Crowd Size in DC: There Is No Such Thing As An OFFICIAL Number

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

Not any more. The Park Service no longer provides estimates for crowds that gather in our nation's capital.

Since when?

Since the Million Man March.

The controversy that blazed up over that event - with the Park Service estimating an attendance of 400,000 versus the organizers' 1.2 million figure - resulted in the government simply washing its hands of the whole matter.

And if a number doesn't come from the government, it's not official.

It's just PR from organizers, corporate news readers and other partisan parties.

In 1997, a House bill absolved the Park Service of head count responsibility with this language:

“The Committee has provided no funding for crowd counting activities associated with gatherings held on federal property in Washington, D.C. If event organizers wish to have an estimate on the number of people participating in their event, then those organizers should hire a private sector firm to conduct the count.”

Since then no exceptions have been made, not even for President Obama's inauguration. The widely cited figure for that crowd is 1.8 million attendees, but it is not official. It comes from the Washington Post.

http://www.examiner.com/x-682-National-Parks-Examiner~y2009m1d21-Park-Service-wont-estimate-how-many-people-were-at-the-inauguration

So when you hear a number for today's event, ask the person providing it - news shill, GOP flack, slack-jawed bagger or whoever - what the source is. And if you're told it's an OFFICIAL number, call bullshit.

[lame54]

1. Actually there is one way they use to get the "Official Number"...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6531783

[intheflow]

2. The 2004 Reproductive Rights Rally

had people waling around with clip boards asking people to sign in. You signed, they gave you a sticker. Sure, maybe a few people signed more than once, but even if 500,000 signatures were signed twice, that's still a crowd count of 750,000.

[IDemo]

3. One method -

A method for mob measurement
Even absent publicity-driven pressures to hype the size of a public gathering, no crowd that doesn't go through a turnstile can be counted without some margin of error. (And as recent election recounts have proved, even counting something as simple as a stack of ballots can have a considerable margin of error.) But some fairly simple math can be used to make defensible estimates of crowd sizes.

The method goes back to the late 1960s and a University of California at Berkeley journalism professor named Herbert Jacobs, whose office was in a tower that overlooked the plaza where students frequently gathered to protest the Vietnam War. The plaza was marked with regular grid lines, which allowed Jacobs to see how many grid squares were filled with students and how many students on average packed into each grid.

After gathering data on numerous demonstrations, Jacobs came up with some rules of thumb that still are used today by those serious about crowd estimation. A loose crowd, one where each person is an arm's length from the body of his or her nearest neighbors, needs 10 square feet per person. A more tightly packed crowd fills 4.5 square feet per person. A truly scary mob of mosh-pit density would get about 2.5 square feet per person.

The trick, then, is to accurately measure the square feet in the total area occupied by the crowd and divide it by the appropriate figure, depending on assessment of crowd density. Thanks to aerial photos or mapping applications like Google Earth, even outdoor areas can be readily measured these days.

Any decent aerial shots of the event? This probably ranks as a "truly scary mob", but one which thinks "mosh-pit" is a muslin restaurant.

[zbdent]

4. Not a surprise that it was Newt's House which pushed the legislation ...

can't have Faux and the "liberal media" reporting accurate figures about a peaceful (and no arrests) gathering of a bunch of non-Republican blacks ...

[Greenhound]

5. Looks like a pretty big crowd to me

Wow, guess they got Washington's attention now, now?

[rufus dog]

6. I would say that is a loosely packed crowd

Maybe 40 to 50 thousand people.

Decent size for a demonstration.

Horrible turnout for an event that was pushed for six months by Glenn Beck, SheAnn Hannity and Faux News.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

7. A photo posted from Michelle Malkin's site? Nice.

Enjoy your stay, dude.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[11 Bravo]

9. How to say this nicely ... Ummm, fuck off, clown.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Oeditpus Rex]

16. You've already outed yourself in another thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6535696#6536288



Now, back to the basement with you, troll.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

22. For a one-handed typist, you spell very well

I know there's a fetish for everything under the sun, but guys who get off on trolling, man...that's as bad as furries.

[Swamp Rat]

27. LOL!!

I offered it a toy in another thread.... :D

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. LOL and you know this person has no job how?

[Oeditpus Rex]

26. ROFL!

You so funny! :rofl:









Oh, by the way — I'm not laughing with you, I'm laughing at you.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

19. OMG is Imagefap down???

What else could explain today's zany crop of short-term guests except the loss of free porn.

[11 Bravo]

23. Oh, for Heaven's sake, please stick around.

Just remember, subtlety is your friend (that's where most of you fuck up)

[Swamp Rat]

11. Speaking of comic books, your post is comically ironic.

:D

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. Um yes if it comes from the RNC it is definitely not true.

I'm thinking you are a pepperoni kind of guy?

[Trillo]

29. "Doesn't mean it isn't true."

Except for the fact folks here checked that camera today, and the flag wasn't at half mast.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6531324&mesg_id=6531656

I was among one of presumably many other DUers who went to the site and checked the camera itself, and sure enough, no crowds, and the flag was fully raised.

[Emit]

10. That was the march, when they were walking onto the Mall

[WeDidIt]

13. No more than about 25,000 in that picture

They're marching down the street in that one, which puts it at about 10.5 square feet per person. Plus, they're only in the street and they ahven't made it the four blocks to the capitol from that site yet.

Doing the math, 25,000 people at most.

[LiberalAndProud]

14. Did you enjoy your walk on the mall today?

Where was Glenn, do you think?

[Kali]

15. mmmm cheese

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. You might want to post a picture of TODAY'S rally

The flags in DC weren't at half staff today.


Here is a crowd of nearly 2 million.

[hatrack]

25. Hey P2BLK, did you happen to drive by the Plaza today? There must have been . . . 100 teagabbers!!

My favorite sign - "No More Czars" - of course, the "C" in "Czar" had been made into a hammer and sickle . . .

If these people were any more stupid, they'd suck in light and radio waves.

[proud2BlibKansan]

30. Hell no. I stayed away to stay sane.

We are going to be at Dennis Moore's office today at noon. You should join us! We've been gathering huge crowds for our rallies on this issue.

[KingFlorez]

21. Why are you here?

Shouldn't you be out teabagging? Ooops, perhaps not, because no one really cares about the pathetic cause.

[moondust]

28. Who told you that picture was taken today?

Fox NewsLies?

[Chef Eric]

31. Congratulations on not misspelling any words. I know how difficult that was for you. nt