A week or so ago, I was stopped in traffic in front of the State House watching a couple of tourists walk up to the black gate. They tried to take pictures, positioning their camera with some difficulty between the rods of the fence.

The building looked beautiful, the lawn well groomed and the statues polished. It seemed strange to me that it was all off-limits behind the locked gates and large metal fence.

Apparently I was not alone. (The question, raised by a tourist quoted in the Globe, is whether the fence is to keep the tourists out or the politicians in?)

If another set of screeners for the front door is too burdensome, at least open up the front lawn. We are paying the bills, after-all.