Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Welcome to Fortress DC
It's hard to go about our normal lives with increasing road closures
Ever since they closed Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, it has become increasingly difficult to get around DC. The recent expansion of security perimeter around the Capitol, White House, and other sites in DC is making moving around the city problematic.
DC has a respectable, but rather small downtown. The business district is broken up by large blocks of land where the White House and Capitol are. These sections of the city are bordered by broad boulevards rather than the small side streets of the residential areas. So, blocking off 1st street which runs between two Senate office buildings doesn't just mean a 1 block detour, but rather a detour of several blocks in near gridlocked traffic now routed to narrow neighborhood streets. It makes moving around the city, which on a good day is hard enough, even harder.
I'm all for strong security, but things seem to be snowballing into a 'me too' mentality. There's got to be a better way to do this.
Security Might Get Tighter Yet, Officials Say
Changes Considered Near Treasury and White House
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37933-2004Aug3.html
Ever since they closed Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, it has become increasingly difficult to get around DC. The recent expansion of security perimeter around the Capitol, White House, and other sites in DC is making moving around the city problematic.
DC has a respectable, but rather small downtown. The business district is broken up by large blocks of land where the White House and Capitol are. These sections of the city are bordered by broad boulevards rather than the small side streets of the residential areas. So, blocking off 1st street which runs between two Senate office buildings doesn't just mean a 1 block detour, but rather a detour of several blocks in near gridlocked traffic now routed to narrow neighborhood streets. It makes moving around the city, which on a good day is hard enough, even harder.
I'm all for strong security, but things seem to be snowballing into a 'me too' mentality. There's got to be a better way to do this.
Security Might Get Tighter Yet, Officials Say
Changes Considered Near Treasury and White House
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37933-2004Aug3.html
