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October 2011

Dear Friends of the National Mall:

In 2010 the National Coalition to Save Our Mall celebrated our 10th anniversary.  To mark this milestone, the Coalition Board of Trustees and 3rd Century Mall advisors evaluated our decade of accomplishments and set priorities for the coming years.   While continuing our ongoing work in education and advocacy, our primary focus will be to move ahead with steps to achieve our long-range goal:  a forward looking plan for the National Mall in its 3rd century – the 3rd Century Mall Visionary Plan.

We started working in 2010 on the five new initiatives outlined in our2009 Renewing American Democracy on the 3rd Century Mall report that will support the 3rd Century Mall planning effort.  These include:

• A national competition for the Washington Monument grounds
• A Mall-wide landscape restoration study
• Educational programs and self guided tours
• A formal definition of the National Mall
• A Mall-wide circulation planning study

In addition, we continued ongoing projects:

• In dozens of tours and slide-illustrated talks to Rotary Clubs, school groups, Elderhostel, and nonprofits, we educated the public about the Mall’s history, current issues, and exciting possibilities for the future (see cover illustration with Chair Judy Feldman)
• Distributed thousands of our free Mall maps, The National Mall: Stage For Our Democracy, to Congressional offices, Washington area airports and visitors centers, local residents and tourists
• Continued our outreach to the public, Congress, and the media about the ideas and vision for the future of the Mall described in our 2009 Renewing American Democracy report.  The report can be downloaded from our website home page, http://www.savethemall.org.

Ten years after the Coalition was founded in 2000, we are a recognized voice for the public on Mall matters.  Our positive, forward-looking ideas for Mall expansion in the 21st century have propelled even federal agencies to think in new ways about the future of the Mall.  But as the federal agencies (including the National Park Service and the National Capital Planning Commission) completed their Mall plans in 2010, our differences became clearer than ever.  Whereas the federal agencies have declared the Mall “complete,” the Coalition strongly believes the Mall can never be complete any more than American history is finished.  While government agencies plan for the Mall by administrative jurisdiction – e.g., Smithsonian, National Gallery, National Park Service, Architect of the Capitol --, the Coalition seeks to create a comprehensive visionary plan that supports the Mall’s ongoing role as a Stage for American Democracy.

We invite your support in moving forward to create the 3rd Century Mall Visionary Plan.

Sincerely,

Judy Scott Feldman, PhD
Chair and President
jfeldman@savethemall.org / 301-340-3938

The National Coalition to Save Our Mall is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the integrity of the National Mall as our premier civic space for learning about and experiencing democracy. Your contribution is fully tax deductible.

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