A Mall Overhaul

It didn't take long for the red flags to go up over the weekend after 17 ducks mysteriously showed up dead in a reflecting pool at the eastern end of the National Mall--directly in front of the U.S. Capitol building. Tests for hazardous chemical, biological and radiological materials allowed federal agencies to rule out any security or health threat. But those familiar with the site know this was hardly the first time dead birds or fish have turned up in the stagnant, putrid-smelling muck filling the Mall's lakes and reflecting pools.

Crumbling sidewalks, dead grass and water dirty enough to kill animals: it's a sorry state of affairs, prompting a growing number of activists to proclaim America's "front yard" a national disgrace and to launch a series of plans aimed at the most sweeping revitalization of the area in more than a century.

The 200-year-old national park's age spots are readily evident. A sea wall propping up the area by the Jefferson Memorial is slowly sinking into the tidal basin; flooded and cracked walkways are cordoned off. Maps are hard to find and outdated, omitting the Franklin Roosevelt and Korean War memorials, which have been in place for more than a decade. Throughout the 1,000-acre Mall, the footprints of 25 million yearly visitors have worn bare patches in the turf where grass no longer grows. Food, water and bathrooms are scarce, as are parking, public transportation and shady places to sit.

"People think of the Mall as this great inspiring landscape, which it is, but up close it's clear that as a nation we're not giving it the attention it needs," says Judy Feldman, head of the National Coalition to Save the Mall, an eight-year-old advocacy group pressing for long-term revitalization of the Mall and its surroundings. "I just got back from a trip to Europe, where historical places are preserved as vibrant, living spaces. To come back to see this, the condition of the Mall is an embarrassment."

National Park Service representatives responsible for the Mall's upkeep say they do the best they can with the resources they have--which total only $31 million each year. A new sea wall alone would cost $20 million, they estimate; a total overhaul would run an estimated $350 to $500 million. Absent the cash, the Park Service has applied Band-Aids over the years--temporary fencing and splotches of asphalt. The situation has grown so dire that park officials have resorted to tearing up the gardens installed by Lady Bird Johnson--a widely praised patron of America's public spaces--for lack of cash to handle the upkeep.

"The area is being loved to death," said National Park Service spokesman Bill Line, who says more than 3,000 permits for demonstrations and special events are granted each year. "This is one of the most intensely used public spaces not only in this country but in the world. If 25 million people walked through your front yard, it might not look so nice either. So we are asking the American public what they want this space to become."