Tom's Observations of Construction Around the DC Monuments

Washington Monument under construction

Tom wrote the blog today, focusing on the construction and monuments that we saw this weekend. 

This past weekend, Mary Ann, a close friend of ours was in town and stayed with us for the weekend. Typical for those of us that live in the DC area, we often revert to the role of tour guide on such occasions. I was actually looking forward to our friend’s visit because there were several things that I actually wanted to see. In particular: the recently completed renovations to the Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln and the WWII Memorials.

This $34 million project was to be a total tear out and replacement of the 90 year old original which was leaking and sinking. Well, to say I was disappointed in the results is an understatement. The border of the pond is constructed of granite blocks that are about 18 inches wide by 4 feet long. As we walked along the pool's southern perimeter, I stopped counting how many of the new granite blocks are broken, chipped, or had chunks missing out of the finished surface.

Mary Ann saw the monument under construction last time, too!

The completed project is supposed to be equipped with a new filtration system which is supposed to keep the water circulating, and refresh the water with water from the Tidal Basin rather than from the city’s municipal water system. The reason for this new filtration system was to reduce the amount of algae growth. Again, failure. I was dismayed to see the amount of brown gunk collecting on the bottom of the pool and a fresh crop of new algae was just beginning to grow in the warm late spring sunshine.

Equally disappointing was to see the amount of construction taking place at the WWII Memorial. The memorial opened to the public in April 2004; that’s just 8 years ago. And to see the fountains drained and so much of the memorial under construction again is quite a disappointment and eyesore.

Flowers outside the Smithsonian Castle

Are there any other DC residents out there that know the scoop on what's going on with our memorials and why they're in such bad condition?