The headline has become so familiar that few people even notice anymore: Washington Monument Closed Again. The most recognizable structure in the nation’s capital, which attracts over 600,000 visitors annually, has also become a symbol of government arrogance. That’s because it is closed so frequently it is a laughing stock among tour guides. “Why have they closed the Washington Monument? Because they can.”
Closing the landmark to visitors has long been a favorite strategy for Administrations to pressure Congress into providing more money. It is so common that it has a name in the dictionary: The “Washington Monument Syndrome.” Wikipedia defines it as “a political tactic used… by government agencies when faced with budget cuts… cutting the most visible or appreciated service provided by the government, from popular services such as national parks…”
It started in 1969 when a Park Service Director named George Hartzog closed both the Washington Monument and the Grand Canyon for two days a week. The public was outraged and Hartzog was fired, though his strategy worked. Congress restored funding, and closing the Washington Monument has been a tried-and-proven tactic ever since.
It has been closed during every temporary government shutdown, at least 10 times since 1990. It is also closed often for repairs that take weeks, months, and sometimes years. Maintenance used to be scheduled around public visitation hours, often at nights. But the convenience of visitors is no longer a concern. The Monument has been completely shrouded in scaffolding four times, in 1934, 1958, 1998, and 2011. The first two times the public was still welcome. The last two, it was closed for two and three years, respectively. Then a minor earthquake a couple years later prompted another year-long closure, though the damage was minor. More significant damage was seen at the National Cathedral, though it has remained open during repairs.
At least 24 times in the last decade, the Monument was closed for maintenance projects. It was closed because of the virus last March and reopened in October. It is also closed frequently for hours at a time because of private tours for special people. One such tour, conducted by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in December, resulted in a re-closure of several days after he tested positive.
In 2016, the elevator needed work, so the Park Service decided it had to be closed for over two years. Nobody questions the need for maintenance. But when an elevator needs repaired, or even replaced, in a private skyscraper like Trump Tower, it takes hours, not years, and it is done in the middle of the night to avoid inconveniencing customers and tenants.
Managers now cite yet another reason for closing the Washington Monument, Statue of Liberty, and other major parks – security. The Statue was closed for eight years after 9/11, then limited to a few people a day, then closed again two years later for renovations. It reopened in 2012, for one day, then a hurricane justified closing it again, for months. It has been closed repeatedly and unpredictably ever since.
Now, the Washington Monument is closed again, for “security” reasons, this time indefinitely. The Park Service arrogantly announced that it will remain closed until such time as the agency decides otherwise.
Blaming the current closure on “security” is not a sign of the times, nor any kind of coincidence. You see, the Park Service still wants to construct its pet project, a monstrous security building, at the Washington monument, and of course skeptics in Congress and the new Administration are more likely to fund such projects if visitors are angry about closures. The Monument was closed for the inauguration “as a precaution,” because there had been protestors in the capital a week earlier. There are none there now, and no reason to think the Monument poses a risk to national security, or to anyone’s security. It is an architectural wonder, a beautiful structure, a majestic view, and a history lesson – that’s all.
Finding such icons of national pride closed is no longer a big deal to visitors; it is routine. Much of D.C. remains closed, so the larger question is whether any federal official will ever decide it is time to return to normal.
The new Administration has a golden opportunity to strike a new chord, a genuinely unifying one. Officials should reopen the Washington Monument and other national treasures, and announce that the public is henceforth welcome, and encouraged, to visit the national parks and monuments. After all, the people own and pay for them.
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