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Bad lighting, “hooliganism,” thieves on the prowl: These are what plague the African American Civil War Memorial on U Street, a National Park Service-managed site that is in dire need of upgrades, its leaders say.
Congress has come through with a little help. Conferees wrestling with the $32 billion Interior Department and environment budget included $220,000, sought by D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, for the memorial at 1200 U St. NW.
The final report on the appropriations bill, approved by the House and Senate Thursday generally along party lines, includes tens of millions for facilities in the District.
The Civil War memorial, adjacent to the U Street Metro Station, opened in 1998. This would be the first major infusion of money “to correct some security issues down there,” said Frank Smith, director of the African American Civil War Memorial Freedom Foundation.
Serious problems with lighting — the lights are burned out, for example — demand major work, Smith said. And there are plans to add railings or other measures to discourage skateboarders “who are tearing the place up,” what Smith dubbed “hooliganism.”
“Hopefully this is enough money to do that,” Smith said.
When people arrive at the memorial, he said, “we want them to see a clean, safe, well lit place that’s not vandalized.”
Also in the conference report is $49.1 million for the U.S. Holocaust Museum, roughly $700,000 more than the House suggested in its budget proposal. The extra money is needed “to sustain the additional security measures that were implemented by the Museum earlier this year immediately following the tragic shooting of an employee there.”
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., secured $1 million for the Sewall Belmont House, a women’s history museum on Capitol Hill. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., railed against that award during the floor debate Thursday.
“We won’t know if these have merit. … They’ve never been scrutinized,” McCain said of the 500-plus earmarks in the Interior budget bill.
Among other appropriations:
— $16 million for the construction of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial on the National Mall;
— $30 million for the revitalization of the Arts and Industries Building;
— $500,000 for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to help arts organizations manage “the challenges posed by the economy;”
— $19.1 million for Smithsonian to acquire collections for the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
