President Donald Trump’s quest to remake the nation’s capital has found its next target: Lafayette Square, the public park directly north of the White House, ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.
Workers on Tuesday erected fences around the seven-acre park, restricting access to what is often visitors’ first stop as they walk toward the executive mansion. Trump last year announced plans to improve public parks in D.C., a city he has long derided as filthy and unsafe.
A White House official said the work at Lafayette Square will initially focus on repairing the park’s fountains, then expand to include the park’s sprinklers, sodding, benches and curbs. The work is expected to stretch through May, the official said.
Trump has also expressed interest in repaving the park’s walkways to remove bricks he fears could be used as weapons during demonstrations, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations. The New York Times first reported his thinking earlier this month, which the people said follows recent clashes between demonstrators and police elsewhere in the country.
The White House referred questions about the Lafayette Square project to the National Park Service, which said Wednesday afternoon that it would need several days to respond to The Washington Post’s questions. A National Historic Landmark, the park has served as the backdrop to a stream of protests, with people leveraging its proximity to the White House to clamor for their cause.
The changes at Lafayette Square come amid a broader effort by Trump to remake the White House complex itself, which has drawn complaints and lawsuits. The president rapidly demolished the White House’s East Wing annex last year to build his planned $400 million ballroom; paved over the Rose Garden to erect a patio; and has imposed his vision on numerous internal fixtures and rooms, including the Lincoln Bathroom.
White House officials said this month that they have additional plans to build a second-floor addition to the West Wing and a new visitor security screening center, among other potential changes. Protests erupted in Lafayette Square in Trump’s first term, and he has repeatedly and publicly criticized demonstrations, describing them as a threat to public order.
The president’s fingerprints can be detected throughout the city: He has deployed camouflaged-clad troops to local streets, wrested control of public golf courses, and slapped his name atop the U.S. Institute of Peace building and the Kennedy Center. He is eyeing the construction of a triumphal arch to mark America’s 250th anniversary, plus a statue garden near the Potomac River.
Democrats and watchdog groups have criticized the Trump administration for pursuing changes to the White House grounds without first submitting plans to a pair of federal commissions, the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, which historically have reviewed proposed construction projects.
“There’s going to be some changes with the visitor center. There’s going to be some changes with Lafayette Park. There’s going to be some changes with the West Wing,” D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), who has a seat on the National Capital Planning Commission, said at the commission’s meeting earlier this month. “But rather than looking at this as a whole, we’re going to be looking at it piecemeal.”
The National Park Service recently embarked on a multimillion-dollar effort to repair water features around the city in the lead-up to the nation’s semiquincentennial celebration. The investment has been welcomed by local officials who have long complained of neglected fountains but have limited authority to address them. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) — walking a delicate line between discouraging federal incursions and avoiding Trump’s ire — has continually pitched investments in federal parks as a goal shared between her and the Trump administration’s proclaimed effort to “make D.C. safe and beautiful.”
About a mile north of the White House, repair beautification efforts are also underway at Meridian Hill Park, also known as Malcolm X Park. A $10.68 million project began in December to repair the long-broken cascading fountain, according to federal procurement records. Earlier this week, the National Park Service announced that National Guard troops will maintain an around-the-clock presence in the park for the foreseeable future, to “keep the fountain rehabilitation area safe and secure.”
Trump’s most prominent project — the ballroom — ignited nationwide alarm. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued the Trump administration to halt construction on the planned ballroom until the commissions can review the White House’s proposals. A hearing in the case is set for Thursday.
“Without a preliminary injunction, the message will be crystal clear: if the President can demolish the East Wing without oversight or consequence and build anything he wants in its place, neither law nor logic stops him from doing the same to the West Wing, or even the Executive Mansion,” the National Trust’s lawyers wrote in court documents filed Tuesday.
White House historians said Trump’s changes to the White House grounds represent some of the most extensive in generations.
“Due to security concerns, the White House has been encroaching on its surrounding environs for decades. What used to be a fairly open area is now under a tight security umbrella,” said Tevi Troy, a historian who worked in the George W. Bush White House as deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy. “Given this trend, I’m saddened but not shocked to see Lafayette Park potentially coming under that security umbrella as well.”
The post White House fences off park as Trump begins new building project appeared first on Washington Post.
