February 14, 2005

Dear Coalition Friends:

Congress is beginning to pay attention. Members are listening to your concerns about the barriers that mar the beauty and openness of the National Mall's public space and monuments. They know what you're talking about, because the Capitol Building itself is an armed fortress of concrete barriers, closed streets, and armed guards.

You can continue to make a difference. Contact your Congressional representatives and tell them your thoughts about the state of the Mall.

Our website makes it simple. Next to the picture of the Washington Monument "closed," press on the link "Tell Congress"

There is great urgency for Congress to take action immediately, before it's too late. Security barriers and walls are rising around our museums and monuments. The National Park Service is moving forward with plans to build four new substantial buildings, two at the Lincoln Memorial and two at the Washington Monument (see #2 below). Right now, sites "on the Mall" are being selected for the proposed visitor center at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Museum of African-American History and Culture.

We have been laying the groundwork for Congress to assume greater responsibility for the Mall. For the past five weeks, we have been visiting Capitol Hill to educate Congressional staff with our 20-minute, fast-paced PowerPoint presentation that outlines the National Mall's history, problems today with security and other construction, and our proposed solutions. We have focused our efforts on committees with oversight over the agencies that manage the Mall, including House Interior Appropriations, House Resources Committee, House Government Reform, Senate Energy Committee's Subcommittee on National Parks, Historic Preservation, and Recreation. Still to go are Senate Appropriations and DC's Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia (8th Congressional District) has shown great enthusiasm for our ideas, in particular for increasing and improving public amenities--benches, bike racks, restroom facilities, food services, shelter. He needs to hear from his constituents. His website is http://moran.house.gov/

In coming days we will be putting a reduced version of our PowerPoint presentation at http://www.savethemall.org for all to see. One key idea is that the Mall can continue to evolve and grow physically, as it did 100 years ago. In 1901 the Mall ended at the Washington Monument. Completion of the Lincoln Memorial in 1922 ushered in the great expansion of the Mall we know today. Now in 2005, the next important museum or monument could inaugurate the next great expansion -- to East Potomac Park, down South Capitol Street, along L'Enfant Plaza to the waterfront, across Memorial Bridge... (more to come on this later this week). Congress and the Park Service have already identified these areas as preferred sites for new memorials and museums. Any new museum sited there would then be "on the Mall."

Here are some of our main points that have led to that conclusion:

1. The beautiful Mall that we all remember is rapidly changing. It is encased in tall construction fences and security walls, maintenance is a disgrace, and visitors are closed out of our major monuments. The parking lots at the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial have been closed, making it very difficult to visit the Jefferson. And the next 5 years will be worse, as temporary security measures are replaced with major construction of permanent walls and barriers.

2. More non-security construction is imminent and should be stopped and reevaluated. The National Park Service is violating its own 1966 and 1976 Master Plans for the Mall.

NPS proposes to build FOUR new concession buildings (34' x 34' x 18') for food and retail/gifts, two at the Lincoln Memorial and two more at the Washington Monument. The new buildings will be located at Tourmobile stops, for the convenience of those who visit the Mall by Park Service's Tourmobile. In contrast, the 1966 and 1976 Master Plans call for smaller concession kiosks conveniently located along the pedestrian pathways of the Mall.

Despite NPS's failure to show how these buildings fit a Master Plan, the National Capital Planning Commission (and its Commissioner representing the National Park Service) voted FINAL approval to this scheme last month. Only one commissioner, Vice-Chair Patricia Elwood, voted no and demanded that NPS produce a Master Plan first. Congress should halt this new "plan" for visitor amenities, and stop any new construction, until provision is made for pedestrians, bicyclists, and local people who don't want to take Tourmobile.

3. Congress needs to take responsibility, as the Mall's ultimate steward, for assuring the Mall's integrity now and in the future. The Mall's last master plan, the McMillan Plan, is over 100 years old and cannot respond to continuing pressures for new memorials and evolving public uses. Mall management is divided among at least eight government agencies who do not speak to one another.

The many Mall managers don't even agree on a definition or map of the Mall. The Park Service still officially describes the Mall as ending at 14th Street, near the Smithsonian's American History Museum. The Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, according to NPS, are NOT on the Mall but on the "Washington Monument Grounds" and in "West Potomac Park." This (mis)interpretation helps explain NPS's position, during controversies over the siting of the WWII Memorial and Washington Monument barrier walls, that those new construction projects would not damage "The Mall."

Congress needs to define the National Mall as an entity and begin preparing the groundwork for a long-term vision for the Mall's future. Learn the history of the Mall by clicking here.

4. The National Mall Conservancy Initiative is taking immediate action to fill gaps in Mall management. Our program, which we are now calling The National Mall Third Century Initiative, focuses on projects that will bring people back to the Mall, making it a more lively, enjoyable, and inspiring public space. We are working on a first-time-ever National Mall brochure and map, a Mall Activities website, and on improving local DC involvement to make the Mall a more inviting urban park.

5. The National Mall can continue to expand as an expression of our evolving democracy (see above).

That's for starters.

Please take a few moments to contact your Congressional representatives. They want to hear from you.

Best regards,
Judy