August 14, 2009
Dear Coalition Friends:
The August 12th edition of The Current newspapers printed my letter, below, regarding the DC Circulator/Tourmobile/Mall signage controversy.
This is the third installment in a story that began with The Current's July 20th story about the hearing during which the National Capital Planning Commission criticized the National Park Service's plan to omit public transit from new Mall signs -- and restrict low-cost transit options on the Mall. Read our July 20th UPDATE HERE.
An editorial in last week's edition of The Current stated the hope that D.C. Delegate Eleanor Homes Norton "and the relevant congressional committees will examine this issue — and put an end to an unwelcome, and unwelcoming, situation." Read more in our update HERE.
A .pdf of The Current can be downloaded HERE.
THE CURRENT
Letters to the Editor
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Transit issue reveals broader Mall needs
Simply by quoting the National Park Service representative and National Capital Planning Commission members during the hearing about Mall signage, The Current has revealed the depth of the management chaos on the Mall [“Park Service can’t advertise DC Circulator,” July 15].
This is about more than signs and transit. It’s yet another manifestation of the fractured, uncoordinated, turf-conscious management and planning that is the source of so many of the Mall’s problems – and the bane of the public.
What could seem simpler than providing basic public transit to, around, and through this vast urban park at the center of our capital city? Yet for many years the National Park Service has resisted providing any low-cost service for all parts of the Mall. The DC Government, the Downtown Business Improvement District, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the Smithsonian Institution all have tried to introduce some kind of low-cost shuttle service at the Mall’s heart but have been rebuffed. The Park Service has insisted on making the Tourmobile interpretive —and expensive -- service the exclusive Mall-wide transportation option, treating the Mall like Yellowstone and other wild parks instead of the urban park it is. Now, with the new signage proposal, the Park Service seems to go even further to cement the status quo favoring its concessionaire.
But what the agency is not saying when it states that Tourmobile sightseeing “has full rights within the park” is that those rights are limited to “interpretive” transportation, not basic public transit.
The Park Service and the National Capital Planning Commission shirk their duty to the public in accepting uncritically the concessionaire’s claim that basic public transit is unlawful competition to its sightseeing service.
Is it any wonder that fiascos such as the Mall signage proposal continue to happen when, even after a justifiable uproar by the public, a federal agency can still get its way from the review agencies that are supposed to bring order to planning and serve the public interest?
For five years, our organization has called on Congress and the president to create an independent, term-limited Mall Commission to bring all Mall stakeholders -- including the District and the public -- to the table and find solutions to complex problems such as transportation.
Could the need be any clearer?
Judy Scott Feldman
Chair and President
National Coalition To Save Our Mall
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