The Post reported today that a report by Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies has pointed out several obvious flaws with the inauguration. The report: "pointed to insufficient signs, poor coordination among law enforcement agencies and a lack of personnel to keep order and provide information to visitors." By now everyone who attended the inauguration or who read about the Purple Tunnel of Doom knows the screw-ups. The only thing left of out of the report is a mention of Dionne Warwick's ball flap.

In the report's executive summary, under "crowd management," it does point out a few major gaffes. Crowds were not only huge, they arrived before police officers got to their posts, the report states, adding that ticket holders and non-ticket holders ended up fighting for spots at the same gates. In other areas medium security fencing was either moved or trampled over. The report notes that in the Silver Section, the "snow" fencing had been trampled. In other spots, bike-rack fencing was simply moved.

The report also pointed out the conflicting maps for the "Third Street Street Crossover." One government entity declared that this crossover could not be used as an access point in and out of the Mall. Another declared that it could be. It wasn't until the morning of January 20 that a "joint decision was made" to allow silver ticket holders to use Third Street but only if they were escorted. But when D.C. Police requested it move a large group of silver ticket holders through Third Street, officers were told they could not. The report cites communication problems for the mix up.

In the conclusion of its executive summary, the authors note: "All planners and law enforcement personnel regret that so many of these travelers were unable to view the swearing in ceremony....It is the hope that all future security planners will benefit from this report."

*photo by AP.

Now a congressman is pushing for an audit of security, on the following basis: "In the interest of ensuring the integrity of Secret Service protective operations, and the security of our nation's leaders, I request that you audit the Secret Service protective security plans for the Inauguration, investigate and identify any deficiencies in security operations," wrote Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) in a letter to some big shot at the Department of Homeland Security.

How 'bout this deficiency, Mr. Congressman?

Frozen Tropics reports on some Catholic University architecture students who are studying H Street transportation. Next study topic: Benning Road. Please. Study it.

Southwest...The Little Quadrant That Could eyes some projects that may benefit from Obama's stimulus package. And there's some news about a new design for the South Cap bridge.

River East Idealist gets R.E.E.L.

Borderstan polls folks on whether 15th Street NW should have two-way traffic. We took on this issue a while ago.

D.C. Foodies takes a trip to the Falls Church farmers market. You decide if its worth the ride out there.

A note of thanks to all those who contributed to our Inauguration Flickr pool. Just eighteen days ago, we sent out a call for dope/avant-garde photographs chronicling this seminal/historic/generally rad moment in D.C. history. The pool swelled to a whopping 699 photographs, from which Darrow Montgomery somehow managed to extract the finest three...or four.

Winners, and details on the readers' poll, below the jump.

THE READERS' CHOICE AWARD: To participate, navigate to our Inauguration Photo Contest HQ and click through until you find your ABSOLUTE MOST FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPH EVER. Follow directions to vote. One vote per household. VOTING CLOSES AT 6 P.M. ON FEBRUARY 12!

Our fourth-place winner: a lovely shot by Aziz Y.:

Our third-place winner, in which mounted police appear to be trotting atop a line of porta-potties, comes from soleil 1016:

Our second- and first-place winners, both by AnyaLogic:

AnyaLogic: despite your estimable skill with a camera—you wouldn't believe how much the winning entry moved Darrow—you will receive only one gift basket.

To everyone else who participated: Tell your friends & fam to vote, and you too can cherish your very own City Paper gift bag!!!

The story, and it's a good one, is that big-time Obama campaign donors--tech CEOs among them--were appalled at how little they were patted down before mingling with other high fliers on Inauguration Day. Here's what one industrialist said: "I didn't think about it at the time, but we went through security and then we were in an open space, freely accessible to the public."

The point here: You know life is good when you complain that the feds aren't hassling you enough.

