What was supposed to be a signature beautification project for President Donald Trump has become one of the more embarrassing public spectacles in Washington in recent memory. The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the subject of a more than $14.7 million renovation awarded through a no-bid contract to a construction company with ties to Trump, is deteriorating rapidly and may now need to be at least partially drained for emergency repairs.
Trump announced the news on social media Saturday, saying that multiple individuals had been arrested for vandalizing the pool and that the damage had become severe enough to require intervention. The announcement marked his most direct acknowledgment yet that the high-profile project is in serious trouble.
A pool plagued by problems
The renovation was part of Trump‘s broader initiative to upgrade landmarks around Washington as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary. The pool’s floor was painted a shade the president has described as American flag blue, a bold aesthetic choice that quickly became the least of the project’s concerns.
Within days of completion, the water turned green as blooming algae spread across the surface, obscuring the freshly painted floor. The paint then began peeling off in large sections, including one gap roughly the size of a park bench that exposed the original concrete basin underneath. Interior Department officials said workers had managed to eliminate the algae, but photographs from Friday showed clumps of it still clinging to areas where staff had scrubbed along the bottom of the basin.
Engineers and experts had warned early on that the hastily undertaken project was unlikely to resolve the longstanding issues that have plagued the pool for decades. Those warnings now appear prescient.
A three-time Olympian arrested for touching peeling paint
Among those arrested in connection with alleged vandalism was David Carter Hearn, a 67-year-old cyclist and three-time Olympic canoeist from Bethesda, Maryland. Hearn says he stopped at the pool during a 50-mile bike ride simply out of curiosity, and reached down into the water to feel a strip of peeling paint that was still loosely attached to the bottom. He describes the material as a 2-millimeter-thick rubbery flap and says he did not remove anything.
U.S. Park Police arrested Hearn shortly after and held him for more than four hours at a facility south of the National Mall without allowing him to make a phone call or explaining the full basis for his detention. He now faces a charge of destroying government property, which can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Hearn denies the charge and has already received offers of pro bono legal representation.
Hearn pointed out that his actions were similar to those of a journalist from ABC News who had lifted a detached piece of paint at the pool the day before in a video that the outlet published. He noted that his background running a company that manufactured materials for canoes made him professionally curious about what had been used on the pool’s surface before it began failing.
Trump blames vandals, critics blame the project itself
Trump claimed Saturday that the pool’s newly installed interior surface had been deliberately damaged, and alleged without evidence that vandals had poured corrosive chemicals into the water. He warned that those responsible could face years in prison.
Critics, however, have directed their skepticism at the project itself rather than at individuals who stopped to look at it. The no-bid contract, the rushed timeline and the swift deterioration of a multi-million dollar renovation have all drawn sharp scrutiny from engineers, opposition lawmakers and members of the public who see the peeling pool as a symbol of governmental overreach and poor planning.
Whether draining the pool will resolve the underlying issues or simply delay them remains to be seen.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer / Wall Street Journal