They came for the inauguration but got stuck in a tunnel
Many holders of purple tickets spent hours in a tunnel under the National Mall instead of witnessing Obama's swearing-in. Officials are investigating what went wrong.
By Robin Abcarian
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 23, 2009
Reporting from Washington — You wouldn't think a presidential inauguration would require a survivors group. But shortly after thousands of ticket holders were trapped in an underground tunnel beneath the National Mall on Tuesday, a new Facebook group was born: Survivors of the Purple Tunnel of Doom. Membership as of Thursday evening: 3,950.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), head of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which was responsible for the event, has apologized to the distressed visitors -- whose color-coded tickets were purple -- and called for an investigation by the law enforcement agencies that planned the event, which include the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Capitol Police.
"Sen. Feinstein was very displeased," said committee spokeswoman Carole Florman. "Word has gone out to get some answers."
Among the nearly 2 million people who streamed onto the National Mall on Tuesday were thousands of purple-ticket holders. Some were campaign volunteers, some were well-connected donors, others had simply requested tickets from elected officials.
Many arrived five or six hours before the noon swearing-in, and were told that gates would open at 8 a.m. They formed themselves into a line that stretched south, more than a mile by many accounts, into the city's 3rd Street tunnel, which is part of Interstate 395 and runs under the mall.
Then they waited. And waited. Nine o'clock came and went. The line stayed put. Parents grew uncomfortable holding small children because strollers weren't allowed on the mall. Men relieved themselves against the tunnel walls because there were no portable toilets. To the tune of "We Shall Overcome," they sang "We shall get inside."
"There was no one to aid or guide us," said Pat Silberfeld, a Democratic activist from Beverly Hills. "I guess security totally broke down." Silberfeld, who did not arrive at the tunnel until about 8 a.m. because she was suffering from food poisoning, saw a man writing "Free the tunnel people" in the grime of the tunnel wall.
Late Thursday, Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terry Gainer, the Senate's chief law enforcement officer, attended a meeting with the head of the Secret Service and the Capitol police. He also had spoken by phone with the District of Columbia's police chief. They reviewed video of the purple gate taken by a fixed security camera as well as satellite and still photos, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. He disputed much of what eyewitnesses described, but admitted the situation was "clumsy."
Gainer said the purple gate opened at 7:33 a.m. and did not close until moments before noon, when the metal detectors had to be removed to accommodate exiting crowds. He also said that people may not have realized how many law enforcement officers were in the crowd because many were not in uniform.
It appears, he said, that the tunnel backup occurred because some people with silver-colored tickets were misdirected to the parade route and had to be redirected to the mall. Also, President Bush's motorcade blocked movement for a time.
http://tinyurl.com/cbu4la
LOL
Its all Bush's fault the rats were trapped.
Many holders of purple tickets spent hours in a tunnel under the National Mall instead of witnessing Obama's swearing-in. Officials are investigating what went wrong.
By Robin Abcarian
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 23, 2009
Reporting from Washington — You wouldn't think a presidential inauguration would require a survivors group. But shortly after thousands of ticket holders were trapped in an underground tunnel beneath the National Mall on Tuesday, a new Facebook group was born: Survivors of the Purple Tunnel of Doom. Membership as of Thursday evening: 3,950.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), head of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which was responsible for the event, has apologized to the distressed visitors -- whose color-coded tickets were purple -- and called for an investigation by the law enforcement agencies that planned the event, which include the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Capitol Police.
"Sen. Feinstein was very displeased," said committee spokeswoman Carole Florman. "Word has gone out to get some answers."
Among the nearly 2 million people who streamed onto the National Mall on Tuesday were thousands of purple-ticket holders. Some were campaign volunteers, some were well-connected donors, others had simply requested tickets from elected officials.
Many arrived five or six hours before the noon swearing-in, and were told that gates would open at 8 a.m. They formed themselves into a line that stretched south, more than a mile by many accounts, into the city's 3rd Street tunnel, which is part of Interstate 395 and runs under the mall.
Then they waited. And waited. Nine o'clock came and went. The line stayed put. Parents grew uncomfortable holding small children because strollers weren't allowed on the mall. Men relieved themselves against the tunnel walls because there were no portable toilets. To the tune of "We Shall Overcome," they sang "We shall get inside."
"There was no one to aid or guide us," said Pat Silberfeld, a Democratic activist from Beverly Hills. "I guess security totally broke down." Silberfeld, who did not arrive at the tunnel until about 8 a.m. because she was suffering from food poisoning, saw a man writing "Free the tunnel people" in the grime of the tunnel wall.
Late Thursday, Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terry Gainer, the Senate's chief law enforcement officer, attended a meeting with the head of the Secret Service and the Capitol police. He also had spoken by phone with the District of Columbia's police chief. They reviewed video of the purple gate taken by a fixed security camera as well as satellite and still photos, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. He disputed much of what eyewitnesses described, but admitted the situation was "clumsy."
Gainer said the purple gate opened at 7:33 a.m. and did not close until moments before noon, when the metal detectors had to be removed to accommodate exiting crowds. He also said that people may not have realized how many law enforcement officers were in the crowd because many were not in uniform.
It appears, he said, that the tunnel backup occurred because some people with silver-colored tickets were misdirected to the parade route and had to be redirected to the mall. Also, President Bush's motorcade blocked movement for a time.
http://tinyurl.com/cbu4la
LOL
Its all Bush's fault the rats were trapped.
