year, and pass the responsibility to the counties and cities.
I have a better idea: let's threaten crackdowns on illegal immigrants so that they abandon their homes, leaving miles of untaxable and uninhabited cul de sacs bedroom communities. Then we levy a ghosttown tax.
My heart is officially broken: 10 year old reporter Damon Weaver was one of the ticketholders who did not get into the swearing in ceremony. He has cracked me up on CNN and NPR the past few weeks, and I really hope he gets to interview Obama before leaving town.
What a disappointment for all those who weren't able to get in -- and I hope that everyone follows up with their congressional representative about how Gainer is minimizing their poor communication and many screwups.
damn, that kid is great. too bad to hear about that. hope obama finds a way to talk to him sometime soon (because i'm sure he's strapped for time right now).
One the whole, the town did a fine job, but there was poor crowd management for the approach to and screening of ticket holders, as widely reported. To see an example, focus down on the area from Federal Center SW to the north across Maryland Avenue in CNN's satellite photo: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/44.president/inauguration/mall.satellite/
I read that the image was captured less than 15 minutes prior to the ceremony. I believe that most people seen at the intersection of Maryland and Third in the photo had been in the same spot since 8 A.M. Nearly all had tickets and were trapped, unable to move. Blocking access to the silver ticket area next to the Capitol Reflecting Pool was a plastic fence that was overrun by frustrated viewers; the area had been reserved for the handicapped, many of whom never got there. But the fence was uprighted and secured. The tented area visible on the Mall immediately adjacent to the museum was the security screening area. At the time that I went through, there were no lines...this area could not be approached from Fourth St. SW. I was told later by a silver ticket holder that he never got any closer to the Mall than Independence Avenue at Third. Very sad, as foot traffic was funneled there from several southwest approaches. I do not believe this was a case of too many marbles in the funnel, but poor communication with the crowd.
On the approach from 6th Street SW to Independence Avenue at 8 A.M., megaphones blared instructions at the approaching mass, advising that anyone without a ticket must go to 14th Street to gain access to the Mall. Yet, the satellite photo shows the Mall adjacent to the Air & Space Museum to be very sparse by comparison with areas 14th street and west.