WASHINGTON — Crumbling sidewalks near the Jefferson Memorial are sinking into the Tidal Basin. Reflecting pools are filled with green, smelly water. And millions of visitors have trampled the soil into virtual concrete where grass can’t grow. The National Mall is in danger of becoming a national disgrace.
“It does not deserve the name National Mall,” said Eleanor Holmes Norton, the city’s nonvoting member of Congress. “We ought to call it something else until it looks decent.”
The Obama administration recently steered $55 million in economic-stimulus money toward repairs, but Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that’s only a down payment on the nearly $400 million needed to fix up the national park.
The mall isn’t the only national park struggling for funding. Park Service Comptroller Bruce Sheaffer said the system’s total deferred maintenance backlog is a staggering $9 billion.
