Needed: a little yardwork
By Patrick Kelley (Contact)
Originally published 09:58 a.m., July 5, 2008
Updated 09:58 a.m., July 5, 2008
ON FRIDAY, the United States celebrated the 232nd anniversary of its independence. The center for that nationwide celebration was the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
With its broad lawns, reflecting pools and national monuments, the mall is the perfect setting for Independence Day. What better backdrop could there be for picnics, concerts and a fireworks display than the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol and the Vietnam and World War II memorials?
There is a reason the National Park Service calls the mall “the national front yard.” With its many commemorations of the shared experience of the people of the United States, the mall is a place where every American should feel at home.
But the national front yard is looking a little seedy these days.
McClatchy newspapers report that the mall is showing signs of wear: bald lawns, broken sidewalks, scum-filled reflecting pools and general evidence of neglect.
Part of the problem is that the mall is being loved to death. As one of the most popular destinations for tourists in the nation’s capital, the mall has been subjected to year after year of heavy use.
The other problem is money. The park service said the mall needs about $350 million worth of maintenance and improvements. There is only $12 million in the budget. The service estimates the cost of catching up on maintenance at all of the national parks would be in the neighborhood of $6 billion.
But while the nation is spending $6 billion a month ($200 million a day) on the war in Iraq, the budget for the nationaal parks is not likely to be increased.
So, for now, repairs and improvements on the mall are going to have to rely on private donors, working through the Trust for the National Mall and other organizations.
The donations do not have to come from big corporations with deep pockets, although a few donations from them would be welcome. In the 1920s, America’s schoolchildren donated $148,000, much of it in pennies, to help restore the USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides.” A similar national campaign would raise millions today.
The trust is now trying to raise $1.1 million to match a federal grant. The money is not enough to restore the mall to its full splendor, but it will be a start.
After all, the mall is our front yard.
To donate, go to www.nationalmall.org/.
Patrick S. Kelley
Editorial Page Editor
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Posted by Wasp (anonymous) on July 5, 2008 at 10:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If our government would not have hogged up so much land and let it get overgrown by lack of management (such as the wildlife refuge down by Harford and Jacobs Creek) they would not need 6 billion to fix ther mistakes and they would have money to take care of the National mall.
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