Let us in! Getting in the capitol buildings is challenging experience.

Public access the the capitol and capitol annex is an issue during the legislative session. The number of public entrances has been reduced and the check-in process made more cumbersome, resulting in waits of 30-60 minutes outside, sometimes in the cold and rain. 

One of the things we really want to focus on is preserving access to the capitol. I came to the capitol last Tuesday around 10:25 a.m. and there were about 40 people in the line outside the capitol annex which didn’t work for me because I had a 10:30 a.m. meeting. There should never be that sort of line. 

One of the unique things about Kentucky’s capitol is it has underground parking inside a cliff. There’s a tunnel from the underground parking to the annex building and another tunnel from the annex to the capitol building. So ordinary people could use the tunnel from underground parking to the annex and never have to go outside. Now that’s restricted so only paid lobbyists with a badge and employees can use the tunnel from underground parking to the annex.

There shouldn’t be a situation where taxpayers who paid for the buildings, who paid for the annex to be built, who paid for the parking shouldn’t have to stand outside in the cold, wind and rain in line waiting to get in. There should be enough access points so this never happens.

Ordinary people, the taxpayers should be able to use the best and most accessible access points to the building. That includes the tunnel from the underground parking to the annex and to the capitol. 

So we really have to make sure the people’s building is unrestricted to the use of the actual people. 

Now we have a situation too where people with firearms were able to bypass security screening with long arms and side arms because, well, their long arms were setting off the metal detectors. They were just waved around but ordinary people had to stand in line to be scrutinized. It just doesn’t make any sense.

Those policies about armed people coming through the capitol need to be revisited. There is video of these people brandishing their firearms, posing with them while being masked. I don’t think that’s the image we want to present across the country.