D.C.'s Inauguration Head Count: 1.8 Million

The Washington Pest ^ | 1/22/09 | Michael E. Ruane and Aaron C. Davis

[steve-b]

Two things are clear about the size of the crowd that gathered downtown for Tuesday's inauguration:

First, although some experts described it as high, the official estimate released by the District yesterday is 1.8 million, a figure that would make the gathering the largest ever on the Mall.

Second, from space we look like ants....

[JohnLongIsland]

Please define official.

[dforest]

What happened to the other 3 million that were rumored to be making the trek to the coronation?

[P8riot]

I wonder how many will be at the May Day parade?

[Dixie Yooper]

There’s too much effort in this article to not mention the Promise Keepers event from October, 1997, which was well over 1 million.

[Faithfull]

Regarding the Promise Keepers event on the mall. Estimates were intentionally downplayed for obvious reasons. I believe more were at PK than at the inauguration...something you won't ever read about. There were side streets lined with men in addition to the mall being filled to capacity. And, after the event- it was noted there was no trash or litter left - as the Promise Keepers are known to leave their events cleaner than when they arrive. I've volunteered at several and have seen it first hand.

[angkor]

Pravda is trying to dance around the truth of the satellite imagery, which is proving the DC government “estimate” (aka “propaganda”) to be absurd:

“But three experts arrived at lower estimates after viewing a satellite image of the event. Steve Doig, a journalism professor at Arizona State University, estimated that 750,000 people were on the Mall and in the ticketed areas near the
Capitol, excluding the parade route and city”

Here’s the imagery, from which I guessed 750,000 tops:

http://www.geoeye.com/CorpSite/gallery/detail.aspx?iid=220&gid=1

And here’s what DC Metrorail says, unintentionally confirming (more or less) the 750,000 estimate. Remember to divide by 2 for the number of **round trips** (not just “trips”) and thus the actual number of Metro riders (1.544 million “trips” = 772,000 round trips):

http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=2440

Metro sets new record for highest ridership day of all time

For immediate release: January 21, 2009
1,544,000 trips taken on Inauguration Day

On Inauguration Day, Metro provided about 1,120,000 rail trips, 423,000 bus trips and 1,721 MetroAccess trips for a total of 1,544,721 trips, the highest ridership day ever in the transit authority’s history.

[DYngbld]

I bet that even though 1.8 million people actually showed up, the people who SAY they were there will be in the 10 million range.

[Dixie Yooper]

I was at Promise Keepers in 1997, on the west lawn of the Washington Monument, which was packed, including the areas on each sided of the reflecting pool half way to the Lincoln Memorial. This satellite photo shows that same area sparsely populated. Of course, it was over 80 degrees that beautiful day.

[umgud]

We shoulda been here this year at all ingress points handing out free bowls of chili to keep the crowds warm. Maybe some pickled eggs too.

[Dixie Yooper]

I bet that even though 1.8 million people actually showed up, the people who SAY they were there will be in the 10 million range

Almost as many as claim they were on the balcony with MLK the day he was shot.

[angkor]

Because it’s early and many of us are still working on the first cup of coffee ;-) , 1.544 million “trips” = 772,000 round trips = 772,000 *people*.

I’ve lived in the DC area for many years and so in response to assertions in the Post article:

1) The overwhelming bulk of the attendees came and went on Metro, because driving was discouraged and a known nightmare for weeks around here. Let’s (very generouosly) give 100,000 more attendees who walked, came in buses and limos and taxis, and yes drove despite the warnings. But 100,000 tops.

2) There were not 800,000 people hiding at 11:19 AM in the museums on the Mall, or in the shadows of buildings, or lingering on the parade route (Pennsylvania Ave. which is clearly visible just north of the Mall in the sat photo), or in the street underpasses and thus invisible in the satellite. Nope, not 800,000, not 500,000, not 200,000, and probably not even 25,000. By 11:19 AM everyone was either in transit to (and visible on the street), or standing on the Mall. To assert otherwise is just laughable. There are not hundreds of thousands of people hidden within or outside the satellite photo. What you see is what you get.

