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"It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage, than the creation of a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institutions and merely lukewarm defenders in those who would gain by the new ones." Machiavelli
A state Capitol without security theaterBy devtob 53, Section Diaries
I attended Netroots Nation in Austin last week. Diaries/post about the event itself abound on the Internets, at DailyKos and elsewhere.
So I'll discuss a bit of Austin that has nothing to do with NN, but has a connection to Albany. Austin and Albany are alike in some ways -- centrally located smaller cities that became state capitals, downtown party bar zones, and remarkable Capitol buildings. There are, of course, some differences in those similarities. Austin's downtown scene is much greater than Albany's, featuring incomparably better live music. There were at least five cranes working on non-government buildings in Austin; the few cranes seen in Albany in the last decade were mostly doing government work. And the Texas Capitol does not subject visitors to the ridiculous security theater that demeans the New York Capitol. Details, below.
Lulu and I got into Austin Wednesday night, and Thursday's agenda, unfortunately, had little attraction -- we had done DFA campaign training and none of the caucuses seemed a good fit.
So we decided to see some of Austin, and as Capital District residents, the Texas Capitol had plenty of attraction. So that's what we did Thursday morning; and it was great. First of all, the Texas Capitol has none of the absurd security theater of New York's Capitol (which once stole a Swiss Army penknife I really liked). To get into New York's Capitol, an amazing building and the only state capitol without a dome, you have to go through metal detectors. The NY Capitol security jobs program was, naturally, implemented after 9/11 by former, widely unlamented Gov. George Pataki, who also decided that the Hall of Governors would be verboten to the hoi polloi. (Oil portraits of every Texas governor ring the rotunda under the spectacular dome.) The absurd extra security was part of Pataki's plan to run for re-election as the 9/11 governor, like 9/11-war-president Bush at the national level. Too many low-information voters bought that BS, in 2002 here and 2004 nationally. Absurd security theater does little to deter real terrorists; all it does it deter people from flying, and from visiting Albany. There's nothing like that at the Texas Capitol -- there were a few armed police keeping an eye on people, but anyone could just walk in and check the place out. Even though Texas, unlike New York, has a remarkably expansive concealed-carry law for handguns. Partly as a result of its sane security policies, the Texas Capitol is a major Austin tourist attraction. There were hundreds of people in the Capitol when we were there on a Thursday morning. There is a visitor's center on the grounds, separate from the Capitol building, which has a gift shop (!) and is staffed by helpful, friendly people. Guided tours set off every 30 minutes, but self-guided touring is also encouraged, with a free pamphlet that explains just about everything. We self-guided mostly, but hooked up with a tour group for the Alamo and San Jacinto paintings in the Senate chamber. The Texas Capitol, unlike ours, had been recently restored -- everything was like new, though most of it was more than 100 years old.
Now that Pataki is, for most of both parties, remembered like a bad date in high school, it is certainly time to get rid of the ridiculous security theater around the Capitol, and work to make that marvelous building a major statewide and regional tourist attraction.
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All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 2005 The Management