Off and on the National Mall

Nam June Paik's 'Electronic Super Highway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, 1995, displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The Seattle Times has a nice piece about the National Mall planning process. It also discusses the Reynolds Center and the Smithsonian Museums more generally. See "D.C. — the big picture." From the article:

...the Mall plan is mired in bureaucracy and an onslaught of special interests...

Yet with countless worthy groups vying to place a memorial or new museum on that hallowed ground, there's concern for the integrity of the place. With its grand proportions and sense of openness (first set down in 1791 by Pierre L'Enfant and expanded by the McMillan Commission a century ago), the Mall stands as a symbol of our national identity. But without a comprehensive plan, the nearly two-mile stretch of land between the Capitol steps and the Lincoln Memorial risks dissolving into chaos — a parking lot for monuments.
So, who makes the decisions?

"In the end, it always comes through Congress," says Thomas Luebke, secretary of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which advises on design issues at the Capitol. "They make the laws and can change the laws. We hope it is done with the consultation of the various agencies."

That would be the National Park Service, which maintains and manages the Mall; the National Capitol Planning Commission; the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts; The National Capitol Memorial Advisory Commission; the Department of Defense ... the list goes on. You might be wondering how anything gets built — and, in fact, projects can take decades to wend through the system.

Index Keywords: cultural-heritage-tourism; museums