The ball cancellation issue hasn't gone away. Today, in my e-mail inbox, came a message directly from Dionne Warwick. OK, it's actually directly from Dionne Warwick's publicist! Kevin Sasaki, "Public Relations Representative for Dionne Warwick" writes:

It was with great dismay, regret and disappointment that Ms. Warwick faced with the cancellation of the American Music Legend and Urban Balls to which she agreed to lend her name. When asked to lend her name as “host,” she was sincerely taken by the premise of what this event promised to be: for her to be associated with a historic gathering of young and old people of all backgrounds to celebrate the inauguration. Like her disenchanted guests, Ms. Warwick, too, was robbed of her name, reputation and her efforts on behalf of this event.

The p.r. flack goes on to talk about just who let Ms. Warwick down.

The flack writes:

"Ms. Warwick was assured by event producer Guy Draper and Billie Schley (who handled the finances) that all would be handled and organized, allowing her to simply act as “host.” She personally paid for her family members and close friends to attend and generously agreed to bring in her musicians to play for any performers who needed them to do so. In addition, she entrusted Draper and Schley to create an account bearing her name to handle ticket sales.

Upon her arrival in Washington, she was told by Draper and Schley that a potential sponsor never came through and that ticket sales were not what they had expected and it would have to be cancelled. At that point, Ms. Warwick was faced with a terrible situation that simply could not be resolved in a few days. She even extended herself personally, making several last attempts to call personal contacts to assist in the situation. Of course, she was devastated for the guests, and did everything within her power to keep the event alive.

As her name is recognized and associated with this event, Ms. Warwick unwittingly became the scapegoat for this debacle and has suffered public embarrassment and ridicule. Of course, she feels terribly apologetic to guest and fans who counted on this event, and, as a result, she is working with her attorneys and management on a plan of recourse and to ensure that the organizers of this ball refund every ticket that was purchased.

This statement may do nothing to stop the lawsuits from coming to Ms. Warwick's doorstep. One woman left me a message on my voicemail asserting that she planned on taking action beyond a mere ticket refund. So stay tuned.

In the early morning hours of the inauguration, it became clear that law enforcement as well as the Presidential Inaugural Committee had inadequate plans in place. The Washington Post today does a great job running down the mistakes. Ironically, it was the ticket holders---the ones that hustled to get these much prized slots, put their names on waiting lists, entered lotteries, wrote their congressman, called in favors---that probably fared the worst.

I was at the now-infamous Purple Tunnel Of Doom at about 4 a.m. The tunnel is located just a few steps from D.C. Police headquarters. There were already huge crowds, long lines and chaos. Police were outnumbered and seemed pretty ill-informed. We decided to not deal with that mess and moved on to Capitol Hill. We noticed that there weren't a lot of signs directing ticket holders to the proper place to go. We had Silver tickets. Eventually the signs for silver ticket holders just disappeared. After much map checking (yes, we brought the official maps) and asking around, we finally made our way to the Silver Gate entrance at 3rd and Independence Ave SW.

A huge line had already formed to the right of the gate. I should say "line." Yes, there was a line. And then there was everybody else huddled at the gate like they were getting ready for a marathon. Again, the police were woefully outnumbered. It was one female cop with a bullhorn vs. the rest of us. I documented some of this scene at the time. Again, the scene was a lot easier for non-ticket holders.

At the Silver Gate, what made things a lot worse was the police's inability to do crowd control. The stood around. They made rash decisions. All of the sudden, the police declared the line on the left was invalid. Now, they yelled out that everyone had to form a line to the right. They probably decided this because the left line was too big. There was more room on the right. However, I don't think anybody moved. It was just too hard to tell.

There were definitely thousands by 6 a.m. They weren't formed into a line. They were a mass.

Once we got onto the Mall, the security checks and ticket checks were jokes. A cursory bag check at best. As for a ticket check---does it count if the check meant running past a cop and waving a piece of paper in front of them? If you didn't have a ticket, you could have gotten in. After a few hours, the silver section knocked down the plastic fence. Everyone ran to the edge of the reflecting pool. There were no cops to call us back to our place. It just happened.

I wandered off to pee and ended up in the purple area (I think). That section in particular seemed really screwed up. It was empty. Then there was a rush of people. These people sat on top of the portable toilets, were allowed to skate on the iced-over reflecting pool, climb trees, etc. Again, the cops were outnumbered.

