Posted on 12/02/2008 8:09:09 AM PST by NCDragon
The Capitol Visitors Center was supposed to open in time for the inauguration.
And it will, just one inauguration later than expected.
Originally projected to be unveiled upon President Bush’s 2004 inauguration, this grand, underground visitors center is slated for a Dec. 2 open house for members of Congress and the public. The long-delayed opening ceremony marks the 145th anniversary of the day the Statue of Freedom was installed atop the Capitol dome. The next day the regularly scheduled tours will begin — tickets are required and can be obtained through the CVC website, which will go live Nov. 14.
While more people are familiar with the cost overruns — the building was budgeted to cost $265 million but by current projections will cost $621 million — the architect of the Capitol hopes that it will quickly become the gateway for visitors to Congress.
“Generations of Americans will greatly benefit from all it has to offer,” said Stephen T. Ayers, the acting architect of the Capitol. Ayers said the goal of the center was to enhance security and inspire and educate visitors, while also making the tourist visits more efficient than the current ad-hoc system of waiting in line outside the Capitol.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Congress doesn’t want to associate with the riff-raff!
Because some pigs are "more equal" than other pigs.
The big question I have is “Why do we need a $621 Million visitor center. Isn’t the country hurting enough without spending money on an Emancipation Center?
I’ve not heard of this. So...visitors will be entering the Capitol BEFORE being screened for security purposes? Must be the case, otherwise there would still be long lines outside the building. In any case, looks like 600+ mil is not too much to spend on - whatever this really is - for members of Congress. Or - Am I missing something here?
I predict most of what the Congress (and Obama) will do from 1/20/09 on will be done in secret, at night, or privately.
Congress saw fit to build it after that nutcase stormed Capitol Hill and gunned-down a policeman while trying to get into the congressional offices. It was originally meant as a “non-visible” underground security “enhancement,” but of course, the Congress critters gold-plated it more and more each year until they finally got themselves a virtual underground museum celebrating themselves.
Personally, I don’t think it was just an oversight that God was left out of this center.
Newt Gingrich has started an online petition which urges Congress to make sure that the Visitor Center actually reflects “the centrality of our Creator in the founding of America.” Sign the petition here:
http://newt.org/CapitolVisitorsCenterPetition/tabid/308/Default.aspx
they finally got themselves a virtual underground museum celebrating themselves
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Yes, it sounds like something better suited to Hollywood or Disneyworld. Might actually be very appropriate. :)
Like everything else that comes out of Congress, the initial intentions were good: to build a visitors center that shields citizens from extreme heat and humidity and provides greater security for people working in or visiting the U.S. Capitol. But what began as a $265 million project in 2000 ballooned into a $621 million boondoggle that finally opens today . Like far too many legislative proposals that pass through its chambers, Congress could not help but add its own priorities. Even though not included in the original design, the structure now features new offices for lawmakers, a theater, media studios and even a tunnel to the Library of Congress. This all-too-familiar runaway Washington spending is not even the worst part of the final product. That honor goes to the violence the center's "educational" exhibits do to the Constitution.
Article I of the Constitution begins: "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States." Section 8 of Article I then goes on to enumerate those powers, of which James Madison wrote: "If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions."
But according to the Capitol Visitors Center, the Constitution is not about limiting powers. Instead, it created six "aspirations" that Congress is charged to realize. The explanation for the first aspiration listed, "Unity," falsely identified "E Pluribus Unum" as our nation's motto. Wrong. "In God We Trust" is our nation's motto. But do not expect to find any discussion of God in the new visitors center. "Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and righteous war" gets a mention, but any other indication that the Founding Fathers believed that all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights," like it says in the Declaration of Independence, has been safely sanitized by the political correctness thought police.
The liberal bias does not end there. The sixth aspiration, "General Welfare," celebrates the creation of Medicare in 1965. We can debate whether Medicare is, or is not, good public policy. But it is a travesty of history to pretend the Constitution requires it. Summarizing his thoughts after an early tour of the center, Heritage constitutional scholar Matthew Spalding wrote:
This exhibit is Congress' temple to liberals' "living Constitution," the eternal font of lawmakers' evolving mandate to achieve the nation's ideals. No fixed meanings here, only open-ended "aspirations." In this distorted view, the Constitution is an empty vessel, to be adapted to the times, as change requires. It means nothing -- or anything.
The center opens to the public today at 1 p.m. if you'd like to have a look at this travesty with your own eyes.
I went and saw it a few weeks ago. There is security screening before you go in.
How does it work then? According to the article, one purpose is to eliminate the lines outside.
How was it? Do you think it’s a good addition?
I don’t quite get how it’s going to eliminate outside lines. Unless something has changed since we did the pre-view opening, we waited outside, going down stairs.
It was definitely nice. Very state of the art and very ornate. Of course knowing the original budget and the new price tag - which I didn’t know when we were there - I’d say it’s overdone. Lots of it is set up like an exhibition hall - with tons of meeting rooms. That took up a majority of it. The actual display room wasn’t that big. I remember commenting to my husband about how many bathrooms there were. Seemed like everywhere you looked was a men’s, women’s, and family bathroom.
Sounds nice. I love DC! I’m trying to not think of what it’s going to be like with the new (ugh) administration.
That is, it sounds like a nice building - the requisite liberal content - not so much.
Who’d want to visit a place where everyone smelled bad? I wouldn’t set my foot in it. Screw them.
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