Recent e-mail:
To: National Park Service
Re: The new fence around the Washington Monument
Dear Sirs:
When in the course of human events, it becomes sadly necessary to put a fence around the Washington Monument to protect it from madmen on tractors, Gothic garbed teenagers, Saddam Hussein's pet kittens, and stunt-kite flyers, the rules of common dignity and sense suggest that said fence should perform the duties generally associated with fences. That is, the fence should be functional, or, failing that, at least not hurt the eyes.
Which brings us to the puzzling question as to why you have chosen to wrap the Washington Monument around with a god-awful fence made out of plywood that is not only an affront to the eyes, but also could be taken down by my Honda Civic. A tractor could push it down in five seconds. Squirrels could gnaw through it. Exactly what sort of protection are you trying for here?
The fence does, however, accomplish two things:
1) It prevents people from walking directly to the Reflecting Pool from the Washington Monument, instead forcing us to walk round and round and round all the way over to Constitution Avenue and then all the way back over to the Reflecting Pool. National Park Service, you of all people should know that we are not a nation of walkers, and the addition of this walk brought actual tears and outcries from tourists ("Mommy, my FEET hurt!").
2) It prevents people from seeing the view of the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and the White House. (Luckily for you, the Capitol is pretty tall.) Instead of having a nice peaceful visage of the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial, or an unsettling visage of the White House, whichever, we can now look at brown plywood. You are going to have to take my word for it that this isn't the same thing as pretty cherry trees.
This is not just because I am short, by the way. The tall tourist standing near me (who incidentally was trying to pick me up which is yet another advantage of the Washington Monument that should be accessible to all tourists) couldn't see over the fence either. I take a moment to quote his words:
"Fuck. This sucks."
I might add that, as a tourist, it is extremely discouraging to walk towards the Lincoln Memorial, along a nice pathway provided by you folks, only to find a piece of plywood blocking the way. This leads to crowds of bewildered tourists walking round and round and round and round trying to find a way out, and making very nasty comments regarding the federal government as they do so.
Now, it's not like DC isn't good with the fence thing. You have a very nice wrought-iron fence around the White House which adds a certain level of dignity and class, and incidentally cannot be pushed over by a Civic or excited tourist. You have exceedingly ugly concrete blocks around the Lincoln Memorial that admittedly fulfill no decorative purposes whatsover, but do at least prevent tractors from coming in and blowing the place up, and as a nice bonus, do not block anybody's view. You have a group of pacifists around the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. See? All kinds of possibilities for fences exist. Or -- here's a thought-- use President Washington's own ideas of living fences created with trees and plants. He liked that kind of thing, and it might be nice if a memorial to him respected his belief that parks should be pretty. Just a thought.
I am not arguing against the existence of a fence; I recognize, regrettably, the need to protect the Monument in these insane days. This, however, is not the protection the Monument needs or deserves.
Re: The new fence around the Washington Monument
Dear Sirs:
When in the course of human events, it becomes sadly necessary to put a fence around the Washington Monument to protect it from madmen on tractors, Gothic garbed teenagers, Saddam Hussein's pet kittens, and stunt-kite flyers, the rules of common dignity and sense suggest that said fence should perform the duties generally associated with fences. That is, the fence should be functional, or, failing that, at least not hurt the eyes.
Which brings us to the puzzling question as to why you have chosen to wrap the Washington Monument around with a god-awful fence made out of plywood that is not only an affront to the eyes, but also could be taken down by my Honda Civic. A tractor could push it down in five seconds. Squirrels could gnaw through it. Exactly what sort of protection are you trying for here?
The fence does, however, accomplish two things:
1) It prevents people from walking directly to the Reflecting Pool from the Washington Monument, instead forcing us to walk round and round and round all the way over to Constitution Avenue and then all the way back over to the Reflecting Pool. National Park Service, you of all people should know that we are not a nation of walkers, and the addition of this walk brought actual tears and outcries from tourists ("Mommy, my FEET hurt!").
2) It prevents people from seeing the view of the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and the White House. (Luckily for you, the Capitol is pretty tall.) Instead of having a nice peaceful visage of the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial, or an unsettling visage of the White House, whichever, we can now look at brown plywood. You are going to have to take my word for it that this isn't the same thing as pretty cherry trees.
This is not just because I am short, by the way. The tall tourist standing near me (who incidentally was trying to pick me up which is yet another advantage of the Washington Monument that should be accessible to all tourists) couldn't see over the fence either. I take a moment to quote his words:
"Fuck. This sucks."
I might add that, as a tourist, it is extremely discouraging to walk towards the Lincoln Memorial, along a nice pathway provided by you folks, only to find a piece of plywood blocking the way. This leads to crowds of bewildered tourists walking round and round and round and round trying to find a way out, and making very nasty comments regarding the federal government as they do so.
Now, it's not like DC isn't good with the fence thing. You have a very nice wrought-iron fence around the White House which adds a certain level of dignity and class, and incidentally cannot be pushed over by a Civic or excited tourist. You have exceedingly ugly concrete blocks around the Lincoln Memorial that admittedly fulfill no decorative purposes whatsover, but do at least prevent tractors from coming in and blowing the place up, and as a nice bonus, do not block anybody's view. You have a group of pacifists around the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. See? All kinds of possibilities for fences exist. Or -- here's a thought-- use President Washington's own ideas of living fences created with trees and plants. He liked that kind of thing, and it might be nice if a memorial to him respected his belief that parks should be pretty. Just a thought.
I am not arguing against the existence of a fence; I recognize, regrettably, the need to protect the Monument in these insane days. This, however, is not the protection the Monument needs or deserves.