Although the National Mall is home to memorials to our nation’s Founding Fathers, it is treated like Washington’s ugly stepchild. The facilities are neglected and dirt patches grow faster than grass. As the front yard of the nation’s capital, the Mall deserves better than its current disgraceful state.
The Mall has been neglected because of a dearth of National Park Service funding, according to Chip Akridge of the Trust for the National Mall, an organization which raises money to pay for the Mall’s upkeep and renovations. Necessary upkeep has been forgotten and the Mall’s popularity has been taken for granted by the government.
Akridge said the seawall around the Tidal Basin at the Jefferson Memorial has sunk around 10 inches in the past year, and paths near the Memorial are underwater twice a day at high tide.
Dead grass on the Mall leaves a bad impression on visitors and residents alike. The annual 25 million visitors take their toll on the grass, killing it and expanding dirt patches. Moreover, the current infrastructure cannot handle the millions of visitors. There are only three places to buy water on a park stretching almost two miles. The few vendors that do exist grossly overcharge. The NPS should encourage more local businesses to start vending food on the Mall.
At this point, it’s almost better that visitors can’t find affordable refreshments—the Mall only has 100 toilets.
All in all, the Mall has a backlog of $350 million worth of repairs and maintenance. To his credit, President Bush announced last year that he will increase the NPS funding by $100 million per year for the next ten years and possibly add an additional $1 billion in matching funds to private contributions. However, NPS has other parks it must keep up. Unless this money is set aside for Mall, it is unlikely that all of the Mall’s needs will be met.
NPS will release a 30-year plan on renovating the National Mall later this year. This plan should ensure that the Mall receives the attention it needs, the resources to shore up its existing features and open up to private vendors. The least we can do is keep the front yard well-kept.
