WASHINGTON (TIP): Bill Clinton wasn’t sure “whether it’s the finest public housing in America or the crown jewel of the American penal system.” In either case, the White House is becoming a little more distant from the people.
The US Secret Service on Wednesday said it is ending public access to the sidewalk in front of the White House, a concrete stretch on which millions of tourists — including India‘s prime minister Narendra Modi when he was a political journeyman — have stood to have their photographs taken. It is a Washington travelers’ ritual as old as…well, the invention of the camera.
The sidewalk has been closed nightly from 11pm to 6am since 2015 and will now be off-limits around the clock, the Secret Service announced in a statement, saying the closure will “lessen the possibility of individuals illegally accessing the White House grounds.”
The closure follows several recent incidents of incursions into the White House grounds by trespassers who have managed to scale the White House fence. Raising the height of the fence and putting sharp spikes on top of it has not deterred trespassers, so the Secret Service is extending the security perimeter.
Visitors can still get themselves into the photo frame with the White House in the background from Lafayette Park across the street, but it won’t be same as leaning against the White House fence, within hailing distance of the President.
Not just tourists even the American public has gradually been distanced from the White House over the years. Up until May 1995, traffic plied on Pennsylvania Avenue right in front of the White House, a road which once saw tramcars — and horse drawn carriages before that.
The Oklahoma City truck bombing on April 20, 1995 by a white extremist which killed 160 people in a government building resulted in security agencies deciding to stop vehicular movement. The road stretch in front of White House was blocked, barricaded, and fortified, allowing only pedestrians. (TOI)