Capitol to Potomac
The 700-acre National Mall extends from the U.S. Capitol to the Potomac River and is the home of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and more than a dozen other memorials and museums. The Mall is both a historic site -- hosting such events as Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech" in 1963 -- and a local park where residents play softball.
In less than three weeks, more than half a million people will celebrate Independence Day there, just one of the dozens of holiday festivals and demonstrations held each year on the Mall.
With the 555-foot-tall Washington Monument as its centerpiece, the Mall retains much of its historic power to impress first-time visitors. The problems are in the details, critics say.
"I'm surprised to see such ugly grounds leading up to these pieces of history," said Angela Crawford, 45, a media-relations specialist visiting from Indianapolis, who pointed to brown grass and garbage.
'Disgraceful'
In testimony last month before a congressional committee examining the Mall, Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives, called the conditions "disgraceful."
"When it rains, there are no places to stay dry on the Mall," she said. "When the humidity reaches sky high, there are few places to rest and have a cold drink."
The congressional plan would allocate $50 million, plus another $50 million if the Trust for the National Mall can raise $50 million in matching funds.
The trust was created in November 2007 with a goal of raising $500 million in private funds to improve the Mall.
Caroline Cunningham, 45, the trust's president, said the organization is ready for the task.
"The federal match accelerates the fundraising from the private sector," said Cunningham, a former Democratic fundraiser. "It's a huge incentive to tell people their contribution is going to be matched."
The National Park Service is already working with the trust to spend $2.2 million for new signs to direct visitors on the Mall. The money is from a program announced by President George W. Bush in 2006 to spruce up the parks in time for the National Park Service's 100th birthday in 2016.
Outdated Signs
Some signs are more than a decade old and don't refer to new monuments such as memorials to former President Franklin D. Roosevelt and to those who served in the Korean War and World War II.
Hunt Design, a California company hired by the Park Service, plans to install new signs near the Lincoln Memorial by February 2009.
"This is pretty much sacred ground," said Wayne Hunt, the company founder. "There's too much clutter around the Mall in the first place so for every sign we add we want to remove two."
Hunt intends to build interactive signs so visitors can find specific information that they want.
Park service spokesman Bill Line says the help can't come soon enough. "It's like a home," Line said. "Aren't there times when everyone's home needs to be fixed up?"
To contact the reporter on this story: Kate Andersen in Washington at Kandersen7@bloomberg.net
