Curt Wilson, AIA
AIAO Executive Director
Capitols – Access to Democracy
Leaders of the Oregon legislature confirmed recently that the 2021 session will be in person for legislators and key staff, but the building will be closed to the public. While I support the measures enacted in 2020 and 2021 to limit the spread of COVID 19, I’m concerned about this legislative session. Politics and advocacy is a relationship-based endeavor, and relationships are best formed and nourished in person. Remote engagement is something we’ve all become accustomed to the past few months, so we are learning to do it better, but the in-session legislative process happens in a building, or collection of buildings, and it is difficult to replicate virtually.
Based on information I received today from Stateside, a government relations firm that supports AIA at the state level, Oregon is one of about seven states that will proceed with an in-person session while the building closed to the public.
I had the great fortune about a decade ago to lead the design team on the complete restoration of the Oregon Capitol Office Wings. Our team met with a bi-partisan group of house and senate members during the session regularly as the design process evolved. A commonly used phrase of “the People’s Building” was mentioned at every meeting and drove the decision-making process. The Capitol is regularly open during the day and anyone can enter and wander down the halls and to the reception area of each member’s office suite. The halls in the office wings are narrow, so chances of walking past an elected official and brushing shoulders is likely to happen. Most of the activity in the Capitol during the session is south of the original building rotunda in the lobbying and hearing rooms area. The hearing rooms are positioned with both the public entrance and member entrance along the same wide corridor, so it is easy to find a member and have a conversation as they come and go during the committee meetings. Prior to taking over as the AIA Oregon EVP/CEO, I chaired in the Legislative Affairs Committee and most of my advocacy time in the Capitol was spent outside the hearing rooms talking with other architects, our lobbyist Cindy Robert, and the people on both sides of the issues we were involved in. “Both sides of the issues” are the operative words here. This is where different perspective come together and find common ground. My experience of over two decades in the building as an architect and policy advocate for the profession is that the building cultivates civility, and the legislative process is better when people dialogue, compromise and are accountable to each other.
A colleague commented last week that civility is the first line of security for public spaces. We are living in a moment unlike any time of my life, where civility has been marginalized. I never thought I would see a time where a US Capitol was breached by rioters trying to stop the legal transfer of power, but that happened on the sixth day of the new year, the year we hoped would be better than the one before! In Oregon, a similar event occurred with politically motivated individuals attempting to shut down the legislature and resorting to violence. The People’s Buildings are under attack by some of the people unwilling to accept a sacred process that has occurred seamlessly every 4 years since George Washington was first sworn in on April 30, 1789. And, unfortunately, the FBI is predicting an escalation of events the week of the inauguration throughout the country. In Salem, meetings were cancelled for next Tuesday and Wednesday and this morning Capitol maintenance staff started putting plywood on all first-floor windows. Safety is now the priority over civility and democracy.
As architects, we need to be the voice of our capitol buildings. The People’s Building is a real thing, and it is worth preserving. Safety protocols during a pandemic are essential and take priority, but this pandemic (we hope) is an isolated event. While I’m sad about the impact of the COVID-19 on the legislative process, our legislative leaders have made a reasonable decision for this session. However, we don’t have a vaccine to address the loss of civility and threats of violence against the buildings that are the symbols of democracy in our society, so I fear short-sighted stop-gap measures will be enacted as a response. This probably will include limited access to the public, and more haphazardly placed barricades. You may recall that a common response after the attacks of 911 was the placement of concrete “Jersey” barriers throughout DC and other capitol cities. Similar to the design of schools to enhance safety and encourage positive learning, we can do better with capitol buildings and architects need to lead the way.