I’ve been meaning to write about the “Purple Tunnel of Doom” and the severe problems that ticket-holders had getting to the purple, blue and silver sections of the inaugural viewing areas. I wish I could just focus on all that was positive about the inaugural festivities, but the fact is that there was some extremely poor planning that could have easily wrecked the whole inauguration.
As you’ve probably read about by now, there was extreme congestion and confusion for many people who had purple tickets. Several thousand people were incorrectly led to a tunnel beginning at 2nd and D St NW and ended up being stuck there for 5-plus hours in the freezing cold, missing the swearing-in. You should check out this Google Map created by someone from the Facebook group, “Survivors of the Purple Tunnel of Doom.”
What many people don’t realize about this travesty and near-disaster is that most of President Obama’s campaign staff were given purple tickets. As a result, many, many of Barack Obama’s most ardent supporters missed his swearing-in. It is just sad to read stories like this. Although it’s good to see that Sen. Feinstein is launching an investigation, her idea for paying back the ticket-holders with souvenir packets is ludicrous.
I was an extremely lucky purple ticket-holder. After some initial problems, I was ultimately able to get into the purple gate and find a very good spot to watch the swearing-in. But it was mere chance that I got in, especially considering my late arrival. Many people who exercised extreme caution in arriving at 6am or earlier and who followed the Presidential Inaugural Commitee’s (PIC) scarce instructions were denied entry by police and overwhelming crowds.
My story sheds some light on how some purple ticket-holders were able to just barely get in. I went to the swearing-in with a friend and we arrived at the Judiciary Square metro station at around 8am. The gates were supposed to open at 9am and there were already extremely large crowds on 4th St. outside of Judiciary Square and on the streets surrounding the National Mall.
Immediately after walking out of the metro station, we noticed that there was no one giving directions. Further, there were very few police in sight, no inaugural volunteers, no signs except for one which we found after initially going in the wrong direction. The sign simply stated “National Mall Ahead” with an arrow pointing in the direction we were supposed to follow. After following this sign for several blocks, we suddenly found ourselves in an enormous crowd at around 8:30am, packed in tightly with probably a thousand or more people. We were unable to move. A woman sat on a curb crying and appeared to be hyperventilating. People were shouting for a doctor or an ambulance. Eventually, some medics arrived to help.
We moved inch by inch for about an hour until we came to a complete stop at the intersection of 4th and D St. It was impossible to move and some people were trying in vain to shove their way through the crowd. The purple gate was nowhere in sight. Most people were in good spirits but we all recognized that we might end up missing the swearing-in. It was 9:30am, and I suspected that we arrived too late, that the majority of ticket-holders were already in the gate, and that a lot of the people surrounding me didn’t have tickets but were clogging up the area hoping to get as close as possible. The worst part was that no one knew what was going on or why we were stuck. There were no police in sight that should have been directing people with a megaphone. People had different explanations based on rumors they’d heard from others. The only directions given by the PIC were to take the metro to Judiciary and enter through the Purple Gate at 1st and Constitution.
It was around 9:45am when suddenly a one-way bottleneck emerged that allowed people to walk through the crowd and toward Louisiana. Having done some scouting of the area the day before, I knew that Louisiana hooked up with Constitution and First St., which was where the gate was. My friend and I were able to get through the congestion and make it to Louisiana without much trouble.
As we walked toward the Purple Gate at around 10am, we found ourselves in another congested area, but this time, we were lucky that the gate was in sight. After about half an hour, we were finally able to pass through security at 10:30am and find a place to watch the inauguration. Several staffers I knew from Wisconsin weren’t so lucky.
So, my friend and I arrive later than thousands of purple ticket-holders and manage to get in by sheer luck. I am feeling a bit of survivor’s syndrome, I must admit. But the fact that I was able to get in, and the way I got in, while thousands of people who arrived before me were left abandoned without instructions shows how twisted the process was that day.
There is a silver lining to all of this, of course: it is a miracle that no one was seriously injured or killed due to a stampede. What was the difference between the inauguration and the trampling of a Wal-Mart employee a few months ago? The only difference was probably the enthusiasm for Barack Obama becoming President at the inauguration. Considering that there were several times more people at the congested points of the inauguration than at the Wal-Mart disaster, things could have been much worse last Tuesday. A stampede would have stained the inauguration of Barack Obama much more than people not being able to witness the event.
I understand that the crowds at the inauguration were unprecedented and so it’s to be expected that there would be some glitches. 1.8 million people are reported to have filled the mall. But everyone knew this figure was likely and the lack of police, volunteers, signage, and systems was appalling. Having talked to several people who didn’t have a ticket, I am fairly confident that a large number of people around the purple, blue, and silver areas were not ticket-holders, and they were thus making the crowds worse and slowing down the process. There should have been a system in place to weed these folks out earlier, closer to the metro stations. That is only one of the small changes that could have prevented what for many people will be remembered as a day of disappointment.
I had my own, less dramatic inaugural screw-up. The organizers of the Youth Ball overticketed by several thousand and I wasn’t able to get in. But that disappointment which cost me $75 pales in comparison to not being able to see history, especially for staffers. The PIC and the White House owe those who were denied entry to the inauguration something better than a souvenir packet.
I suppose the larger lesson I take from witnessing such a debacle is that the best of intentions don’t mean much if they aren’t competently executed. Despite all the hope, optimism, and happiness many of us on the mall felt on January 20, the people who were shut out learned a bitter lesson that President Obama should heed. The American people have enormous hopes at this moment. Good intentions require excellent follow-through.
UPDATE: The Senate Sergeant-at-Arms, Terrance Gainer, now says that the fiasco at the 3rd St. tunnel was “a major security breach“.
