Work to correct the cracking and flaking liner at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is underway, weeks after the government dropped charges against people accused of vandalizing the pool, citing instead the “botched” renovation efforts.
It’s the latest in a months-long saga that began when President Donald Trump vowed to clean up the attraction, saying it was “Disgusting” and “garbage ridden” under his predecessors. The renovations, Trump had boasted, “could last for 100 years.” They lasted barely a few weeks.
Workers could be seen power-washing the pool’s basin and using caulk applicators on the perimeter expansion joint. Some workers ripped up large sheets of damaged liner, and used leaf blowers and brooms to sweep up smaller pieces of liner debris.
Asked about the work, the Interior Department referred The Washington Post to new signage posted at the east end of the pool. Those signs said that the National Park Service and contractors are “repairing areas damaged by vandals and completing a historic effort to clean, fix, and beautify the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Memorial Pool.” (The second “memorial” is an apparent typographic error: The feature is called the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.)
The sign continues: “Since 1922, prior administrations have neglected this iconic landmark, evidenced most recently by more than half of the pool’s pipes being clogged and the sidewalks and granite coping stones being filthy dirty. The Reflecting Pool will remain drained while this work proceeds so that it can truly reflect the beauty, dignity, and grandeur of our nation’s capital.”
Some areas of the perimeter expansion joint that runs along the inner edge of the pool appeared to have been removed. The perimeter joint is the area the administration alleged vandals had cut with a blade earlier this summer, though officials did not specify where those cuts were made, and changed their description of those cuts and their lengths multiple times in public remarks.
A trailer displaying a logo for Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the contractor that worked on the pool earlier this year, was parked inside the pool. Experts cited in a Post analysis published last month said the pattern of how the blue liner was peeling probably indicated problems in how the material was installed. Representatives from Atlantic Industrial Coatings did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On July 31, federal prosecutors moved to drop a criminal charge filed against former Olympian David Hearn, who had been accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool, suggesting that the damage was instead due to a “botched installation.” The Justice Department also dropped misdemeanor charges against three other people.
Trump, in an Aug. 9 Truth Social posting, acknowledged that there was “some contractor error” but continued to blame vandals, though he wrote there was “there is no video or proof.” Trump repeatedly lashed out at U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro after she dropped the vandalism cases.
In April, Trump announced that he would fix the reflecting pool and tint it “American Flag Blue” as part of his broader D.C. beautification projects. But the $14 million project encountered delays, and soon after water flowed back into the pool in early June, it experienced its biggest algae bloom in at least five years, a Post analysis found. After the algae was remedied, pieces of liner started to flake off from the bottom, and the pool was drained again following the Fourth of July. It has remained fenced-off ever since.
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