February 2, 2007
Dear Coalition Friends:
This is a reminder that you have until February 4 (Sunday) to submit to the Smithsonian your questions and concerns about the proposal to locate the National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall at the foot of the Washington Monument and next to the Museum of American History. Your comments are requested as part of the public scoping process and will be addressed in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that will be prepared for the Smithsonian by The Louis Berger Group.
Click here to go to the public comment page.
Here's the site where you can download the transcript of the January 4 public meeting where the project was presented. The transcript includes comments provided by members of the public, including the Coalition.
The Coalition is submitting the following comments:
Comments by the National Coalition to Save Our Mall
Regarding the EIS for the National Museum of African American History and Culture
February 2, 2007
(Based on comments provided at the January 4, 2007 public meeting by Judy Scott Feldman, Chair)
The site chosen by the Smithsonian for the Museum, next to the Museum of American History and at the foot of the Washington Monument, will pose significant challenges for its designers and builders, as well as for future visitors to the Museum and the National Mall. For these reasons, and because we support the Congressional moratorium on new construction on the Mall, the Coalition was not in favor of this location and, instead, preferred other sites, including the Arts & Industries Building on the Mall and the Banneker Overlook site. We have a number of questions and concerns that should be addressed in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS):
The National Coalition to Save Our Mall is concerned above all with the National Mall, which was designed as a great public open space and symbol of the role of the people in the U.S. Constitution and American Government.
- Our concern is that the public open space is being eaten up and covered over by new construction.
- Anytime new construction is proposed, we raise alarms and concerns because the historic character of the open space is being altered.
- We hope there will be extreme care taken, that if the building ultimately is built here, if the conditions are such that it can be built, that it will be minimized in size and scale and impact so that the views and vistas of the open space remain.
- But in particular the open space itself must be retained so that the American people have a place, and future generations have a place on the Mall.
- How will a building at this location so close to the foot of the Washington Monument impact the openness that is required for that great obelisk?
- The Washington Monument, as premiere monument itself of the city and of the nation, needs breathing space around it for the full majesty of its power and symbolism to be appreciated.
- Whatever goes on in this spot needs to be deferential to the national icon next door.
- How will the building impact views to the Monument, around the Monument, and from the city towards the Monument?
- How can the building be designed to maintain maximum openness around the Monument grounds at 14th and 15th Streets?
- How will the museum and its program contribute to the cultural meaning and symbolism of the National Mall as a whole?
- Is it to be just another museum that closes at 5 pm and goes dark, contributing to the dead quality of the Mall at night?
- Or can the program and the building design invite day and night activities?
- Can the program include cultural activities such as music and theatrical performances that contribute to a livelier cultural environment on the Mall?
- Can the building be designed so that instead of being a solid mass it could create a courtyard or an open space within its walls---maybe an amphitheater-so that people sitting in this space would be oriented towards the Mall's open space and monuments?
- The building so designed to incorporate an amphitheater could become, even when the museum is closed, a lively place where cultural activities on the Mall could be performed; in exchange for taking over the public space it could create a better venue for Mall cultural activities.
- How will serious water and flooding issues be handled?
- The site is situated in a flood plain.
- The site is also situated where the Tiber Creek runs under Constitution Avenue and starts to open up towards the west.
- Serious flooding this past summer included city runoff but also the swelling of Tiber Creek underground.
- All the buildings along Constitution Avenue are prone to flooding and we question how another building can be placed into the Tiber Creek area without further impacting and worsening the flooding.
- How will global warming and the effects of climate change further impact the flooding problem?
- We have questions about how visitors will approach the building.
- This is a difficult site between 14th and 15th Street, Constitution Avenue and Madison Drive, with very heavy traffic, especially at rush hour.
- How is access by pedestrians, in particular, going to be alleviated?
- How are buses and other tour groups going to be able to get to the area and to the space, especially during rush hour?
- Is it going to impact further the terrible congestion in the city during rush hour?
- How can the entrance to the building, bus drop-off, and maybe pedestrian bridges or some kind of special pedestrian setup be created so that it doesn't become a public hazard in this very prominent spot?
- We know from history that digging and construction around and near the Washington Monument has affected the water table and caused concern by engineers about the stability of the Monument's foundation. The Monument's stability must be assured.
- In the 1930s Congress asked engineers to investigate the feasibility of building the terraces and steps and gardens at the Washington Monument grounds proposed by the McMillan Commission Plan of 1901-1902.
- The engineering report indicated that the Washington Monument's foundation, since it was not built to bedrock, was susceptible to settling and to water table changes.
- Congress decided against construction.
- Since the 1930s there have been other engineering studies, some in the 1960s, that evaluated the effects of construction, at the 12th Street underpass and elsewhere.
- There was concern that vibrations from the driving of piles and other construction activities for the American History Museum, which is further away from the Monument than this site, could affect the Monument's stability.
- At least one study documented settlement of the Monument due to changes in water table caused by construction in the Mall area.
- Since the 1960s and those studies there has been much new construction, including the World War II Memorial to the west of the Monument and the Ronald Reagan Building in the Federal Triangle.
- Are there updated engineering studies regarding the current status of the Monument's stability and any effects of recent construction?
- What effect could building and digging at this Memorial site have on the stability of the foundation of the Washington Monument itself?
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