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The Perhaps Once UNITED STATES: A Glimpse Of It's Aesthetic Future ...
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Brad Manning
Feb 5, 2012, 3:30:25 PM2/5/12
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The Rant
"Security mania takes away a monumental view"
By Philip Kennicott
February 3, 2012
If the Washington, D.C., Mall is a work of “civic art,” as it has been
defined in federal legislation, then the best place to see this canvas
of green grass and white stone is from the west terrace of the U.S.
Capitol. Once open to the public, there is no better view of the
monumental core of the city, no better way to understand the genius
and evolution of Pierre L’Enfant’s original design for the District,
no more revelatory spot to feel the gentle rise of the city from its
swampy lowlands to its inland heights.
But all of that is now a privilege for Members Only. Sometime after
Sept. 11, 2001, this magnificent feature of Washington architecture
and urban design was taken away from the people. The reason? The same
one that led to the theft of the Supreme Court front entrance, to the
barren waste of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House and to
the profusion of bollards and barriers that still clutter so much of
downtown D.C.: security mania.
Will it ever reopen? A spokeswoman for the Architect of the Capitol
bounced the query to the U.S. Capitol Police, who said they didn’t
know but to try the sergeants at arms for the Senate and the House. No
one could give an answer to basic questions.
This isn’t just the usual bureaucratic runaround. This is the Regime
of Security in action. Public space is taken from the public, without
proper democratic process and irrevocably. Even the logic is
strategically forgotten. From the terrace, you might once have
pondered the greatness of democracy. From the sides of Capitol Hill,
where you can see the forlorn and empty terrace and the now off-limits
grand staircase, you can only contemplate the slow creep of
authoritarianism, written into our civic landscape by bureaucrats,
timorous and responsible to no one.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/security-mania-takes-away-a-monumental-view/2011/12/06/gIQAU6COnQ_story.html
"Security mania takes away a monumental view"
By Philip Kennicott
February 3, 2012
If the Washington, D.C., Mall is a work of “civic art,” as it has been
defined in federal legislation, then the best place to see this canvas
of green grass and white stone is from the west terrace of the U.S.
Capitol. Once open to the public, there is no better view of the
monumental core of the city, no better way to understand the genius
and evolution of Pierre L’Enfant’s original design for the District,
no more revelatory spot to feel the gentle rise of the city from its
swampy lowlands to its inland heights.
But all of that is now a privilege for Members Only. Sometime after
Sept. 11, 2001, this magnificent feature of Washington architecture
and urban design was taken away from the people. The reason? The same
one that led to the theft of the Supreme Court front entrance, to the
barren waste of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House and to
the profusion of bollards and barriers that still clutter so much of
downtown D.C.: security mania.
Will it ever reopen? A spokeswoman for the Architect of the Capitol
bounced the query to the U.S. Capitol Police, who said they didn’t
know but to try the sergeants at arms for the Senate and the House. No
one could give an answer to basic questions.
This isn’t just the usual bureaucratic runaround. This is the Regime
of Security in action. Public space is taken from the public, without
proper democratic process and irrevocably. Even the logic is
strategically forgotten. From the terrace, you might once have
pondered the greatness of democracy. From the sides of Capitol Hill,
where you can see the forlorn and empty terrace and the now off-limits
grand staircase, you can only contemplate the slow creep of
authoritarianism, written into our civic landscape by bureaucrats,
timorous and responsible to no one.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/security-mania-takes-away-a-monumental-view/2011/12/06/gIQAU6COnQ_story.html
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