Photo by dullshick

Some of the 5,000 people who have bleacher tickets to the Inaugural Parade route on Tuesday need to check the attitude. Look at this washingtonpost.com chat with D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier. One person asks Lanier to clear up some perceived confusion about what will happen once the parade route reaches capacity. Do ticket holders really need to show up as early as those who will be in the standing room-only sections? Lanier smartly advises that ticket holders should expect the U.S. Park Police to stay true to their word and close all security checkpoints to the parade route by 10 or 11 a.m., once the area is at capacity. “This is important so ticket holders do not come late thinking that they will be able to get in at any time,” Lanier said. About a dozen comments later, “JennX” writes indignantly,

This is absurd. If I have a ticket to a seated area for the parade (I do) and arrive after the swearing-in– say 12:30– even if the standing areas along the parade route are deemed to be “at capacity,” the ticketed areas clearly are NOT since the person who holds a ticket to sit there– ME– isn’t there yet. So why can’t I watch the swearing in, revel in the atmosphere on the Mall, and then dart over to my assigned, ticketed, PAID FOR seating area?

The message that spectators simply won’t be able to get to the parade route if they wait until after the Swearing-In Ceremony has been repeated over and over for the last several weeks. If you happen to have gotten lucky and been able to pay all of $25 for the privilege of being able to sit down during the parade, we have a tip for you: get down there by 9 a.m. and sit in your seat and be happy you have it. The idea that you expect special treatment from the U.S. Park Police really sounds a bit silly.