January 21, 2009
Senator Dianne Feinstein
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Senator Bob Bennett
431 Dirksen Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Feinstein and Senator Bennett,
Thousands of Americans with tickets to the Inauguration, despite waiting in the cold for hours on end, were not allowed in to see the ceremony yesterday due to a complete lack of crowd control by those tasked with organizing the event. Many traveled to D.C. From every comer of our country and spent thousands of dollars after being informed that they had a ticket to the event and would be able to see President Obama sworn in. The promise made by these tickets 'was not kept.
Numerous reports from the staging area describe a complete lack of any form of crowd control-no police, no volunteers to direct people and no organization or information on what was going on. We are lucky that the thousands who were eventually denied entry, despite having valid tickets, remained calm and that no one was hurt.
This was a failure in planning and organization and one that must be explained. Why was there no form of crowd control in the ticketed screening areas? Why didn't the planners better mark the areas, provide staff to help direct people or include a way to pass along information? Why was the screening process so unprepared for the event and why were thousands of people unable to attend the Inauguration despite having tickets to the event? We do not want to assign blame. We only want to know what went wrong and how it can be prevented :ITomhappening again in the future.
Finally, those Americans who were shut out deserve an apology. They were promised admission to the historic Inauguration of President Obama and they were denied the opportunity. No matter how far they traveled, how much money they spent or how long they waited, every person who was issued a ticket and was unable to get in should receive an apology from those responsible for organizing.the Inauguration. Yesterday was a proud moment for ~ and it is a shame that it was marred by something as simple as the inability to take people's tickets.
Senator Dianne Feinstein
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Senator Bob Bennett
431 Dirksen Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Feinstein and Senator Bennett,
Thousands of Americans with tickets to the Inauguration, despite waiting in the cold for hours on end, were not allowed in to see the ceremony yesterday due to a complete lack of crowd control by those tasked with organizing the event. Many traveled to D.C. From every comer of our country and spent thousands of dollars after being informed that they had a ticket to the event and would be able to see President Obama sworn in. The promise made by these tickets 'was not kept.
Numerous reports from the staging area describe a complete lack of any form of crowd control-no police, no volunteers to direct people and no organization or information on what was going on. We are lucky that the thousands who were eventually denied entry, despite having valid tickets, remained calm and that no one was hurt.
This was a failure in planning and organization and one that must be explained. Why was there no form of crowd control in the ticketed screening areas? Why didn't the planners better mark the areas, provide staff to help direct people or include a way to pass along information? Why was the screening process so unprepared for the event and why were thousands of people unable to attend the Inauguration despite having tickets to the event? We do not want to assign blame. We only want to know what went wrong and how it can be prevented :ITomhappening again in the future.
Finally, those Americans who were shut out deserve an apology. They were promised admission to the historic Inauguration of President Obama and they were denied the opportunity. No matter how far they traveled, how much money they spent or how long they waited, every person who was issued a ticket and was unable to get in should receive an apology from those responsible for organizing.the Inauguration. Yesterday was a proud moment for ~ and it is a shame that it was marred by something as simple as the inability to take people's tickets.
Signed by various members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat
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