Creating A New Vision For The National Mall

"Increased pressure to find land for museums and memorials on the cramped National Mall could spur new ideas about the future development of the nation's capital."

"We're turning it into a memorial garden," said Judy Scott Feldman, chairwoman of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall. "The modern pressures for memorialization are slowly killing the mall's intended character as a great public, open space."

"In 2003, Congress declared the mall a "completed work of civic art," but has since granted exceptions to its moratorium on new construction."

"Those who have studied Pierre L'Enfant's original 1791 design for the city are tossing around some fairly radical ideas for the next 100 years. They include tearing down an elevated interstate highway that slices through the city; building a museum where RFK Stadium now stands; or even moving the Supreme Court from the shadows of Congress to near the Jefferson Memorial to create a symbolic triangle of the separate branches of government."