On Security, Tourism, and Economics

Steven Perlstein's column in the business section of the Post on Friday hits a lot of points that need to be discussed. The experience of tourists is lessened because of the security, which will mean fewer tourists and fewer dollars coming into the city. Local businesses and the government itself is losing worker productivity because of the security measures. Plus, it's just not as much fun to live here anymore.

Use Caution in the Pursuit of Security (washingtonpost.com):

Today's state funeral for Ronald Reagan surely demands the extraordinary measures that have been taken to protect against a terrorist attack.

But the last week has also offered reminders to visitors and residents of how much the everyday security measures have altered the life of the city. Access to public places has been significantly curtailed. The public landscape and streetscape have been scarred, in some cases permanently. And the economic costs are measured not only in out-of-pocket security costs, but in lost productivity for workers and a diminished experience for visitors.

After Sept. 11, 2001, much of this was inevitable, and the potential threats are considerable. But it seems we have reached a fork in the road. Either we are going to decide that, having made reasonable accommodations, we are willing to live with a certain level of unmitigated risk in order to preserve the Washington experience -- or we're going to go to the next level and accept the reality of living and working in a semi-permanent war zone.

We were down at the World War II memorial last night. Across 17th Street from the memorial is the Washington Monument. The entire area from 17th Street to 15th Street, from Independence Ave. to Constitution Ave. is fenced off. I've heard people talk about how the new WWII memorial was so horrible and a blight on the Mall. The chain-link fencing around the monument grounds is a bigger blight than the WWII memorial.