WASHINGTON- America's 250th birthday approaches this weekend and President Trump's mark is clearly visible in Washington.
Visitors to the nation's capital encounter cranes hanging over the White House and construction work on the site of the demolished East Wing. Fencing across the National Mall to the Great American State Fair has blocked the famous line of sight from the U.S. Capitol to the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.
Some sources are shining recently as a result of Trump's renovations. Members of the National Guard patrol the sidewalks. The partisan flavor of the Trump-aligned Freedom 250 organization's events is on display, and Saturday's fireworks show will include a rally-style speech from Trump, with the fireworks reportedly delayed until 11 p.m.
President Trump examines maintenance work outside the White House on Wednesday.
(Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The monument's reflecting pool, where fireworks will be launched on Saturday, was closed to the public earlier than usual after spectators flocked last week to see the algae and peeling paint that followed Trump's renovation, and Trump accused vandals of disturbing it.
“There's no 'land of the free' feeling here,” said Melissa McFarlane, 61, standing by the mall's fence. He said he was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, and grew up watching the Fourth of July fireworks at the mall with his parents.
He recalled the nation's 200th anniversary celebrations as “open and welcoming,” but said this year's “rugged fencing” and the presence of the National Guard made them feel different.
“It's very disorganized, which is strange for our country,” McFarlane added.
A sign outside Lafayette Park, near the White House.
(Julia Demaree Nikhinson / Associated Press)
Trump has become obsessed with making changes to the nation's capital in his second term, declaring in an early executive order that his administration would make the district “safe and beautiful.” Some of the renovations have been successful; Fountains are working again, including the long-dormant waterfall in the city's popular Meridian Hill Park.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Sunday on “Fox & Friends” that more than 50 parks and circles and 22 fountains have been restored, along with repairs to the lights on the National Mall.
“President Trump should be thanked for everything he is doing to leave things better than they were for the good of our great nation,” an Interior Department spokesperson said in a statement. “DC residents and visitors are experiencing working fountains, clean parks, and safe streets across the District for the first time in decades, all thanks to President Donald J. Trump.”
But Trump's growing list of projects has drawn legal challenges from conservation groups and raised questions about the cost to taxpayers. He 14.7 million dollars The repainting of the Reflecting Pond became particularly controversial last month after algae invaded the renovated pool and the new paint seemed to peel off.
On Sunday, the president took a tour of some of his works, walking by Lafayette Park with Burgum before traveling to the East Potomac Golf Club he plans to renovate, which sits on federal land. Trump toured part of the property and inspected plans in full view of journalists; Then they took him to the place where he wants to erect a marble arch.
Over the weekend, he posted on Truth Social about his improvements to the city in a post about DC mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George, presenting it as a “safe and prestigious community” that is now at risk of being “destroyed” by Lewis George.
“I have worked too hard to make Washington, DC, the envy of the world, with almost no crime and a beautification process second to none,” Trump wrote.
Construction crews build scaffolding outside the Kennedy Center on June 13 before removing President Trump's name from the exterior of the facility.
(Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
The presidents' involvement in the city plan dates back to George Washington, said Matthew J. Bell, an architecture professor at the University of Maryland. That's not unusual or strange for cities, including Washington, to change over time, he said.
“It's probably more of a matter of timing in terms of inconvenience for people coming for the Fourth,” Bell said of the ongoing construction. “If there had been a more coordinated plan for some of these things … it probably could have been managed better.”
On the National Mall, the design of the fence for the state fair caused head shaking and confusion among some tourists. Visitors are corralled onto a walkway by the Freedom 250-branded fence on one side and low metal barriers on the other.
It's normal for fences to be used to control foot traffic at events in the mall, said Charles A. Birnbaum, executive director of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, but he perceived the problem as sloppy placement, including the Ferris wheel, which was placed in the axis of the mall.
“Things are falling apart,” said Birnbaum, whose organization sued the administration over the repainting of the Reflecting Pool. “It talks about what Trump is doing in the ballroom, what he has proposed [with] the arch – you’re just putting these things in sheds with important views that have great historical and cultural significance.”
People walk past the Ferris wheel at the Great American State Fair on the National Mall.
(Jen Golbeck/Associated Press)
The fountains in Lafayette Park will return to operation near the White House on June 23.
(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The state fair itself has drawn relatively few crowds, although some attendees have been enthusiastic.
On Monday, McFarlane and two friends were outside the fence, leaning against the metal barriers in front of the Department of Agriculture, across from the National Mall.
“It's too safe,” said one of them, John, 60, who was visiting from Burbank and declined to give his last name.
He pointed over the barrier to a well-tended lot with shady benches. “Here is the People's Garden,” he said, reading its sign, “and we cannot enter.”
A construction crane works in the White House ballroom on Monday.
(Julia Demaree Nikhinson / Associated Press)
Visitors take photos Tuesday of a model of President Trump's proposed marble arch at the Great American State Fair on the National Mall.
(Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press)
Morning joggers watch as the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool fills on June 5.
(John McDonnell / Associated Press)
The anniversary celebrations also come on the heels of the reflecting pool controversy. Last week, after paint chips were detected in the water, Trump blamed vandals for disturbing the pool and said people had been arrested at the scene. Two dead ducks were found in a pond about 250 feet away from the pool.
Last week, the area was surrounded by surveillance cameras and patrolled by members of the National Guard while lifelong resident John Cates walked through the area.
“It's a little creepy,” Cates said of the security cameras mounted around the pool. “It's unnecessary that we have to consider this pond a high safety risk. That's strange.”
The area was fenced off at the end of last week. Normally, the fencing is done in preparation for the Fourth of July fireworks show, but it was put up “a couple of days before to protect the pool,” Burgum said in the Fox News interview. He said seven people had been arrested in connection with the pool.
Tom Ayers, 34, was disappointed to discover the fences were already up on Monday. He traveled with his father from Wisconsin for the 250th, but they found it difficult to navigate the mall and were upset to see that the east wing was gone.
When they reached Lafayette Park, where the fence had not yet been removed, they were again disappointed by the obscured view of the White House. Ayers' father recalled a different scene in 1976, when he visited the country as a child for the nation's bicentennial.
“I was hoping for a summer similar to that,” Ayers said, “but overall, it doesn't seem anywhere near close.”
Times staff writer Ana Ceballos in Washington contributed to this report.
