Paranoia on Capitol Hill

Washington Examiner -  D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton fired back at former Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer over his suggestion that the Capitol should be fenced and roads surrounding it closed off, calling his proposal “a slap in the face” to constituents and the police. In an interview, Gainer told the publication Roll Call that the Capitol should be encompassed by a “tasteful fence,” and that the two streets running on either side of the building are now an “attractive nuisance” and should be closed.

“Calling the streets around the Capitol an ‘attractive nuisance’ is the same as calling the public a nuisance,” Norton said in a statement. “Gainer’s notion of a ‘tasteful fence’ would be inherently distasteful and disrespectful to D.C. residents and the millions who visit the Capitol each year. Worse, closing the streets and enclosing the Capitol within a fence would send the message that a Congress that cannot keep itself safe without fencing itself in cannot keep the country safe.”

Sam Smith, 2012 - It is not an accident that the White House and Capitol grounds are the most heavily policed public spaces in America. After 9/11 the Capitol turned into an armed camp. The Capitol Visitors Center, under construction, was modified to serve as a bunker for members of Congress in case of an attack and the Capitol police force soared to three officers per member of Congress with the greatest number of police per acre of any spot in America. In the end the visitor's center/bunker would cost over $600 million, just slightly less than the city's new baseball stadium. Perhaps the most telling change was when the Capitol police, as a security measure, moved all tourist bus traffic a few blocks away. In essence, the police declared the lives of residents of 3rd & 4th Streets less important than those of officials working at or near the Capitol. 

I would later tell people that I knew exactly where the war on terror ended: 2nd Street. Living four blocks further to the east, there would never be the slightest sign that my safety was of any concern to the White House or Homeland Security.