Washington D.C.'s 'Inaugural Refugees'

"As the pilgrimage to Washington begins, when spectators from all over the world flock to Capitol Hill in the hope of capturing a glimpse of history-in-the-making...[there] will be...a reverse migration of inaugural refugees, locals simultaneously repelled from the American capital by the congestive hazards of millions of spectators and lured by the promise of rental income and vacation discounts the week of president-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in as the 44th president of the United States.

By all estimates, Mr. Obama's inauguration will attract a crowd of unprecedented size to an event of unprecedented significance. Fewer than half-a-million people attended George W. Bush's inauguration in 2005, and the most modest estimates predict more than 1.5 million people will crowd the National Mall, an open-area park in downtown Washington, on Inauguration Day.

Road and bridge closings, crashing cellular phone networks, thousands of high-demand porta-potties and intense security are in the offing...[M]any locals are avoiding and profiting from the inauguration chaos by renting out their homes and heading south."