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CNN Live At Daybreak

Making Capitol Hill Security Pleasing to the Eye

Aired January 22, 2002 - 05:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It took nearly four months to make the Hart Building safe for law makers, but the fear of terrorism has been changing the nation's capital for some time.

CNN Congressional Correspondent Kate Snow says the reality of safety is sometimes pretty ugly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Step back from this famous dome, this monument to neoclassical architecture, and here's what you see -- sewer pipes, concrete barriers, chain link fencing, a slalom course of planters, all strategically placed for protection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to be careful when you're taking a picture what, you know, that you don't get all the barricades and everything else in it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's kind of sad because when I was here before it was so beautiful and now it's as if because of the terrorists, we've lost a lot of our beauty.

SNOW: Visitors say they understand the need for added security. September 11 was a powerful warning. But even security experts acknowledge this is not the look Frederick Law Olmsted was going for when he designed the Capitol grounds in 1874.

ROGER LEWIS, ARCHITECT: I think they've gone way overboard.

SNOW: Architect Roger Lewis says security doesn't have to be ugly.

LEWIS: I think what we need is a designed system of security barriers that become part of the landscape aesthetically, that make our landscapes and our buildings look good rather than look bad. And I think what you see here feels like a fortress.

SNOW: The fortress was built post 9-11, but the look of the Capitol landscape has been evolving for decades. As late as 1969, there weren't even guards posted at Capitol entrances. And just look at the contrast between 1917 and today.

The new look, these less intrusive steel bollards. ALAN HANTMAN, ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL: It's much more compatible with the landscape. We're trying to have them essentially be here as security elements but kind of disappear into the background.

SNOW (on camera): The project was planned well before September 11. Bollards will eventually encircle the Capitol and officials hope they'll replace most, if not all, of the concrete barricades they're using now.

(voice-over): Construction is also underway on a new visitors center. When it's done in three years, designers hope the beauty of the grounds will finally be restored. But in a bow to the times, the people's house may never look or feel quite as open as it once was.

Kate Snow, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And you can bet Pennsylvania Avenue will remain closed for some time to come.

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