Since our founding in 2000, the National Mall Coalition has been an unwavering advocate for the National Mall as an important landscape enshrining American history and values, a lively stage for American democracy. As we celebrate our country’s origin and eagerly anticipate our 250th birthday next July 4th, the Coalition appeals to all Americans to join the urgent call for the creation of a Mall Commission and a 3rd Century Plan to ensure the Mall continues its prominent, active role in the nation’s capital as it fosters civics education and citizen engagement to support American democracy.
Summary:
The National Mall, the Stage for American Democracy, faces substantial challenges. The Mall needs a new 3rdCentury National Mall Plan that takes into account the continuing approval of new museums and memorials even as sites become more difficult to identify. Also needed is a new entity that can bring together and foster cooperation among the 8 agencies, 14 Congressional committees, and the numerous design review bodies that have a say over the Mall’s development but don’t collaborate today. Moreover, the Mall needs a comprehensive flood plan to protect it and nearby government buildings from the existential threat of serious flooding, which is getting more serious with extreme weather events.
The future looks bright if we can harness the spirit of American democracy to a new visionary plan for our National Mall’s 3rd century.
- Why do we need a 3rd Century Plan? The Coalition has been resolute in arguing the need for a new Plan as the last one, the 1902 McMillan Commission Plan, is well over 100 years old. The McMillan Plan resulted in an expansion of the Mall, including sites to accommodate the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. Notwithstanding Congress’ declaration in 2003 that the Mall is a “substantially completed work of civic art,” more memorials and museums have already been proposed, with more to come for sure, underscoring the need for a new plan. A 3rdCentury Plan can build upon and advance the brilliant legacy of the original 1791 L’Enfant Plan that laid out the nation’s capital with the Mall at its heart, and the 1902 McMillan Plan that expanded the Mall boundaries to accommodate future growth.
- Who can create a 3rd Century Mall Plan? In 1901, residents collaborated with the American Institute of Architects and Senator James McMillan to create a new plan. Today, numerous federal agencies, the Smithsonian, the DC government, Congressional committees, and a host of design review entities have a say over one or another aspect of the Mall’s maintenance and development. Unfortunately, there is little communication, cooperation, or collaboration among them, and no consideration of the needs of the Mall as a whole. For some time now, the Coalition has pressed for a means to rise above the fragmented management to consider the Mall’s overall well-being today and in the future. A new McMillan-type Commission headed by thoughtful architects, engineers, landscape designers, and civic leaders can create a comprehensive, unified plan that will address serious threats and ensure the Mall’s historical and cultural integrity well into its 3rd century.
- What’s the urgency? One existential threat is flooding. Flooding represents an imminent threat to the Mall museums, memorials, as well as nearby federal buildings. The Coalition has had this challenge in mind since the major flood of 2006 and subsequent storms. With accelerating extreme weather events the new reality, addressing this situation is critical. There have been studies but little action; multi-agency reports have been inconclusive. The Coalition developed and promoted an underground facility, the National Mall Underground, to absorb flooding, provide parking, including for numerous tour buses, and amenities in short supply in the area, as well as geothermal heating for Mall buildings. While controversial, especially for the added parking, the project at least speaks to the issue at hand – and demonstrates the benefits of a comprehensive and cross-jurisdictional approach to Mall planning of the kind a new Mall Commission can take.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
The Coalition invites all Americans – citizens concerned for the future of our Mall, civic-minded leaders, members of Congress looking for a unifying goal in times of political division – to join the call for the creation of a Mall Commission and a 3rd Century Plan to solve urgent needs and ensure the long-term vitality of our National Mall.
Just imagine what a new Mall Commission of visionary thinkers can accomplish. For starters they can:
- Establish a statutory definition of the Mall boundaries, never yet done and the cause of so much confusion about what monuments/spaces are “on” the Mall; e.g., the National Park Service omits the White House from the Mall while both the L’Enfant and McMillan Plans have it as one of four crucial points on the Mall cross-axis (east-west from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial, north-south from the White House to the Jefferson Memorial).
- Find new locations for future memorials and museums, and consider expanding the Mall as the McMillan Plan did in 1902.
- Address flooding and other environmental and severe weather effects across entire Mall.
- Collaborate with historians and educators to define the civic purposes and functions of the Mall and think through what additional stories the Mall’s memorials and monuments need to tell about American history and the people who made it happen. Also consider how these stories are best told. What should the memorials and monuments look like? More multi-acre architecture? Smaller scale sculptural forms? Alternatives such as trees and other plantings, benches, stepping-stones, commemorative plaques, temporary memorials?
- Create a governance entity that unifies and rises above existing fragmented, uncoordinated management: a Mall Conservancy that, like New York City’s Central Park Conservancy, represents the larger public interest and broadens Mall stewardship goals to extend beyond agency priorities. (The NPS’s nonprofit partner, the Trust for the National Mall, cannot currently serve this purpose as its mandate is restricted to supporting only NPS plans and needs.)
- Reinvigorate the Mall as the Stage for American Democracy for another 100 years and more.
LEARN MORE:
- Pick up our free mini-map and historical guide, The National Mall: Stage for Our Democracy, at DC-area airports or order them online.
- Explore the brilliant historic Mall planning legacy that gave us the majestic Mall of today.
- Review the fascinating virtual history of the Mall created by The Washington Post.
Photo Gallery: Fireworks on the National Mall
Fireworks lighting up the night sky near the U.S. Capitol and Washington Monument, Washington, D.C. (Library of Congress)
Tags: National Mall
