Bridge Too Far

The First Amendment is a luxury we must always hold dear.

Yet, while vehemently defending the individual right to expression is absolutely paramount, we should be extremely wary of how much sway a single voice can have in shaping public policy.

^ Content below the fold deals with an adult subject matter, Discretion advised. ^

Solo Act

Regular readers of The DC Equalizer are fully aware of my disdain for tiny activist groups who pester government until their unpopular demands are met. So, it probably comes as no surprise that I'd have a major problem with a scenario where a solitary inhabitant's wishes are granted in spite of the unnecessary fallout those notions would create for the city as a whole.

Well, that's exactly what is happening with Washington's William Howard Taft Bridge. Due to the advocacy of a woman who tragically lost her partner to self-harm, one of the world's most iconic viaducts is being converted into a depressing landmark. As you can see from the photo above, a location known for inspiring vistas now looks more like a construction site with macabre signage.

To make matters worse, the change agent -- named Chelsea -- doesn't even reside here anymore. She moved to Vermont within days of the 2025 barrier installation. [For the record, she'd only been in DC for maybe two years before her campaign began.] In her wake, current and future District dwellers got stuck with this morbid legacy and a bill of at least $850,000.

How did one fugacious citizen accomplish such a complex goal in the capital of inaction?

Band Formation

Almost immediately after her live-in boyfriend went on his fateful walk in April 2022, Chelsea vowed to pressure officials for anti-suicide apparatus on the Taft Bridge. In her estimation, lowering the average of 'one life lost per year' in that spot was worth the effort. *

She started by getting her advisory neighborhood commission, ANC 3C, to craft a resolution. Using controversial tactics (where they snuffed out public debate by stamping the measure with an automatic consent amendment in the opening minute of an online forum full of men and women who had intended to speak on the subject), the elected body then passed it. **

ANC 1C -- based on the other side of the bridge -- soon followed suit. Like clockwork, the media ratcheted up the amplification of Chelsea's agenda. Within months, everyone from the council chair to the National Trust for Historic Preservation changed their tune and fell in line. Mind you, these parties had strongly opposed fence extensions for decades... even taking it to appellate court. Sadly, the backbone they displayed in the 1980s is largely vestigial today.

Social Distortion

Needless to say, emotion won out in the end. As is the case with so many of these crusades, general welfare is no match for the weaponized trifecta of fear, obligation, and guilt (FOG). People concerned with maintaining normalcy are hesitant to challenge radicals stirring the pot.

That inaction greenlights reckless concepts full of obvious downsides. In this circumstance, it mainstreams suicidal ideation, particularly in children. Kids who otherwise would have had no reason to contemplate their mortality will now be forced to contend with 988 placards every time they walk or drive across the Taft. This tradeoff alone should've flagged it as a nonstarter. ***

Adding fuel to the fire, statistics used to justify these measures are often transparent hogwash. Over and over again, Chelsea and her allies insisted that potential jumpers would be very unlikely to seek alternate routes if their primary means or venues were safeguarded. Yet, this so-called method substitution effect hasn't hindered poor souls from bypassing the nearby Duke Ellington Bridge -- and its eight-foot barricades -- in favor of the Taft. [We'll never know which span was their initial destination; but to argue nobody switched to plan B seems suspect.]

Regardless, the previous point is rendered moot by the fact that supplemental fortifications don't solve the problem in the places they are mounted. The Ellington which, again, possesses the suicide protection Chelsea attempted to mimic, is unable to stop determined sufferers.

Utter Discord

So, if prison-like metal fencing can't prevent the act or, at minimum, indisputably dissuade troubled humans from picking a different poison, why are we entertaining it? Because bleeding hearts are willing to use anything -- including an inane JAMA study that claims suicide barriers deliver a 140% financial profit -- to justify whatever treasure it takes to save one theoretical life.

Take a moment to ponder the modern movements supported by firebrands: affixing anti-jump protection, sustaining homeless encampments, penalizing building owners for graffiti removal, etc. What do they all have in common? The destruction of beauty/serenity is incontrovertibly baked into their ostensible missions. Spreading that nihilism is a choice we don't have to make... especially when it is spearheaded by lone provocateurs domiciling 500+ miles away. ****

Note: this post may contain commentary reflecting the author's opinion.

This site does not render legal advice, nor does it intend to replace legal advice.

* She went on to proclaim she was willing to "die trying" for renovations; a rather detestable choice of phrasing given the situation.

** Not shocking from a group of politicians who got flak for unrelated pettiness later that same year.

*** Pause to chew on this odd paradox: the 'one life is too many' crowd consistently overlaps with the medical assistance in dying sect.

**** If you really want to go down the rabbit hole, try and crunch the miniscule odds of all of these deep state connections. For starters, you should know that Chelsea, a veterinarian, came to DC for a fellowship with the State Department. Next, fold in how her Taft Bridge exploits accelerated within a day of a man with an 'interesting' foreign affairs background unaliving himself there. Then reckon with the Reagan-era changes made at the Duke Ellington Bridge that resulted from personal lobbying by... the Deputy Secretary of State! Can the possibility of foul play be dismissed, given the documented history of pushing/throwing by our government and at those bridges?