There are other interesting details on the DC Metro web site and in my post on this attendance topic the other day:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2168433/posts?page=13#13

Including the following table, which I do not think was surpassed on Tuesday:

Metrorail’s Top 20 Weekday Ridership Days
Date Ridership Event
1 01-20-09 973,285 (as of 7 p.m.) Obama Inauguration
2 01-19-09 866,681 Obama inaugural events
3 07-11-08 854,638 Baseball/Women of Faith Conference
4 06-09-04 850,636 Reagan State Funeral
5 06-25-08 846,388 Smithsonian Folklife Festival/Baseball
6 07-10-08 844,530 Baseball
7 07-08-08 835,072 Baseball/Basketball
8 07-02-08 834,956 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
9 04-03-07 831,508 Cherry Blossoms/Baseball
10 06-24-08 831,464 Baseball/Basketball
11 06-20-08 829,998 Baseball/Basketball
12 04-24-08 828,973 Baseball/Basketball
13 04-17-08 828,418 Pope Visit/Soccer
14 04-11-08 828,132 Baseball/Cherry Blossoms
15 06-27-08 825,862 Smithsonian Folklife Festival/Baseball
16 06-18-08 823,516 No Event
17 07-01-08 822,931 No Event
18 04-10-06 821,283 Immigrant Rights Rally
19 06-19-08 819,979 No Event
20 06-26-08 819,722 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

[angkor]

It also is interesting that Metro has previously provided numbers in terms of “ridership” (aka “people”) but this time chooses to discuss “trips”, not mentioning that:

2 “trips” = 1 “round trip” = 1 “rider/person/attendee”.

1.544 million “trips” = 772,000 “riders”

There’s a whole lotta’ propaganda and fudging going on today.

[ICE-FLYER]

This BS came up before. When the "Million Man March" came to DC they claimed 2 million people. Theye did NOT even fill the Mall. the Mall, that space defined as the squares between the Captiol Building and the Washington Memorial when filled to capacity is 750,000 people.

The Promise Keepers march did the following, it filled the Malle COMPLETLY, Overflowed to the sides and then if you look at the aerial shot it clearly shows over 1/3 rd of the Elipse around the washington Monument as being covered.

How then does anyone say that there was 1.8 million people when the Parks Police (The only "official counter")Stopped counting after Farakan made his lies about their count of his march being BELOW 1 million?

Its a ruse. Numbers are GENERATED to bring validity and are indicitive of NOTHING in this regard.

Million Man March

Now look at the following.

YES, the Elipse has 1/3rd covered, but the Mall is no where near what it was for the promise keepers march and this photo was taken at 11:19 EST on Jan 20th by the Geoeye satellite.

In other words...the supposed 1.8 million can not be trusted and the low angle shots in the news papers make the Mall seem as if it is FILLED when it was NOT.

Added to this, Promise Keepers march back in 97 did not have even 1/10th the trash on it after the march.

[Dixie Yooper]

The day of the PK event, we took the Metro Orange Line from Ballston. After watching one full train after another go by, we finally realized that if we got on the outbound empty train, we could ride it out to the end at West Falls Church and come back without getting out of our seats.

[bert]

I was on the mall on July 4th 1984 I believe, and I recall a crowd of similar size.

At the Capital end, the National Symphony Orchestra was in concert and at the Washington Monument end the Beach Boys were in concert. The mall was covered with people from end to end all day.

At the end of the fireworks, the avenue, Independence I believe was filled with people and auto traffic was non existent. The press of the crowd down the long stairway to the Metro was fierce and I feared the crush would trample children.

There was an uproar the next day and the Park Service admitted things got out of hand and there would never be such events again because of the mortal danger

[angkor]

Excellent!

Good job of locating and posting the FACTUAL and comparative evidence.

You are a better reporter than the hack propagandists employed by the Wash Post (in this instance demonstrating its well-deserved reputation as Pravda On The Potomac).

[angkor]

>>>>>> “...the low angle shots in the news papers make the Mall seem as if it is FILLED when it was NOT.” <<<<<<<<

We are now back to the days of photo propaganda as cherished by Stalin, Mao, and Goebbels.

Anyone who has not should read the entire Post article.

It’s clear that the reporter believes the lower nuumbers, but it writing around the fact that the DC government and other propagandists are flat-out lying with their obscene overcounting.

[Kent C]

800,000 by an expert:

http://www.asuwebdevil.com/node/3654

1.8 mil. according to DC Mayor’s office, with which the National Park Service ‘agrees’. NPS no longer counts crowds after the “million man march” turned out to be 400,000. DC Mayor Fenty = Obama supporter.

[Tatze]

Today the Washington Post says the official DC estimate is 1.8 million. The National Park Service used a Washington Post story from the day before to pick the 1.8 million estimate.

Just another story about the press fabricating the news and then reporting it as fact.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2169415/posts