Reflecting Pool refills after Trump’s repaint : NPR

WASHINGTON – Water is flowing back into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, after a controversial painting job kept it closed for weeks. And to many viewers it doesn’t look much different.

“The pool will be completed at 4 o’clock and the water will start flowing … and it’s going to be beautiful,” President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

The next day, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shared a video of water bubbling through a grate on the freshly darkened pool floor. Trump had the surface of the pool blackened in what he calls “American flag blue.” In the last century, he said, the pool “was just grey…the color of concrete and stone.”

By Friday morning, the 2,028-foot-long shallow pool had collected a strip of water in the middle, wide enough to reflect the Washington Monument in front of it. Refilling continued under bright sunlight, as an employee stood in the middle of the pool, with his pants rolled up above his knees, and used a hose.

As temperatures approached 90 degrees, tourists, cyclists and joggers stopped at the top of nearby stairs to take photos and observe the process. Many people welcomed the return of the water and the ducks playing in it, but said they could not immediately tell the difference in color.

“The more water fills in, the more it (looks) like it did before,” said Luisa Cordoba, a D.C. resident and avid runner who has been coming to inspect the pool every day since the work began. “I’m just happy it’s not as bright blue as we saw in the first days, which was very worrying… If it stays like this, it’s OK.”

When the project began in late April, early renderings – as well as initial coats of paint – had critics worried that the historic landmark would end up looking like a swimming pool. But Friday’s observers didn’t think so.

“I’m color-blind, so it doesn’t look blue yet,” said Terry Barzanti, a Maryland resident who works nearby.

“I am No Color blind and it doesn’t look blue,” laughed his colleague Edgar Sadsaad, who found it more grey.

Other passersby described it as close to black, and said that the difference may be more noticeable once the pool is completely filled. Nevertheless, Sadsad and Barzanti were among those who praised the project, saying that the pool already looks cleaner and more attractive.

According to the president, Trump has complained about the condition of the pool for several months and said he made it a priority after an unnamed friend visiting from Germany called it “dirty” and “not representative of the country.”

The pool, which first opened in 1923, was last extensively renovated between 2010 and 2012. But according to the Interior Department, it has been plagued by broken pipes and water leaks, necessitating expensive refills.

Trump has said the project has sealed cracks in the stone to prevent leaks, and removed 12 truckloads of trash from the pool, though it is unclear whether it has addressed the broken pipes.

“It’ll last 50 to 100 years before you have to do anything with it,” he said.

Questions remain regarding project funding

The resurgence took much longer than Trump initially anticipated.

He said in late April that the project would be completed in a week or two, though the Interior Department told NPR it would take about a month.

In mid-May, the nonprofit Cultural Landscape Foundation sued the administration to halt work on the pool, saying it had ignored federally required historic preservation reviews. A judge heard arguments later that month, but had not made a decision when the administration informed the court on Wednesday that the work had been completed.

It appears that the project will cost more than Trump has reported.

He quoted its price at $2 million, which he said without giving any details, which was significantly lower than the price previously reported. But obtained by the records of the Department of the Interior the new York Times Show that the administration plans to pay $13.1 million to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the Virginia company that Trump chose for the project.

“It’s sad where our tax money is going. I mean, to my knowledge, it was fine before,” said Samantha Sorokin of Arlington, Virginia, who was taking her parents on the tour.

It’s unclear how much money is coming from taxpayers. A large sign posted on the construction site fence on National Park Service letterhead informed visitors that “These improvements are being completed using your fee dollars.”

( Washington Post The Trump administration is removing at least $90 million from national park entrance fees to finance its July 4 fireworks display and other D.C. beautification projects, reports said this week.)

When asked for comment about the cost and where the money is coming from, the Department of the Interior — the Park Service’s parent agency — told NPR that it has “multiple funding sources available to spend on deferred maintenance.”

“Unlike Barack Obama, who spent hundreds of millions in taxpayer-funded Great Recession recovery aid that was supposed to go to struggling families, the Trump administration is considering different funding mechanisms, including endowment funds and revenue from the sale of park passes,” the unnamed spokesperson wrote over email.

A two-year renovation of the reflecting pool, finished in 2012, was funded by $34 million from the Obama-era economic stimulus package.

Trump’s campaign to improve DC

Trump is hoping to make a number of changes in D.C., ranging from large undertakings like his proposed Triumphal Arch (which received preliminary approval from a second federal agency this week) to smaller ones like installing new sculptures and restoring park fountains.

“We have many monuments and fountains throughout Washington, and we are almost done with all of them,” he said Wednesday.

The Interior Department referred NPR to a White House post on X listing those accomplishments, including “500 instances of graffiti removed,” “134 rat-resistant garbage cans installed” and “250 truckloads of debris removed from ponds.”

Much of that work is being done by National Guard troops stationed in D.C., whose numbers are set to double ahead of the country’s 250th birthday celebration on and around July 4. That’s also the deadline — or at least the incentive — for many of Trump’s renovation projects.

Maria Sorokin, who was visiting her daughter from Pennsylvania, doubts that major changes such as the resurfacing of the reflecting pool are needed for the 250th anniversary.

“It’s a special anniversary and should be decorated, but I’m not sure that was necessary,” she said as she watched the pool slowly fill. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

But some area residents, like Barzanti, embrace cleanup and beautification efforts.

He said, “Let’s go here for lunch break.” “People come from all over the world to see our nation’s capital. So we should show it off, we should take care of it.”

Some changes are going better than others.

Many locals at the Reflecting Pool, including Cordoba, noted that they were thrilled to see the fountain in Meridian Hill Park — a popular spot about 1.5 miles north of the White House — overflowing with water for the first time in seven years.

Maryellen Thornton, who lives near the park, says the fountain restoration has been “wonderful for the community”, describing the grass filled with picnic blankets as “like nirvana”. It’s one of the reasons she and her husband, Brad Thornton, came to see the Reflecting Pool.

“We are thrilled with how wonderful it is to have all of these water features restored in the district,” he said. “It brings a lot of happiness to everyone.”

Brad is also excited to see the return of water to the fountains outside Union Station, Washington’s major transportation hub, and hopes the newly filled reflecting pool will build on that momentum.

“Sprinkling a little water goes a long way,” he said. “It shouldn’t be about politics. It’s just about enjoying it. We’re in the city. We need some green space.”