Obama Transition Team Comes To Downtown DC

ahh, I’ve been wondering what all that commotion was every time I pass there on my way to work.

Yea, I thought the US Tax Court building was getting a construction project. Mostly, it is now impossible to ride a bike safely on 6th street. This puts bikes back on 7th street fighting in the bus/bike only lane. Ouch!

Maybe the incoming staff will like the area and decided to live in PQ……

Great – street closings or an office space.

As excited as I am for Obama to take office, my concern all through the election process was that if he is elected, will my personal freedoms be hindered by the excessive security that will be needed to keep him and his staff safe in a world still full of hate. Current motorcades and street closures for the current POTUS are crazy enough — with Obama in office, I think it is just going to get worse — closed streets, sidewalks, the inability to cross town, etc.

With these street closures, i fear that my concerns are coming to fruition.

Anon at 5:22. Oh come on. There is not going to be any more or any less security for Obama vs. Bush. There would appear to be a heck of a lot more hate going around for Bush at the moment. A few months of parking restrictions and a small road closure isn’t going to impact us all that much. After January, it’ll be just like any other president.

Anon2: Don’t fool yourself. Security around Obama will be much tighter than around Bush. Lets face it, the people who hate Bush don’t carry guns, and have not plotted publicly reported assassination attempt. I predict security measures which will close many streets, roofs, sidewalks and access to buildings when the new POTUS (who I am fervent supporter of) takes office. We will all have to wait and see. I just hope that such measures will not impose unreasonable restrictions affecting the lives of downtown residents.

I was working in Austin, Texas during the Bush 2000 transition and officed next door to their offices. There were no baricades and I saw potential Cabinet nominees cooling their heels by themselves outside the building while talking on cell phones. The security was hardly noticed.

I’ve already emailed Barak about this ridiculous abuse of power, & I hope many of his other supporters do as well. There is simply no excuse whatsoever to close so many lanes, many of which are heavily traveled much of the day, & to remove so much street parking in an area that has a critical shortage of parking, especially during the day.
The courthouse area is already way way way crowded all day long, & this will create some serious hardships for many DC residents. One hopes Barak will remove these ridiculous restrictions; if not, it bodes ill for the new administration having any respect for the District & its citizens.
I hope many people will email Barak & ask him to adjust this over-reach of authority. I know Barak did not choose this arrangement, but someone has to restrain the “security” Gestapo we have in DC, &, as Harry S Truman said, “the buck stops here” in Barak’s hands.

Yes, these barriers are a pain in the you-know-what. We ran into traffic problems on a weekend morning…I can only imagine how it’s going to be during rush hour…ugh.

BUT…a couple of points.

First, the space was put aside for the transition team of the winning candidate a while ago. So if McCain won, his team would have used this space. (So, I don’t think this is an Obama-driven thing.) By the way, it’s a building being used by another Government agency so I think it’s great they’re using exisiting open space rather than leasing a building from scratch (I’m hoping some cost savings here!)

Second, I don’t know when the barriers/security came in but I would think the building would have a similar amount of security as some of our other public buildings (FBI, DOJ, Capitol, even the WH to an extent). Our future president and Cabinet members will likely be coming in/out of the building. I think what makes it more difficult is not a lot of sidewalk space so the barriers have to extend into the road.

Third, we don’t know what kind of threats have been made/will be made. I’m all for a free society, but with some common sense thrown in. We’re a nation in 2 wars, likely responsible for global economic crisis, and only ~ 40 years since Civil Rights movement. I imagine there are a lot of angry people to keep track of who would find a historical, high-profile president an ideal target.

Lastly, I will gladly do my small part and deal with the traffic inconveniences if it means even a .00001% chance we can prevent a tragedy. I’ve lived/worked in DC for years and the security (motorcades, walks on the Mall, IMF meetings, etc.) is just something I expect and live with.

The barricades and the street closures were up before Election Day. It wouldn’t have matter who had won.