Little about this inauguration pleases Terry Lynch, executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations. Not the extended boozing. And not the behavior of the Secret Service.

He reports in a message to LL Daily: "I waited at the 7th & D checkpoint entrance amidst a crowd of thousands; Secret Service had only a few metal detectors in place, so over a couple hours only 250 folks maybe got through, leaving tens of thousands to leave or left out. A disgraceful performance by the Secret Service."

Further, Lynch is also not pleased by City Administrator Dan Tangherlini who, he says, "has failed to allow many folks to witness the parade or leave with some orderly semblance after the the Inauguration."

To sum up: "A very disappointing showing; security has trumped access; and there was a vacuum of crowd control afterwards. DC's residents and its many visitors deserved better."

Staffwriter and Obaman Jason Cherkis reports he's been walking for two hours and is not happy about his progress. He's at M and 19th Streets and trying to get home to Mount Pleasant. Cops and "army dudes" (going to go out on a limb here and say they were Army National Guard soldiers) are giving people bad directions "because they don't know the city" and, at one point, one man in cammo "threatened us with pepper spray." Cherkis said the man said, "We have cops and they have pepper spray" and also shouted, "Soldiers! Man your posts!"

Old people were stranded. People walked up and down Independence trying to find a way out.

"They dumped a lot of people in Southwest, which isn't the easiest grid to master," says Cherkis, who had a good spot at 3rd and Independence during the ceremony. He left right after Obama's speech. Since then, he's found crowds and security to be less than orderly. People are "off-roading it" wherever they can, he says.

Cherkis, losing his sense of hope, appears to be gaining a sense of crankiness.

Flickr photo by justpat

If yesterday's concert at the Lincoln Memorial is practice for the cops, National Guard soldiers, and volunteers in charge of handling the masses, I think we're in good hands. Leaving the Lincoln was, notably, not that exciting.

When I got to the checkpoint, the entire area between the WWII memorial and the Washington Monument was pretty much clear. When the show was over, that area was an undulating lake of humanity. The Lincoln grounds were pretty packed, too, although, in truth, they certainly could have let more people in.

We all got there at different times and we all pretty much left at the same time. And nothing catastrophic happened. Cops and soldiers id'd spots were people were likely to stop and take a picture, clogging the flow---especially at the end of the reflecting pool facing Lincoln. Calmly, they told people not to stop, to step off to the side if they wanted to snap a shot. People listened. They didn't shove. One woman dropped a camera battery and a small boy picked it up and handed it to her. The whole massive crowd experience was entirely civil.

A little more than a week ago, I was out reporting in Burleith and a doctor told me another doctor friend of his was preping to treat crush injuries. If that happens, I'd be surprised. The mood around this town is scarily nice. It kind of creeps me out. Not as much as the guy with the dolls, but still. All this orderly optimism makes me think we'll survive this. And then revert to our familiar, pissed-off selves. Can't wait!

Flickr photo by miamabanta

It sucks being late. It took forever to get out of our apartment and head to the concert. We thought: The Boss has to be the closer. We were wrong. We ended up listening to the Boss on NPR in our kitchen nook! By the time we made it to the Mall (Cab to Foggy Bottom then a hectic walk the rest of the way), military dudes were giving everyone the stare down and telling folks the concert was closed. "We're only letting people out," said one.

This meant listening to Obama several blocks away. Or at least listening to an echo of Obama's speech from several blocks away. We could sort of see a jumbotron through some trees. So we learned some lessons for Tuesday. Standing outside the barriers really sucks. There are a lot of people selling Obama bootleg shirts. And there are a lot of people interested in this inauguration.

*photo taken on our long walk home.