The Post writes:

"A combination of official miscalculations and inadequate response contributed to a breakdown in order at half a dozen ticket entrances and intersections around the Capitol before the swearing-in of President Obama. In meetings that carried into the weekend, congressional and security officials were grappling with public outrage and trying to figure out what went wrong.

This much is clear: The Capitol Police and other officials underestimated the turnout among ticket holders. They turned down advance offers of help from volunteers and the National Guard, officials say. And police failed to respond adequately when trouble arose."

But wait. It's worse:

"As a result, thousands of people with precious tickets to the swearing-in didn't get anywhere near it in time for the historic moment. Senate Sergeant at Arms (and former Executive Assistant Chief with D.C. Police) Terrance W. Gainer acknowledged yesterday that the number could be far higher than his early estimate of 4,000. Satellite photos show more than 10,000 people swarming outside each of three security gates shortly before the inaugural ceremony began at 11:30 a.m., or 34 minutes before Obama took the oath.....

The Secret Service said there were two dozen magnetometers at the checkpoint, each machine capable of screening about 400 people an hour. But some security officials say that wasn't enough. "Do the math," one local official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is involved in the investigation by law enforcement agencies and inaugural planners into what went wrong.

The purple gate wasn't the only one developing problems. At the blue ticket entrance on the southwest side of the Capitol, which was supposed to process another 52,000 people, Obama supporters complained of slow-moving lines and conflicting information about where to file.

At the silver section, behind the Reflecting Pool, there was only one gate for 100,000 ticket holders -- three fewer openings than in 2005 -- because of security issues."

If anyone suffered through the morning, they shouldn't have had great expectations of an easy exit. My experience leaving the Mall was certainly hopeless.

*photo by the Associated Press.

Was anything about this inauguration legit?

This afternoon, I posted about possibility that parts of the National Mall will have to be restored due to millions of people trampling its grass on inauguration day. Well, I went down to the Mall this afternoon. More than two days after Obama's swearing in, the portable toilets are still on the Mall. Hundreds of them! And it's hot out today.

These portable toilets have been there for a while. They were put up days before Tuesday's inaugural ceremonies. I wonder if they've been cleaned out. They are certainly still available for use. So when will the Mall start to take on an overwhelming poop smell?

*photo taken on Tuesday and not necessarily reflective of conditions on the Mall.

Warwick ended up at the Purple Ball as a "reporter" for Entertainment Tonight. Reliable Source writes:

"What happened? Warwick, who announced the gala last fall, offered few answers. 'We had no sponsors, and the expense was horrendously high,' the singer told us. (She ended up at the Purple Ball as an 'Entertainment Tonight' correspondent.)

Who was in charge? 'I couldn't begin to tell you,' she said. Both the hotel and a PR agency ID'd the promoter as Guy Draper. That's the same name as Warwick's partner in earlier charitable ventures that raised questions about fiscal management, according to reports by ABC in 1993 and Entertainment Weekly last year. Draper is a former D.C resident and was a city official during Marion Barry's first mayoral term. Draper's voice mail was full yesterday; he did not reply to e-mail."

Warwick should have had more answers. She was the face of these inaugural events. On January 8, she held a press conference to promote her two events. By then, she probably should have known about the sponsorship problems and expenses.

"A bond has been set aside for the National Park Service to refurbish the National Mall. The National Park Service will determine how much it will take from the bond once it assesses the condition of the Mall.

Once the turf itself is inspected, officials say it's likely some portions of the Mall will be sectioned off for months.

'The point will be to fence it off with snow fencing for three, four, five months, to allow that turf to regenerate, to regrow, to water it, to reseed it and to make it look as good as we possibly can,' Line says.

One saving grace for the Mall is that the inauguration took place in the middle of the winter - when the grass really isn't growing at all.

'We have to look at what damage there could be into the spring and the summer, when people are going to expect it to look green,' Line says"

It seems like a lot of the Mall will be closed off until summer. Just a guess. The Mall looked pretty trashed in certain sections. At least that's what I saw.

