A Fence Now Surrounds Congress, But Locals Are Leading The Push To Bring It Down npr.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from npr.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: The day after the mob attack on the Capitol, Capitol Police sealed the area off from the public with a three-mile-long fence topped with razor wire. As Jordan Pascale from member station WAMU reports, some lawmakers and residents are worried the fence will become permanent.
JORDAN PASCALE, BYLINE: You can t get anywhere near the Capitol right now thanks to an 8-foot-tall fence that went up on January 7.
CHARLES ALLEN: Things that began as temporary sure have a habit of becoming permanent pretty fast in this town, and we can t allow that to happen here.
PASCALE: That s D.C. Council member Charles Allen, who represents the Capitol Hill neighborhood. After September 11, the city s museums added metal detectors. Bollards went up around federal buildings. More recently, White House intruders led to a wider perimeter and a new 13-foot fence there. Now Allen and others are worried that security creep is coming for the Capitol.