Inaugural Mess
Blocked Inauguration Ticket-holders Asked to Email Committee
Via WTOP, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies is asking those inauguration ticket-holders who were blocked from entering the Swearing-In ceremony to email a description of your experience to feedback@jccic.senate.gov. Individuals who had blue, silver or purple tickets and were blocked from entering the ceremony due to severe logistical breakdowns have been offered commemorative photos from the committee by way of apology. Ticket-holders who email the committee with a description of what happened will then be sent the promised items. Be sure to include your full name and mailing address.
My Answer:
My boyfriend and I had tickets for the blue gate. We arrived on location at 8am. It was complicated to figure out what line to get into and we had to rely solely on asking people in line what color tickets they had. It would have been helpful if there were a few people staffed to travel back and forth on the lines making sure that they were orderly and to answer questions whenever possible, but alas, we had to rely on our kind neighbors. I will say that for the most part my fellow line standers were friendly and patient. After standing in line for several hours without movement, we started very slowly shuffling forward. We turned the corner of the Health and Human Services building only to discover that there was a SECOND blue line and that the two were zippering together. This was upsetting and unnerving, but still the masses were mostly friendly and patient. By the time we cornered the next building we ran into a mob of people. The line had disintegrated and there were just people EVERYWHERE. No one was directing us where to go, so we held steadfast to our places and shuffled forward. The crowd was thick and occasionally pushy, but mostly we laughed and joked about the craziness of it all. We kept running into blockades (bike racks and cement walls) and would have to shuffle awkwardly around them. Had these dividers been taller or had there been some sort of line management these would have been very useful, instead they just allowed the folks that happened to be in the "right" spot to ease through while the rest of us had to work our way through the only way we knew how. We had finally passed the large "Blue Gate" sign with 30 minutes to go before noon. There were thousands of people behind us. Someone announced on a loudspeaker or megaphone that they were NOT going to close the gates. Not more than 15 minutes later they did. My boyfriend and I had made it to the gate and it essentially closed in our faces. There was a father with his 12 year old daughter standing next to us. We all got very nervous. Had the crowd turned riotous, we would all be in serious danger. There was about 15 minutes of shouting and shoving before everyone turned away and moved on. I am proud of the people for their stellar behavior during a very stressful and emotional time. We were all very upset. Those of us there were really excited to see the speech and most of us missed it in its entirety.