It’s no secret — the National Mall, for all its historical

significance, isn’t exactly the prettiest place in the

world. Broken water fountains, patchy grass, ugly security fences and

totally nasty restrooms are amongst some of the many problems with what

should really be a gorgeous space.

The National Park Service is here to change that, and they’re

going all Web 2.0 on our asses through an online campaign asking the public their opinions on how to make the Mall better.

When the plan is eventually developed, it should dictate how the Mall

will grow and look for the next fifty to a hundred years.

The last time that the Mall was rethought was over a hundred years

ago, when the McMillan Commission, a group of architects charged with

reworking the space, redesigned it in order to include the Tidal Basin

and the Lincoln Memorial.

But the Mall faces significantly more challenges this time around —

especially with the increasing number of new memorials that have been

approved. In the past few years, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center,

the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and the National Museum of African

American History and Culture have all been approved to be built on the

Mall.

The National Mall

Plan Web site officially launched this morning. What seems like a

good idea, however, is seemingly unfortunate in execution. The site

looks like an exercise in high school html-learning. But what’s worse

is that it’s not immediately apparent in any sort of way how the public

can actually submit comments and ideas. The “Getting

Involved” page? Pretty empty. And attempting to follow the links to

“Submit a Public Comment” takes you down a rabbit hole of entirely

different Web sites and never-ending links, where it’s STILL not

apparent exactly how this whole thing is supposed to work. Maybe it’s

just me and my interwebby inabilities, but, seriously. Much like the

Mall, the site deserves better.

Let’s take it to the people right here, then. Leave your

thoughts, ideas, rants, whatever, about how to improve the Mall and

deal with the inevitable space issues in the comments.

Photo by Flickr user Albinoflea