National Coalition to Save Our Mall

Learn more about today's Mall in this new book.

Read our call to action:
Rethinking The National Mall (December 2008)

2006 National Mall 3rd Century Initiative
2004 Future of The National Mall
2002 The State of the Mall

What does the Mall need? Click here to learn more

Read the 2008 Mall Transportation Study prepared by George Mason University public policy graduates students for our offshoot National Mall Conservancy

How do I get a permit for recreation or special events on the Mall? What are the rules?

Listen to Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher on February 26, 2008 address the future of the National Mall on his program Raw Fisher Radio with Deputy Superintendent Steve Lorenzetti of the National Park Service and Coalition Chairman Judy Scott Feldman

Read Coalition President and Chair Dr. Judy Scott Feldman's talk, Reconnecting the National Mall to the Capital City in the 21st Century (PDF, 2.7MB) , presented April 11, 2007, at the Framing a Capital City symposium at the National Building Museum in Washington. You can listen to a podcast of the entire day-long symposium, sponsored by the National Capital Planning Commission, the Commission of Fine Arts, and the National Building Museum.

Listen to the Sept. 21, 2006 public radio call-in show about The Future of The Mall with Coalition Chair Feldman

In Memoriam The National Coalition to Save Our Mall dedicates our latest public service project, a digitized version of the rare, out-of-print McMillan Commission Report of 1902, to our friend and advisor Charles Atherton (1932-2005). Read the dedication and the report

It’s your National Mall—your place for experiencing democracy. Visitors coming to Washington are finding the Mall closed off in the name of security. (View more)

Tell Congress that the National Mall is America’s symbol of democracy and freedom. It should remain open.

"One doesn't have to spend too much time on the national mall—the 'place of resort' for public walks that Pierre L'Enfant, the capital's designer, dreamed of—before one begins to detect a certain lack of hospitality. One begins to feel like a nuisance, in fact. Worse, one begins to feel that one is supposed to feel like a nuisance. And one—I hate to say it, I really do—would be right."

Weekly Standard, August 15/22, 2005: The Mess on the Mall: Confusion reigns supreme on America's promenade.

"Feldman argues that increasing the Mall's size would boost its historical and cultural meaning as well and keep it from becoming a static, increasingly security-conscious museum piece, like, say, Colonial Williamsburg."

Washington Post, August 7, 2005: Taking an Expansive View of the Mall

View the original Post article with map (PDF, 1.6MB)

NEW FREE MALL MAP/HISTORICAL GUIDE

Our free National Mall map and historical guide, "The National Mall. Stage for Democracy," is out. Read how to get a copy

Senate Mall Oversight Hearing April 12th, 2005

Read our testimony

Read all four testimonies at the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks website

Read our letter to Chairman Thomas

Read the official notice and what you can do

"The Mall could grow... The National Mall Third Century Initiative, a program of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall, a nonprofit advocacy group, says the Mall could grow again for the 21st century -- this time by reengineering not the riverbank but our concept of the Mall."

Read the Op-Ed in The Washington Post, March 21, 2005 by Fred Hiatt, editor of The Post's editorial page.

"The beauty of these great monuments and what they mean to us as symbols of our open society requires us to put public access number one. Otherwise, the monuments will die."

Read The Washington Post's lead editorial for January 4, 2005, "A Pall Over the Mall," quoting the Coalition’s Chair, Judy Scott Feldman.

"one of the great public spaces in the world...is fast collapsing into a symbol of fear, restriction and bureaucratic control."

Washington Mall Becomes Mickey-less Disneyland
by Andrew Ferguson of Bloomberg.com

In a commentary published recently in The Washington Post, Coalition President Judy Scott Feldman argues that it is time to form a conservancy to protect the National Mall from further desecration. Read the commentary and, if you agree, make a donation to support our efforts. Time is short and the need is great. Please act now.

Monumental Endeavor, Uphill Climb

The Hill, an influential Capitol Hill newspaper, examines Coalition's struggle to preserve the historic vision of the National Mall. (Read the story)

The State of the Mall Report

The National Coalition to Save Our Mall released its first annual status report on the National Mall Oct. 14, 2002 in Washington, D.C., outlining the previous year's victories and losses and summarizing future developments likely to affect our nation's Monument to Democracy. Click here for more information.

The National Coalition to Save Our Mall is a national, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt education and research organization working to preserve the National Mall as the Monument to Democracy it is intended to be. If this is your first visit to our site, we suggest you begin with the History of the National Mall.

Our mission is to defend our national gathering place and symbol of Constitutional principles against threats posed by recent and ongoing proposals - for new memorials, security barriers, service buildings and roads - that would encroach on the Mall's historical and cultural integrity, its open spaces and sweeping vistas, and its significance in American public life.

We welcome your participation. Please contact us for more information. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter.