Reflecting Pool Charges Collapse After $16 Million Repair Failure, Pressuring National Park Service
Updated
Updated · The Associated Press · Aug 13
Reflecting Pool Charges Collapse After $16 Million Repair Failure, Pressuring National Park Service
3 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · Aug 13
Summary
July 31 brought the key reversal: prosecutors dropped felony vandalism charges against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn after concluding the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool damage came from bungled installation, not sabotage.
The failed $16 million repair project had already drawn scrutiny for peeling blue sealant and returning green algae after Trump ordered the work ahead of America 250 celebrations.
Trump has still publicly blamed vandals, citing an unnamed National Park Service employee, while Hearn's lawyers say the president is attacking an innocent man and critics say career staff are being politicized.
The episode has widened concern about the Park Service's standing as Trump pushes exhibit revisions, a 250-foot memorial arch and other Washington projects while the agency has lost at least one-quarter of its permanent workforce.
That strain lands on an agency still viewed favorably by about three-quarters of Americans, even as a July Washington Post/Ipsos poll found roughly two-thirds dissatisfied or upset with Trump's Washington-area projects.
How can the National Park Service tackle its massive maintenance backlog when high-profile projects like the Reflecting Pool end in multimillion-dollar failures?
Was the Reflecting Pool's rapid decay truly just a faulty installation, or did rushed anniversary deadlines doom the project from the start?