L'Enfant set several avenues radiating from the Capitol to provide grand from afar.  Pennsylvania Avenue is one of these avenues and connect the Capitol and the White House.  Construction of the Library of Congress (above in the background) prematurely and unwisely terminated the Pennsylvania Avenue vista from the southeast. Though the termination of this vista with a Beaux Arts building deviates from the L'Enfant plan, the building is an elegant subsitute.  The same cannot be said of the variety of unsightly construction accesories the Capitol Police has used in its counter-terrorism measures.  The focal point of this vista has shifted from the Capitol Dome to the Library of Congress to an unsightly electronic signboard directing trucks to turn right.  It's unlikely such devices were approved by the Commission of Fine Arts, which normally oversees permitting of construction activities that may significantly change the aesthetics of the city.

The Capitol Police stands guard on the sidewalk on Independence Avenue SE, ready to incercept any trucks or large buses that may pass by.  How such small police cars intend to stop a large truck is unclear, but the security measures are often more about appearance than about substance.  On the bright side, the gate house and bollards on the left and the retractable street barriers embedded in the street suit the street nicely.

After September 11, 2001, the Capitol Police closed First Street SE south of Independence Ave beside the Rayburn Senate Office Building.  The street is closed to public traffic, but is open to parking for the select few.

Many of the streets on the Capitol grounds are open to traffic but restrict parking only to members of Congress and their staffers. This restriction, of course, has nothing to do with security (parking permit signs have never stopped terrorism before) and more to do with relieving Congressmen and their staffers of the indignity of carpooling or riding mass transit.

The Supreme Court, located on the Capitol grounds is undergoing some construction.  One consequence of this construction is the confiscation of half of Maryland Avenue on the north side of the Supreme Court. This public property closed to the public now acts as a screening area for trucks entering the Supreme Court grounds. What serious risk is averted by closing half of this street?

Construction at the Capitol Visitor Center is nearing completion several years late and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget.  On a good note, the Capitol Visitors Center will provide needed and comfortable facilities for the many visitors the Capitol receives each year. Though the Visitor Center preserves and enhances the plaza above, visitors will now enter the Capitol through the basement like servants, rather than through the front door like owners.

Would Benjamin Latrobe have approved of such unsightly barriers blocking public access to the Capitol's picturesque West Terrace? The DC Preservation League lists the West Terrace as one the most endangered sites in the city.

Why must the public be restricted from accessing our West Terrace as were able to do before 2001? What threats do these flimsy barriers stop?

The West Terrace is also closed from the west side.  The Capitol Police cannot seem to find the desire to use anything other than unpainted metal barricades and a "DO NOT ENTER" highway sign to confiscate the West Terrace from the public.  A poor decision executed sloppily.

The Capitol has instituted one elegant solution for installing new cameras.  This ornamental post matches the existing landscaping accessories and is unobtrusive.

The Treasury Department's annex on H St NW was inserted well into the urban fabric.  No scuffed jersey barriers here.  Elegant bollards prevent any vehicles from crashing into the building, which immediately abuts the sidewalk as it should.

Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House is a good example of how to meet security concerns while improving pedestrian access. The bollards, gate houses, and granite pavers at both ends are stately enough for such a famous stretch of street.

The elimination of automobile traffic allows pedestrians to freely inspect the White House from the street while enjoying the quiet adjacent Lafayette Park. With not a jersey barrier to be found, the street pavers and even the curbstones match the monumentality of the site.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, the State Department attempts to reconstruct a replica of Baghdad's Green Zone. Not only has the State Department confiscated sidewalks and street-side parking spaces (see below), but has also carelessly dropped in jersey barriers as a catch-all solution to convey the appearance of due diligence.  The State Department couldn't be bothered to even line the barriers in a straight line, putting as much thought into the barriers as they did into their entire security policy.  The barriers located just beneath the red light in the picture above may even violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, obstructing wheelchair ramps to the sidewalk.

The agency tasked with displaying the softer side of American power is among the worst offenders of public access and aesthetics in the city. Is it's physical treatment of Foggy Bottom an apt metaphor for the attitude of American foreign policy in general?