I spoke with someone this morning who claimed to have contacts in the DC police department, and he was adamant that the 2,000,000 figure agrees with their estimates based on aerial photographs.
That means that approximately 0.67% of the US population was on the streets in DC yesterday.
We really need to get those aerial picture published. That’s the key to getting a better, believable estimate.
Fresh Wind wrote:
I spoke with someone this morning who claimed to have contacts in the DC police department, and he was adamant that the 2,000,000 figure agrees with their estimates based on aerial photographs.
That means that approximately 0.67% of the US population was on the streets in DC yesterday.
See my post #26 for some pictures of previous big events on the mall.
The other thing is, yesterday, due to airspace restrictions that have been in place since September of 2001, it’s (nearly) impossible for a private plane to fly over the mall and take pictures. Therefore, the only aerial photos (if there are any) will be from government sources. Perhaps the DC Police have aerial photos. Perhaps we need to draw up a Freedom of Information Act request to get those photos from the DC police.
I do wish someone had thought ahead and had someone take a collage of photos from the top of the Washington monument and/or from the top of the capitol dome (by whatever means necessary). Even photos from a kite or balloon mounted camera would have been very helpful. We can’t rely on the media to accurately report on anything today, or to provide accurate, meaningful photos.