Photo: WitheyesThe Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies wants the January 20 Obama inauguration to be “one of the most accessible in U.S. history.”
But the the laws of supply and demand are making accessibility hard for the average citizen.
To get a free ticket to the inauguration ceremony, you either need to know someone (a senator or representative from your state, the president-elect, the vice president-elect, etc.), or you need a lot of money: ticket brokers are asking as much as $20,095 for a single ticket, reports CNN.
Tickets along the parade route, meanwhile, where Biden and Obama will walk between the White House and the Capitol, were only $25 apiece, but they went “blazingly fast,” reports the BBC, and if you want one now, you’ll likely pay a dear price.
Even if you do secure a ticket, you’ll likely encounter overpriced and scarce transportation and hotel rooms: some area hotels have as much as quadrupled their prices, reports the Boston Globe.
Some would-be inauguration attendees are even canceling their trips due to concerns about travel and expenses, reports FOXNews.com, and Washington’s officials have reduced the estimated number of inauguration attendees from four to five million to two million.
If you were given a ticket, would it be worth your while (and money) to go? Or if you’re one of the people who does have a ticket, what’s your survival plan?
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What’s the going rate that Gov. Blago is selling his tickets for? Is trying to turn his allotment into a Cabinet seat as well?
If I were given a ticket I’d go, but only because I could walk there from my house, and because I don’t have to work, because DC is pretty much closed, save for bars and restaurants.
I’m not going anywhere once I get home from work on Friday until Wednesday morning.
Well that’s easy; I’m staying in Toronto and watching it live on TV.
I wouldn’t go if I was given free tickets because of the spill over costs of attending. Airfare, hotels, food and not to mention that I hate super crowds.
I guess I am not a candidate for a history making inauguration. Trying to say that they are making it accessible to everyone is a bunch of bull considering that you have to be rich to be able to afford the travel costs.
I’m working a concert at The Shakspere Theatre across form the Verizon Center. Yes it will be hard to get there but from 9am-2am I am earning double my pay and get to see acts like Elvis Costello from backstage too boot!
Like the NFL, this event might best be viewed via HDTV.
I would pay a substantial amount to stay exactly where I will be–in front of my HDTV with a bag of popcorn and my wife and cats.
I don’t get it. Everything is an illusion anyway. Quantum Mechanics proves that this thing about “REALLY” being there is all just fantasy. But I’ll be safe and warm at home.
On the public-safety side, gathering a huge number of people together seems extremely risky business. Certainly 100,000 people is a crowd. two million people is twenty-times too big for health and safety to rationally support.
If I had a ticket I would certainly sell it. It’d pay for a semester of tuition at 20k a pop.
Anyway, my first day of class is on the 20th, so I’ll be busy in New York. And I have no interest in “experiencing history” first hand. I bet the inauguration will be a lot like your average NFL game — Better at home, where the temperature is better, TV makes the view and sound better, and the beer will be cheaper.