Posted on 09/12/2009 8:05:13 PM PDT by speelurker
I've put together a Google Spreadsheet with a calculation of a minimum number of people who could have attended today.
Density Calculation Spreadsheet
This is based on analyzing what the camera that was looking down Pennsylvania Avenue saw throughout the event. Here's a snapshow when it's empty:
Here's an analysis of the width of that street using Google Earth:
I’m wondering the same thing.
No. It was not over 2 million. It is so hard when you are at an event like this because you can never see the end of the sea of people. Last nightmy husband was watching a football game and there was 106,000 in attendance. It was a lotbof people as they showed the arial shot. I think we were probably at about 250,000-300,000. When you realize this was avfrassroots event, that is unvelievable. There wereno vendors, that was very strange to me but thatnis what the organizers aNted. Nobody and I mean nobody selling t- shirts, buttons during the rally. Not even water. And I could have used sone water! But it made the event more intense. I don’t know if that makes sense.
In the two years I’ve lived in the area, I never saw the Metro as crowded as I’ve seen it. The Vienna VA station had (from what I was told) no parking spaces available, that was around 9:45 a.m. When the train came from Vienna to West Falls Church, it was already PACKED.
How many that were there yesterday is far fewer than how many will be there next time.
“When the train came from Vienna to West Falls Church, it was already PACKED.”
I came from the Naylor St. Metro station in MD; LOTS of good parking there (an option to consider for the future). The Union Station crowd was incredible.
It does make sense. Interesting points about the lack of vendors. Let’s face it, there are vendors on the way to the shrine of Lourdes so I imagine it would make it more intense.
Thanks, I’m revising my numbers way upwards.
I was there. The idea that 110K would be an appropriate number is just plain wrong. As another poster noted, I too have been to large athletic events with nearly 100,000 in attendance. The number of attendees at the rally dwarfs those numbers. And many just went directly to the capitol without marching in the parade up PA avenue. There were at least hundreds (vice tens) of thousands in attendance.
Wow, fascinating. After that I was hoping you’d have a number for us. :)
Thanks for that link.
Did you get off at Union Station? I got off at Federal Triangle and it was almost like a Tea Party inside the station.
“Did you get off at Union Station? I got off at Federal Triangle and it was almost like a Tea Party inside the station.”
Actually it may have ben Fed. Triangle, not Union Station where I got off, because where we got on at Pennsylvania Ave was about halfway between the White House and the Capitol. The festivities had started as soon as people exited the train.
I agree - the time frame is too low. We went directly to the Capitol dome area early in the morning and never did the march down PA Ave. People starting approaching the Capitol in sporadic streams around 10-10:30 and then the stream got heavier and heavier and lasted for several hours. I estimated around 300k that I could see on the Capitol lawn and around the pond between that and the beginning of the mall area. But later, I saw massive overflow on each side (North and South) of the main lawn area that was largely obscured by trees (from my position) that had to push the numbers higher, but I could not tell how much higher. In my opinion, any number over 1 million is clearly too high, and any number under 300k is clearly too low, but where it ended up in between those bookends is anybody’s guess. 400k-600k?
You are correct. Many did not know how to text, so everyone around them, including me, helped them. If that was going on around me, I'm sure it was happening every where. No one seemed "embarrassed" to ask for help =).
I thought about the people at home texting too, but in reality if they did text its still a valid number of those in the movement, just not those at the scene.
As I was walking to Freedom Plaza from the metro (3rd and D streets) there were people already gathered at the Capitol building and at the Washington monument. I marched in the front from Freedom plaza and many people were joining the march who never made it on time to Freedom plaza so. None of these people would show up in the video count at freedom plaza. People also filled the sides of the Capitol grounds and out into the streets.
It was announced that the crowd was about 1.5 million.
The reason many could not get onto the mall all the way back to the monument was because the permit only allowed space for about one third of the mall area. I got this information from the DC police.
It wouldn't be perfect, but everything I've heard so far sounds like a wild-a$$ed guess.
How far along the Mall towards the Washington Monument did the crowd extend from the Capitol?
Madison Drive to Jefferson Drive, Capitol to 14th Street = 500 000. Fourteenth Street to top of monument hill = 150 000. Independence + Constitution Aves to Madison and Jefferson Drives, Capitol to 14th Street = 200 000 more.
Two Million? Impossible.
You may be correct on the marchers...but do you realize how many of us did not arrive until almost 1 PM for the event then?
The streets were full from the top of the hill with folks streaming in and yes...lots, were leaving tired from their long mornings or having other obligations for the day.
How do you estimate all the buses and non walkers who attended?
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