October 12, 2007
Dear Coalition Friends:
Today's Washington Times has a story about the proposed 25,000-square-foot underground Vietnam Veterans Memorial Visitor Center planned for the National Mall. See the article and link below.
The site for the controversial project is the 5.2-acre plot of land just north of the Lincoln Memorial and across Henry Bacon Drive from the The Wall. The land is actually part of the historic Lincoln Memorial Grounds, where the National Park Service recently built a substantial food kiosk and drop-off area for its Tourmobile concession. Here's a map of the site.
The National Coalition to Save Our Mall has been participating in public meetings designed to address concerns about the effects on the historic landscape, most recently on September 12th. It became clear at that meeting that "underground" does not mean invisible. The proposed design includes a large open-air courtyard to allow natural light into the subterranean spaces, as well as uncovered ramps leading from ground level down into the museum and office areas.
At that meeting, consulting parties requested electronic copies of plans and drawings so we could share them with our members and the public. We have not yet received them. When we do, we will provide them to our readers.
Consulting parties to the discussions about the visitor center include the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (private sponsor for the project), the National Park Service, the National Capital Planning Commission, the Commission of Fine Arts, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the Coalition.
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THE WASHINGTON TIMES
October 11, 2007
By Arlo Wagner
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center planned for the Mall will include pictures of all of the fallen service members whose names are engraved on the granite wall.
Organizers hope to begin construction on the 25,000-square-foot underground center in 2010 and complete the project in about 18 months.
President Bush and Congress approved the plans in 2003.
Honorary chairman of the fundraising campaign is Colin L. Powell, former secretary of state and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The retired Army general hopes to generate $75 million to $100 million in private funds for the center.
Mr. Powell announced the campaign last year with a $10 million gift from Time Warner. He said the center will help give young people an understanding of American history.
"When it is completed, I am confident the memorial center will serve as a poignant reminder that the freedoms Americans enjoy are bought with a price," he said.
The United States joined South Vietnam to fight communist North Vietnam from the 1950s to 1975. It was the longest war in U.S. history.
Mr. Powell said the center will include no political statements about the war, only that service members "died in valor."
The center will be near the Vietnam Veterans and Lincoln memorials, bordered by Constitution Avenue, 23rd Street and Henry Bacon Drive in Northwest.
"As you walk down into the [center], you will see the Lincoln Memorial to one side and the Washington Monument to the other," said Jan Scruggs, 57, of Annapolis, who conceived the idea of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall, which was dedicated in 1982.
"This is different," said Mr. Scruggs, an Army infantryman in Vietnam. "It's a visual experience, emotional and an educational experience."
Among the other exhibits will be drawings of events and people and roughly 100,000 personal items left in memory at the wall.
"This will teach how freedom was purchased at a price," Mr. Scruggs said.
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