Feds: You Can’t Camp Out For the Inauguration
The feds have announced that no one will be allowed to camp out on the Mall for the Inauguration. The earliest you can grab a spot on the parade route is 7 a.m. So instead of a feel-good time, a sea of fleece jackets, and REI gear, we're gonna have a morning gridlock to beat all morning gridlocks. The bad news came out earlier today. Transportation and security issues are still being worked out. Yeah, right.
The Post writes:
"To accommodate the crowd, the entire Mall is being opened to inauguration spectators for the first time, with Jumbotrons showing the noontime ceremony at the Capitol.
Sgt. Robert LaChance, a U.S. Park Police spokesman, said that it is "not legal to camp on the Mall" and that tents would be banned. Although the Mall is open 24 hours, it might be swept in a check for bombs during the night, he said.
'What we encourage people to do is come once public transportation is open,' he said."
I'm gonna call bullshit. The U.S. Park Police aren't that busy. They patrol Rock Creek Park. They once in awhile will find some weird skeletal remains. They catch people drinking by the monuments at night. And probably do a lot of work with the homeless. So. They can't really handle one lousy sleepover on the Mall?
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Linked From: December 12th, 200812.12.08 Links | Oliver Willis
8:22 am[...] Feds: You Can’t Camp Out For the Inauguration I’m looking forward to the [...]
9:38 am
my plan is foiled!
10:28 am
A Metro official said that the trains can move 120,000 per hour - maximum carrying capacity. It will take 20 hours to move 2.4 million people on Jan 20 - this in 35 degree weather. I advise walking to & from the festivities.
12:45 pm
So they're going to do a security sweep of the National Mall the night before and be done by 4am. Big deal! That doesn't mean you can't bring a tent AFTER they open it! If you get to the Mall at 4am, you'll still have at least 8 hours to kill, so make the most of it.
10:06 pm
I imagine there will be tons of people queued up at the checkpoints on the Mall -- all vying to get a road-side spot when security opens the gates at 7am.... visions of Walmart stampedes dancing in my head.
4:00 pm
Mr. Cherkis,
Are you in idiot? Respectfully, I'm asking. The security demands are unprecedented -- if there's a "sleepover," those concerns are amplified because of the darkness. What if there's a murder, or a rape incident?
Are you in idiot?
4:24 pm
"Are you in idiot?"
I think that pretty much says it all.