Results tagged “nationalmall>”

By DCist Contributor Lauren Evans

It's two days from now, September 26. Do you know where John Irving is?

So, you decided to take a nice leisurely stroll around the National Mall today, eh? You probably ran into a sizable contingent of tea party protesters. The AP and WTOP are reporting that somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 people made their way towards the Mall, completely obstructing Pennsylvania Avenue NW between 14th Street and the Capitol building along the way.

Did you realize that it's the fortieth anniversary of Woodstock? If not, congratulations! You have successfully reached the underground and are no longer privy to the reach of any modern media.

We were all set to write off the Associated Press's latest attempt (via WTOP) to recycle the "National Mall is a National Disgrace" story template, which has been a favorite of the local media for years now (for examples, see last year's versions here and 2007's here). We all already know that the National Mall is looking pretty banged up, with cracked walkways, dead, trampled grass, dying trees and mud making what should be the country's pride and joy look shabby and depressing. We also already know that when President Obama tried to steer $200 million out of his stimulus package to renovate the National Mall, it was killed by the House. But the AP's Brian Westley and Brett Zongker have done a nice job of reporting out the story behind the story: that members of Congress routinely earmark money for national parks in their home states, while torpedoing such efforts for the Mall, which, by virtue of being located in the District, doesn't have any powerful members of Congress to fight for it. Here's the meat:

All told, Congress sent home more than $181 million in earmarks through the park service budget last year _ an election year _ according to data compiled by the group Taxpayers for Common Sense and analyzed by the AP. Nearly half that money was driven by lawmakers who were on the House and Senate appropriations committees.

Continue reading "AP Revisits 'National Mall is a Disgrace' Story"

HBO has pulled out of its annual sponsorship of the popular Screen on the Green outdoor film festival on the National Mall.

Holy shit, the Flaming Lips are playing the National Mall this Sunday! Not even kidding! You will not be rickrolled if you visit the Web site for the Green Apple Festival, for which actors, performers, activists, musical acts, and will assemble for the Earth Day on the National Mall celebration on Sunday.

It's hard to see sophiagrrl's photo as something other than a thick, soupy abstraction. In this high-key image, white patches on the figures bleed into the background, while the wide range of gray values is emphasized.

At least, that's the question I'm asking myself after reading John Kelly's column this morning, an examination of the geographical past, present, and future of the National Mall. According to a National Park Service spokesman which Kelly quotes, the Mall proper "extends only from the Grant Monument at First Street west to 14th Street." Between 14th and 17th Streets, the green area is officially known as the "Washington Monument Grounds," and the official titles for the areas west of 17th and below the I-395 bridge over the Potomac are West Potomac Park and East Potomac Park, respectively.

A week ago we pointed out that Pepsi might be too closely exploiting the Obama logo and message for the comfort of their Republican consumers. Well yesterday on the National Mall, they continued to link themselves even more shamelessly to the new president by handing out tote bags with distinctly Obama-esque message ("Hope," "Yes You Can") and cards encouraging people to sign an open letter to America's newest leader by sending a text message to Pepsi. Beyond the wisdom of trying to make itself the drink of all Democrats, it seemed a little tacky for Pepsi to be handing out corporate schwag on what is something of a sacred day for America's democracy. Coca-Cola seems to be playing it safe, on the other hand -- the most they've done is run ads on MLK Day advocating diversity and service.

     

>> "...I had a conversation with my hypothetical granddaughter, who wanted to know what it was like in D.C. the day that the first African-American president took the oath of office. Well, it wasn't bad, I told her, you know, I stayed in, had some coffee, sort of took a nap until 11...and that just didn't cut it." [ATTACKERMAN]

Like many District residents, DCist writers and visitors, I made an extra-early trek down to the National Mall this morning for the swearing-in of President Barack Obama. Arriving in darkness, the U.S. Capitol cut a stark contrast against the dark sky as thousands of people populated the Mall in anticipation of the morning's events.

We hear that the National Mall east of 14th Street is at capacity.

Courtesy an anonymous tipster

                   

As a Historic Event, Sunday’s We Are One concert on the Mall was often stirring and inspiring. But as a show? As music?

