What the National Mall Needs...

Back in October 2002 (we’re not claiming this is breaking news), Joshua Green of the Washington Monthly talked about the notion of privatizing the National Mall in an article entitled "Monumental Failure." His article begins with a hot summer day on the Mall and his sudden pining for a beer. From there, Green goes on to expound on the various recreational and beautification fallacies of the large swaths of grass between the front of the U.S. Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial. And wasn’t it designed to be more? In his article, Green writes:

Pierre Charles L'Enfant, whom George Washington commissioned to design the capital in 1791, envisioned the Mall as a "place of general resort" that would be "attractive to the learned and afford diversion to the idle." L'Enfant had in mind the great places of France: the parks and avenues of Paris, the stately precincts of Versailles. According to the architectural historian Pamela Scott, "The Mall was to be the center of the intellectual and artistic life of Washington."

It hasn’t really turned out to be such. Moving history aside and looking at the present, the plethora of little hot dog and sno-cone carts coupled with the touristy kitsch vendors that sell FBI t-shirts do add a certain character to the Mall. But couldn’t it use a little something more? Green thinks so, calling the Mall "a parched and barren expanse presided over by a despotic Park Service bent on stamping out any trace of fun or enjoyment."

There have been some changes in the right direction -- the recent addition of the Circulator buses to, errr, circulate the Mall seem to be bridging the gap of it being somewhat cumbersome for District residents to navigate, but always a joy for those utilizing fanny packs to range over. And there has been a push to bring wireless access to the area. And then there is the National Coalition to Save the Mall. But such efforts are still a far cry from the Mall becoming L'Enfant's "center of intellectual and artistic life" for the District.

As Green alludes to, looking at the National Mall is looking at what it might have been, and what could still very well be. His final paragraph states:

The possibilities are practically limitless: morning espresso in the half light of spring cherry blossoms, lunch under the gaze of the Lincoln Monument, margaritas and nachos along the Reflecting Pool, a beer garden in Constitution Gardens--and why not a moon bounce for the kids? The time has come to liberate the Mall from its elitist death grip. Anything less is simply un-American.

As much as the beige gravel walkways have a place in our heart, it'd be nice for things to look a little more like the beautiful parks and promenades of Paris that L’Enfant mirrored the Mall after. We realize that freshly planted dafodiles may be trampled by Ultimate Frisbee and softball players, but, hey, they'd still look better than scraggly patches of grass.

If we could start dolling out parts of the National Mall to privatization, or at least opening it up to a bit more commerce, what would you like to see popping up alongside the museums and sno-cone carts? For starters, wouldn’t another little café, similar to the one run by the National Gallery, be nice?