Horse Trading in Washington
Washington Monument with Victorian era gatepost, r browley via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]
When is a trade a good trade? When you get something for it. The President traded a few
items in his stimulus package to garner Republican support. One of trades was the $200 million dollars in funding for long needed improvements for the National Mall in DC. The House GOP, along with the right-leaning radio and blogsphere community, were up in arms over the idea of spending that kind of money on grass. (No, not the NO on Drugs kind of grass either) So, even though the Prez and his Democratic cohorts eliminated the Mall provision, not one Republican voted for the bill anyway. The leadership could have kept the $200 million in, and it wouldn't have affected the outcome one iota.
Of course the funding wasn't just for re-seeding or re-sodding. But, the sound bite used by
every Republican with a microphone in front of them, made it appear that the money was being spent for that purpose. We filmed a portion of the movie Evan Almighty on the Mall 2 1/2 years ago, so I'm here to tell you the place needs some fixin'. It isn't just about the grass (which is a disaster) but about sidewalks, retaining walls, curbs, lighting, a decent visitor center, landscaping, monument upkeep, etc. etc. etc. - which puts people to work by the way. Republicans have had no problem voting hundreds of millions of dollars in appropriation bills filled with funding to keep the Capitol building, and its grounds, up to snuff. As a matter of fact, the Capitol Visitor Center which opened to the public last month, cost a staggering $621 million. So why the change of heart when it comes to the Mall?
The Mall is as important as the Capitol building. More people use the Mall than the Capitol.
The Mall is completely free and open to anyone at anytime. It is the Nation's, and the Capitol's, front yard. The bill has moved to the Senate, where additional funding can be added, and most likely will be. I'm asking the Democratic leadership to put the $200 million back in, and specifically asking Harry Reid to brush up on his Nevada horse trading skills, and get us the deal.
In other news: On Friday, a division of the Illinois Appellate Court in Chicago ruled that
the city's Landmarks ordinance is unconstitutional. Please link here and read Lynn Becker's Architecture Chicago Plus posting to get all the details, and his very interesting insights on the decision. As I said in my comment to his post; No landmark is EVER safe.
One last thing, (I promise) in Thursday's post about Preservation Chicago placing the
"old-fashioned" wood sah window on their endangered list, I mentioned how much greener it can be to work with your old window than putting in a new vinyl replacement. Well, click here to read the PreservationNation post, Saving Heat, Money, AND Wood Windows for information and "how to" links. Okay, I'm done.
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