Remember when D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said he was expecting 4 million people to show up for Inauguration Day, but some federal officials retorted that his number was way too high? Well today the Post reports that estimates appear to be being revised to more like 2 million -- which is still way, way more than the 400,000 or so who attended the 2005 inauguration of President Bush, but at least it doesn't quite put the fear of God into everyone. The story does a good job of keeping track of the wildly varying numbers and explaining why those numbers are all so different: most officials admit that they just don't have any models from which they can base their plans.

Last week, WTOP was guesstimating that as many as 2,000 to 3,000 port-a-potties were being ordered to place around the city for Inauguration Day, but today the Post gets the scoop on the actual number: 5,000! Yes, 5,000 portable toilets will be installed along the parade route and around the National Mall, more than double the 2,200 provided in 2005. We'll say one good thing about the likelihood that it's going to be a cold day in Washington on January 20 -- at least the smell of all that human waste has a good chance of being tamped down by freezing temperatures.

So the big inauguration news this morning, courtesy the Post, is that camping on the National Mall will be banned the night before Barack Obama's inauguration, and that spectators will not be allowed to grab spots along the parade route on Pennsylvania Ave. until 7 a.m. on the morning of Jan. 20.

               

Q: What do you call a couple hundred Santas running around the National Mall in broad daylight, singing Christmas carols, stopping traffic, and bringing a healthy amount of Season's Greetings wherever they go?

The Presidential Inaugural Committee announced today that the entire length of the National Mall will be opened to the public for the inauguration of Barack Obama on Jan. 20, a first for any modern presidential inauguration. Here's The AP story.

Just how many people will descend on our fair city for the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States? That's the question on everyone's mind this week, and much like all other matters inaugural right now, no one has any friggin' clue what the answer is.

Both the Post and the Examiner have stories covering testimony provided by D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, among others, to a congressional subcommittee yesterday about the state of the National Mall.

What’s weird about revisiting the Albert Einstein Memorial at the National Academy of Sciences is, shamefully, that we had never visited there in the first place.

If you're down on the National Mall this weekend and see, oh, 12,000 flags stuck in the ground, don't be alarmed. The Federal Government hasn't started an experimental flag farm, nor is the display an effort of the area's squirrels to show their patriotism. The flags have been planted to represent the 12,000 members of the United States military who have been discharged under the practice of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The policy, which governs...

Roll Call had a subscriber-only story up yesterday about today's kick-off of an effort on the part of non-profit Trust for the National Mall to raise $350 million to revitalize Washington's top tourist destination. Students from Ann Beers Elementary School in Southeast are getting things going today by planting 3,000 daffodil bulbs in Constitution Gardens. Citing maintenance needs due to heavy use like cracked walkways and patchy grass, the Trust will be working alongside the...

We're pleased to congratulate the winners of the first ever WalkingTown DC Photo Contest, sponsored by DCist and Cultural Tourism DC. On September 29, the staff behind the twice yearly free walking tour weekends challenged local photographers to come out to their event and snap photos that best captured the spirit of WalkingTown, and then judged the entries to pick their top three. First place winner: David Pike won for his "walk on" shot...

Hidden underneath the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall is a treasure waiting to be discovered — the Smithsonian Latino Center, which has been celebrating Latino culture, spirit, and achievement in America for 10 years, presents a terrific exhibit, Mexican Treasures of the Smithsonian, on display through November 11 at the S. Dillon Ripley Center’s International Gallery. The exhibit pulls together objects from different museums around the city to explore the shared histories and cultural...

We were alerted yesterday via the Art Law Blog that the U.S. Department of the Interior is gearing up to change motion and still photography rules on federally run lands. In an amendment to current regulations, three DOI agencies, the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Services, and the National Park Service, will be authorized to charge standardized fees to and require a permit from commercial photographers who want to shoot in an area...

Many of you have already visited the "Solar Village" since it opened its gates last Friday on the National Mall. Last weekend the long lines literally wrapped around each house entered into the 2007 Solar Decathlon, with people eager to get a tour from the students, alumni and faculty from each university competitor. The ten competitions have been judged all week, from Architecture last week to Engineering today, with individual winners announced for each leg...

We may write all the time about our developing neighborhoods, but one D.C. block is getting super-developed as we speak. Stroll down to the National Mall between today and October 20 and you'll find yourself in the middle of the Solar Village, where twenty universities have descended on the strip with their brilliant innovations costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, to compete in Solar Decathlon 2007. The entire event is open to the public with...