Numerous festivals, performances, political demonstrations, and pick-up games have been held on the grounds of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It’s home to many of the most significant memorials and monuments in the nation and is one of the most visited of our national parks. Every day, slews of Washingtonians and visitors use the grounds for one purpose or another—lunching on it, strolling on it, admiring it. But it has also been neglected, and the wear is definitely showing.
The Jan. 20, 2009, presidential inauguration events served to highlight the Mall’s condition. In addition to patchy lawns, much of the Mall’s infrastructure is decaying. Broken or nonexistent paving, a nonfunctioning underground sprinkler system, and a crumbling seawall around the Jefferson Memorial are just a few of the issues that need to be addressed. Making all the necessary repairs and restoring the Mall to a presentable condition carries a high price tag, but the funding is hard to come by. The U.S. National Park Service has identified $350 million in repairs and general maintenance alone.
Unfortunately, a measure that would have provided $200 million in funding for revitalization of the National Mall was recently dropped from the economic stimulus bill before the U.S. House of Representatives passed it. Considering that one of the goals of the stimulus package is to create jobs across many sectors, including infrastructure and construction, the loss of this funding is a disappointment for advocates of the National Mall’s restoration, including the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the nonprofit Trust for the National Mall, the National Park Service’s authorized fundraising partner for the Mall.
“I was frankly discouraged, disappointed, and shocked that a landscape of that importance to our country was dropped from the stimulus bill, both because of its seminal importance as a symbol and because restoring it is the kind of work the stimulus is designed to create,” says Nancy Somerville, executive vice president of ASLA.Had the $200 million National Mall revitalization fund been retained in the stimulus package (and had that package passed in the U.S. Senate as well as the House), it would have resulted in numerous jobs for engineers, landscape architects, and landscaping contractors.
“The needs of the National Mall and its restoration are immediate: $200 million would have provided good jobs, frankly,” says Caroline L. Cunningham, president of the Trust for the National Mall.
Cunningham believes the fund simply fell victim to politics and that the topic will likely come up again during 2009 appropriations. However, Cunningham says the Trust has estimated a total restoration cost of $500 million. In addition to the $350 million in deferred general maintenance, Cunningham says that infrastructure improvements may cost an additional $100 million and that the Trust hopes to raise $50 million more to provide educational programming on the Mall.
ASLA has issued a call to action to its members, asking them to contact their Congressional representatives and urge approval of funding. The Trust for the National Mall will be holding events in May 2009, in addition to its regular fundraising efforts. It will host a benefit luncheon on May 7 on the National Mall grounds, which will be followed on May 8 by a ball hosted by the L’Enfant Society, a group of the Trust’s younger members.
