The Reflecting Pool fiasco
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What is the significance of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool?
Sean Ramos from out here on the National Mall, about halfway between the World War II and Lincoln Memorials, which is to say, I'm standing next to our reflecting pool. And I'd like to take a moment, just sit right there, talk about how It isn't just nominally a reflecting pool. I've lived here for about a decade, and just about any time you come out here, you'll see people in a state of quiet contemplation. I think that's because, you know, it's a quiet place. It's open. It's free. It's free for you in the winter to try and test your luck skating. the reflecting pool, in your sneakers, or in the summer, I've seen people take a little dip in, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally. As you know, as of late, it's felt a lot less free out here at the reflecting pool, and we're going to get into it on Today Explained from Vox.
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I'm green, and it'll do fine. Today Explained.
I'm Christina Cotarucci. I'm a senior writer at Slate.
What is it about the reflecting pool that has captured not only, I think, national, but international attention?
That stretch of federal land between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial is maybe, you know, the most iconic American property that we have. It's between two monuments representing two of our greatest and beloved presidents. You know, it's the site of MLK's I have a dream speech. It's the thing that you have to go to whenever you visit D.C., whether that's on an eighth grade field trip or, you know, I met some people down there who were there for work conferences. It's sort of the place where tourists gather more than any other.
It's like where Forrest Gump and Jenny are reunited. Jenny! And where Spider-Man goes on his field trip.
My friends are up there. What? Don't worry, ma'am. Everything's going to be okay. Yes, more to the point. Of all of Trump's, you know, D.C. renovations, besides maybe the part of the White House that he tore down, it's the most recognizable thing to people who don't live in D.C.
Well, let's talk about how this all got started. Was there a problem that needed to be addressed to begin with?
Yes and no. So when I first heard that Trump was painting the reflecting pool blue, you know, and this is like a bright blue, like I want to say the color of Sonic the Hedgehog.
He said American flag blue. And so you can't do better than that.
Although, you know, having been down there, I would say it's a little more turquoise, but that's beside the point. The fact is, the reflecting pool has been plagued by leaks and algae for decades, you know, maybe even since its construction. And so Trump is not the first president to try to fix that. And Barack Obama, you know, spent $35 million installing a new water filtration and treatment facility.
A new steel-reinforced foundation. A new filtration system that pumps water from the Potomac tidal basin. And pretty much on time, pretty much on budget, the new pool opened.
But less than a month later, the famous pool of water is full of algae.
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