Thanks to all who entered our 2009 Inauguration Photo Contest. To date, we've collected 547 photo entries, many of which are reasonably dope. Selected awesomeness below.

But wait! Don't snickr. And certainly don't stop submitting your photos. Next week we kick off our "reader's choice" award, whereby the public makes its preference known via arcane e-voting mechanisms. Just think! If our hard-to-please prize committee passes over your artsy shots, the American people might well be your ticket to ephemeral fame & fabulous prizes!

Check back on Monday for voting details.

The guy, after all, has a knack for being in the right place at the right time in this town, Superman-style. First off, the Houston transit cop, on loan to the Metro transit police for the inauguration, saved a 68-year-old woman who fell onto the tracks by rolling her under the lip of a Chinatown/Galley Place platform as a train passed.

Then, as a Houston TV station reported yesterday, he was among the first responders to the deadly rowhouse fire on North Capitol Street on Wednesday. According to CNN, Swainson and others knocked on doors of adjacent houses to evacuate those folks.

Please, can we keep you, please?

Editors have agreed: Dionne Warwick is my new beat. The fallout from the closing of the American Music Inaugural Balls is heating up! One very unsatisfied ticket holder is planning a lawsuit. He called in to WCP headquarters this afternoon. I was able to get the scoop.

Tony Reddick says he bought tickets to both balls spending more than $700 (includes service charges) and chartered a car to take him to the balls at the Marriott Wardman Park where the balls were being held. He says on the morning of the event, he checked the balls' website to see if any more celebrities had been added to the bill. Instead, he found a cancellation noticed. He called the hotel which confirmed the bad news.

Reddick shelled out a lot of cash. He is still disappointed about the last-minute cancellation. “You can’t repay something you missed out on or your limo service or your airplane or hotel," he says. "We were stuck out in the cold."

Reddick notes that Warwick seemed to have a good time at someone else's ball--the Purple Ball. She even took the time to smile before the cameras at the shindig while her fans were getting turned away at the Marriott. People rented cars to take them to the event. Valets had to break the news to them.

Reddick says he is "definitely" planning on filing a lawsuit. Right now he is seeking other victims for his case.

“I always looked to her as being a celebrity figure," Reddick says. "I thought she would be able to draw people to her ball. I wrote to her website that I wanted a verbal apology. I want her to call my phone and say Mr. Reddick and say I’m sorry or get on national TV and say she’s sorry for what she did. A celebrity….they shouldn't mistreat us like that.”

Reddick has two questions for Ms. Warwick: “How come your psychic friends network didn’t tell her that she wasn’t going to sell no tickets? Where’s your network now?...She pretty much hustled us.”

Reddick says anyone who wants to be a part of the lawsuit can go to www.myspace.com/tonyreddick where he will be setting up a blog to gather info for his legal action. One victim has already written to Mr. Reddick. She writes:

"I am one of the many people who were jilted by the American Music Inaugural Ball cancellation. I am quite interested in filing a lawsuit. Words cannot describe how upset and hurt I was that evening. My father had been invited to the official balls downtown, but we chose not to purchase tickets because we had already purchased tickets to the AMIB. We even chose not to go down to the mall that morning because we didn't want to be late to this event. All in all, our whole celebration of the historic moment of Obama's presidency was ruined! RUINED!"

Seeking comment, I called the American Music Inaugural Ball's phone number. The number's voicemail box was full.

On a website associated with the awesome Ms. Warwick, they wrote about the American Music Inaugural Balls' cancellation. They blamed the mysterious production issues:

"The American Music Inaugural Ball Committee has cancelled the 'Ball of Legends' and 'Urban Balls,' and all events associated with the Balls, due to unexpected production issues, it was announced by a Committee Spokesperson."

The "Committee Spokesperson" still doesn't have a name. Nor have any of the organizers come forward with an apology, an excuse, or a method on how people can get their money back. Folks have been directed to a pretty lame website with this simple message:

"Continue to watch this site for information regarding your refund which will occur within 30-45 days."

Not exactly a real confidence builder.