You are hereBikes at Obama's Inauguration? Not if the government can help it.
Bikes at Obama's Inauguration? Not if the government can help it.
My wife just forwarded me the following story about the upcoming presidential inauguration:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/11/inauguration.activities/index.htm...
I know a lot of you like to travel to the big political events, but if you happen to travel to this one, know that they want you to LEAVE YOUR BIKE AT HOME. I've highlighted a portion of the above article to explain what will happen if you decide to ride to the inauguration:
Q: What can't I bring?
A: There are several obvious items that are prohibited, according to the U.S. Secret Service, including:
"Firearms, ammunition, explosives, weapons of any kind, aerosols, supports for signs and placards, packages, coolers, thermal or glass containers, backpacks, bags exceeding size restrictions, laser pointers, animals other than helper/guide dogs, structures, bicycles and any other items determined to be a potential safety hazard."
Items surrendered to security officials will not be returned.
Other items that are being banned include baby strollers and umbrellas. Read more about Secret Service traffic, security plans (PDF)
They're placing BICYCLES in the same league as firearms and explosives? I know plenty of government officials throughout history have been shot, stabbed or blown up, but when was the last time anyone heard of an assassination by bicycle?!?
Bottom line is: Don't bring your bike or the government will steal it. Wow. Looks like they'll be stealing strollers and umbrellas, too. Wonder if they'll be separating invalids from their wheelchairs while they're at it?
All this security makes me curious about whether or not they're still planning on corralling citizens into "free speech zones" behind fences and razor wire like they did at the DNC rally last year. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
What was that word that got tossed around a lot last year? "Change"? Maybe that was just a reference to what we'll have left in our pockets after they steal our bikes, umbrellas and anything else "determined to be a potential safety hazard"...
Update: Ok maybe I was a little bit harsh, as Doug and Jenn pointed out in the comments. I did a little more research about the bicycle situation and even though they're confiscating bikes inside the cordoned off parade area, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association is going to be offering free valet parking for the attendees of the inauguration parade and ceremony! They're even giving out "commemorative spoke cards"! Looks like I was wrong, maybe it's not as dismal as it sounded originally as long as you don't step over the line with your bicycle. If you happen to go to DC for this and manage to park your bike at a valet station, you NEED to send me a pic of the spoke card. I'm sure it'll be a riot.
As for umbrellas, you'd have to get pretty close, but it's happened in the past:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/01/07/terror.poison.bulgarian/
This bike is a pipe bomb?
Y'all are 100% correct, I was ranting a bit to hard against the guv'mint in this post. We'll see what Obama does for bicycles as a form of transportation after he takes the oath, not before. It just kills me that we've become so paranoid as to preclude people from bringing UMBRELLAS (should be interesting if it rains) to the inauguration. I guess it's to keep lines of sight clear in case the SS has to take someone out, so they've got their reasons.
I did discover that the Washington Area Bicyclist Association is going to be offering free valet parking for bicycles on the 20th. That's pretty freaking cool:
http://www.waba.org/events/inauguralbikevalet.php
I've gone on a ride and chilled out a bit. I'm feeling much better now.
I'm glad your bike ride helped :)
Jenn
... it doesn't look like they're permitting cars either. In fact, I'll bet you'd have a lot more luck getting closer to the place on a bike than a car.
Makes the whole place sound like a hellhole, actually. I think I'll have to skip it this year.
And yeah, hopefully we won't be seeing `free speech zones' for a while. We shall see, give the guy a chance.
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" Really? That's a little far fetched.
They are not comparing bikes to bombs at all!! Bikes are in there with back packs, coolers & animals... all things that might potentially become barriers to an escape route.
Just because they're banning bicycles from the inauguration doesn't mean Obama or his office is anti-bike or anything similar. I'm not sure if bikes have been ever been banned from inaugurations before, but I'm sure the Secret Service is just taking radical precautions for the "in case anything crazy happens" scenario. That way, you won't have to hop, skip or jump over bicycles or baby strollers while escaping the frenzy (refer to crazy scenario mentioned above).
You know they're expecting some racist, hill-billy redneck to try & assassinate Obama before he even steps foot in office.
I agree, it is outrageous to ban strollers, bikes, umbrellas, back packs, etc., but it's not the end of the world. Park you bike a couple of blocks away and walk. Obviously you don't have a problem using your legs for transportation if you're riding a bike.
-Jenn