A D.C. proposal to install sirens across the National Mall to warn visitors of impending terrorism or other hazards has run into a federal roadblock over aesthetics, District officials say.
The National Capital Planning Commission objected to the pilot siren project based “on the look,” said Jo’Ellen Countee, spokeswoman for the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. The protests, she said, were raised during a meeting several months ago and have yet to be resolved.
“We have gotten some push back from the feds, but we’re still in the very early planning stages for this project,” Countee said. “We’re still examining options as to how we can make this happen.”
The sirens have not been rejected, responded David Levy, NCPC’s director of urban design and plan review. During the early February meeting, which included multiple federal agencies and the D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer, District officials simply threw out the idea of a mass notification system without providing further details, Levy said.
“Those in attendance basically expressed that there was really not enough information to provide informative feedback,” Levy said. “There was very little information on what kinds of devices they wanted to install, where they wanted to put them and on what buildings they wanted to put them on. We never heard back from them.”
The District’s existing Alert DC system provides text notifications during a crisis through e-mail, cell phones, pagers and other wireless devices. The sirens, Countee said, would serve as redundancy. Few details are available about the evolving project, including the design and the cost, though Countee said the sirens would be purchased with federal homeland security grant dollars.
The National Mall welcomes about 25 million visitors annually. Estimates put attendance for major events, such as the Fourth of July, at more than 500,000.
“Let’s say we’re at the fireworks on the Mall and a tornado is coming and people have to seek shelter,” Countee said. “This is mass notification. It’s an all-hazards notification.”
Bill Line, National Park Service spokesman, said the federal agency has proven itself adept at evacuating masses from the National Mall “in pretty quick order” duringthe past two Fourth of July celebrations, in both cases for severe thunderstorms.
