With long stretches of Pennsylvania Avenue lined with bleachers and reserved for ticket-holders or protesters, where can the general public stand and watch the 55th Inaugural Parade?
The question was asked repeatedly Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman, who was hearing a suit filed by a protest group over access to the parade route. But no clear answer emerged.
Spectators brave wintry weather during an inaugural event on the Ellipse. Some critics doubt there will be room for the public at today's parade.
(Marvin Joseph -- The Washington Post)
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"There's a level of frustration the plaintiffs have with the government that's understandable," Friedman said at one point. "They didn't get straight answers from the government . . . about where the protesters -- or the public -- can go to see the parade and express their views."
Clear answers were also in short supply yesterday from law enforcement officials charged with staffing security checkpoints along the parade route.
Officials with the D.C. police, whose officers will line the route, said they did not know exactly where the public should go and referred all questions to the U.S. Secret Service, which is overseeing security for the inauguration. Homeland Security Department officials also referred the question to the Secret Service.
When asked where a member of the public could stand to view the parade today, Secret Service spokesman Tom Mazur said he did not know. "I do not have an answer to that question," Mazur said.
FBI officials involved with parade security noted that bleacher seating is for people with tickets and that several areas are designated for protesters.
"There are no places on the parade route that are not already assigned or ticketed seating," an FBI official said.
Technically, people can enter through one of the 12 checkpoints and then line up along Pennsylvania Avenue. But with much of the avenue lined with bleachers and reserved by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, space is at a premium.
A National Park Service spokesman, Sgt. Scott Fear, recommended that the public look for open space along Pennsylvania Avenue east of Seventh Street and west of 12th Street.
A tour of the parade route last night revealed few places for the general public to stand and watch the procession. There appears to be space east of 10th Street NW, on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue.
There are a few other pockets, including a half-block on the north side of Pennsylvania, west of 11th Street. Some intersections will also be open. But sidewalk access could change when the fencing is complete and some of the bleachers that were in the street last night are put in place.
Maps presented by the Park Service in the court dispute show that the bleachers have been erected a few feet from the curb. The area in front of the bleachers and along the parade route is restricted for "Bleacher Access/Ticketed Handicap," according to the maps.
Marina Braswell, an attorney in the Justice Department, said yesterday that the public will not be allowed to stand in front of the bleachers but can watch from other spots.
