Supreme Court Barrier Denied

D.C. Rejects Anti-Terror Proposal After Neighbors' Complaints

The D.C. government yesterday denied a request by the Supreme Court to install a pop-up barrier on a nearby Capitol Hill street after neighbors complained that the anti-terrorism device would deflect the impact of any explosion onto them.

The D.C. Public Space Committee, which includes members of several city agencies, voted 5 to 0 against the petition for the barrier on the 200 block of A Street NE.

"I certainly think we can accommodate the court's security needs while alleviating the neighbors' concerns they will become victims of an attack aimed at the court," said Lars Etzkorn, a D.C. Department of Transportation official who chairs the committee.

The department has offered traffic engineers to work with the court on alternative plans, such as speed bumps or changing the direction of traffic to deter truck bombers, Etzkorn said in an interview.

It was not immediately clear whether the court would accept that idea or challenge the decision through legal channels. The court controls the area immediately surrounding its building, but not the site proposed for the barrier, Etzkorn said.

The conflict is the latest to pit the interests of residents against those of authorities eager to tighten security around federal landmarks and installations since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In the past few years, residents have opposed several security plans by the Supreme Court.

The proposed barrier would lie flat to permit traffic flow during normal times but pop up like a wedge to block access to the court area during emergencies. It would be such a powerful deterrent that terrorists probably wouldn't even try to attack the building, court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.

"The theory is if they can't do damage, they won't attempt to do damage," she said.

Neighbors, however, feared that their homes would absorb the blow of any truck bomb. The local Advisory Neighborhood Commission voted to oppose the plan. Members of such community groups as the Capitol Hill Restoration Society also spoke out against it yesterday at a hearing before the vote.

Bill Sisolak, the area's advisory neighborhood commissioner, said in an interview that neighbors feared not only the security risk but also "the very practical negative things that would happen on a day-to-day basis" such as loss of parking, declining property values and the presence of a security camera installed by the court.

"It would not be a good thing to know, as you're walking down the street, or in your living room, that this camera might be there," he said.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) was so concerned about the proposed barrier that she wrote a letter opposing it this week to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

In an interview, she called yesterday's vote "a responsible decision."

"I've had to negotiate a fair number of solutions with security officials since 9/11," Norton said. "This is the first one that has involved a proposed trade-off of residents, their homes and conceivably their lives for protection of a federal interest."