Clean up ‘America’s front yardSSRq

The National Mall is that magnificent green sweep in Washington, D.C., that stretches just over two miles from the Lincoln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol on one axis and from the White House to the Jefferson Memorial on the other.

With the monuments and the parade of great museums on either side it is overwhelming. It is also getting shabby and rundown. The National Park Service says there is $350 million backlog of deferred maintenance. Taking care of only the most pressing projects will cost $100 million.

The Mall’s elegance has two edges. Casual visitors are so taken by the vistas that they don’t notice the cracked sidewalks, the grass worn down to the dirt, the suspect look of the water in the Reflecting Pool, the broken light fixtures, the sinking containment wall around the Tidal Basin that has forced the relocation of sidewalks around the Jefferson Memorial.

Mall’s age is showing

They may think to themselves that some things could be done better when they try to find a bathroom. If they notice it at all, they may wonder idly about the small stone house that’s boarded up and derelict. It is the oldest building on the Mall, a lockkeeper’s house from the 1830s when canals crossed what then was largely swampy wasteland.

The other double-edged problem of the Mall is that people love it, love it death. The Mall gets 20 million visitors a year -- and most of them walk on the grass; it’s allowed -- and hosts enormous events like the Fourth of July fireworks and concert, the Cherry Blossom Festival and the Smithsonian’s enormously popular Folklife Festival.

A House Appropriations subcommittee has recommended spending the $100 million necessary for the immediate needs. A joint public and private fund raising effort lacks a strong constituency.

We really have to do better by the Mall. It is, after all, fairly described as “America’s front yard.”

Scripps Howard News Service