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News Release PARK SERVICE SAYS "MALL IS FULL" WHILE PROMOTING NEW WALLS, TUNNEL AND VISITOR CENTER AT WASHINGTON MONUMENTWASHINGTON, June 4, 2003 - The National Park Service (NPS) plans to erect barrier walls and a new visitor center and tunnel at the Washington Monument will desecrate the open spirit of the Mall and should be rejected by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), the National Coalition to Save Our Mall said in a statement today. On June 5, the Park Service will ask the NCPC to give final design approval for the landscape portion of its "Security Improvement Plan" meant to screen visitors to the Washington Monument and to protect it - though not necessarily the visitors - from a terror attack. The proposed 30" high walls would encircle the Monument approximately 400 feet out from its base. The plan calls for moving the entrance of the Monument to the small Lodge at 15th Street. Visitors who now simply walk up to the Monument to enter, would have to pass through the Lodge into a new 60-foot addition. There they would be screened, then descend into the underground center and tunnel extending under the Monument. The Park Service says distant screening is preferable to screening at the Monument itself (as is currently done in a temporary screening facility). The walls are designed to prevent vehicular attacks. "Just days ago on Memorial Day we saw John Parsons, Associate Regional Director of the National Capital Region, on national television saying people agree that the Mall is full. And yesterday, the Park Service testified before the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks, Historic Preservation, and Recreation that it opposes a visitor center at the Vietnam Memorial if it would violate the Commemorative Works Act," said Judy Scott Feldman, Ph.D., chairman of the Coalition. "They're right," Feldman said. "And that is why the NCPC should not take any action on the Washington Monument walls and tunnel until alternatives are considered." One alternative, the Coalition has suggested, would be to move the barrier walls to sidewalk or street level, similar to the Capitol and Library of Congress. This would still achieve the security goal -- keeping vehicles at a safer distance off the Monument Grounds -- while preserving the Monument's open public space. The tunnel is also a bad idea physically and symbolically. "In the 1970s, when the NPS first considered a tunnel, its architectural advisors called the notion 'oppressive and expensive.' We fully agree. Visitors will be forced into a confined space where any breach of security could be disastrous. Imagine a blast, or a fire, or gas attack. How would people escape in time?" Feldman asked. Why is the Park Service so intent on adding new construction on the Mall's main Capitol-Lincoln Memorial axis that clearly is not in line with the L'Enfant Plan or the McMillan Plan?, the Coalition wonders. The Park Service will not say, but a few years ago Associate Director Parsons talked with the Washington Post and the New York Times about his long-range plans. He stated that the Park Service wanted to shift public rallies and demonstrations off the Mall and to ban street parking. "Just like Disneyland," he told the Post. "Nobody drives through Disneyland, [because] they're not allowed. And we've got the better theme park." ("Trampling the Nation's Front Lawn. Mall Is Worn Down By Causes and Feet," by Susan Levine, November 13, 2000, page A1) The New York Times wrote, "As part of his grand strategy, he is trying to persuade people to build memorials eastward [off the Mall]... He wants to move demonstrations off the Mall and require tourists to leave their cars at satellite parking lots and take shuttle buses to their downtown destinations. 'Nobody drives around Disney World,' he argues." ("Public Lives: Guardian Honors Mall by Curbing Number of Memorials," by Elaine Sciolino, July 16, 2001.) "While the walls and a visitor center may be part of Parsons' private wish, they have no place in the historic L'Enfant and McMillan vision of the Mall as the 'public walks'. The Park Service is the steward of the Mall, not an owner free to do arbitrarily what it pleases," Feldman said. The Coalition also raised questions about the Park Service's secrecy and its mad rush to get approval. "They are planning a public building - a visitor center -- and now they're telling us the public's not allowed to see the underground portions beforehand. Exactly what are they trying to hide? Furthermore, this is a 30-year old plan for a visitor center, never funded by Congress, dressed up as a security plan simply in order to get Homeland Security funds. But the Monument is already secure right now. The Jersey barriers may be unsightly, but they do protect the Monument and they've been in place since the Embassy bombings in Africa in 1998,"Feldman added. Portions of this decades-old proposal have nothing to do with security, including plans to eliminate the parking lot on the Monument Grounds, complete the German-American Friendship garden at 16th Street, realign sidewalks, and plant trees. "In time of fiscal crisis, the last thing the public needs is an expensive project like this," Feldman said. The Coalition understands that getting the NCPC to reject the plan is an uphill battle. Mr. Parsons is used to getting his way on the Mall. Indeed, Parsons is the Chairman of the National Capital Memorials Commission (NCMC), which advises sponsors of memorials and museums on compliance with the Commemorative Works Act's protection of the L'Enfant Plan and open public space. Yet he is also a Commissioner on the NCPC. In that role he is not only judge and jury voting on his own proposals, but chief advocate behind the scenes and at public hearings. Sitting in these dual positions has led to an unhealthy conflict of interest. It is now quite clear that the fox has been guarding the hen-house. |
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