To the Editor:
The intent and purpose of the George Washington Memorial Parkway (GWMP) was made clear in 1887 by Edward Fox, who, building on the idea that “every patriotic American who visits Washington makes a pious pilgrimage to the home and tomb of the Father of his Country,” suggested that “immediate steps should be taken to make a splendid drive from the Virginia terminus of the Aqueduct Bridge to Mount Vernon.”
These ideals were further refined by the Macmillan Commission, which envisioned that: “these drives had certain definitions: Parkways or ways through or between parks; distinguished from highways or ordinary streets by the dominant purpose of recreation rather than movement; restricted to pleasure vehicles, and arranged with regard for scenery, topography and similar features rather than for directness.”
The George Washington Memorial Parkway and its scenic vistas provide a contemplative and memorial sense for the Father of the United States as you drive to Mount Vernon, and, in the words of the enabling legislation "a striking and suitable tribute to the Father of our Nation, and one in which the people of America will take just pride and enjoyment.”
While causing irrevocable damage to that intended homage, Alexandria’s preferred alternative to the Potomac Yard Metro Station seeks only to compensate the National Park Service (NPS) Budget, not the George Washington Memorial Parkway and its memorial character. Conveniently, the arrangement came out only after the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), undermining the entire process with a preordained solution.
This view is reinforced by the demeaning and misleading manner in which the NPS has chosen to present the George Washington Memorial Parkway on its web site. There is no mention of the history behind of the George Washington Memorial Parkway or its intent and purpose, and it focuses instead on places accessible by the parkway. Moreover, as if to emphasize the perception of the George Washington Memorial Parkway being a mere thoroughfare, the main picture on the web site is an off ramp leading away from the parkway.
The local planning process was permitted to become deficient in following the proper procedures for designing the Metro Station. The Alexandria ordinance requires that adjacent properties to the George Washington Memorial Parkway should adhere to the Zoning ordinance commonly referred to as the “Washington Street Standards.” From its inception, the city insisted that the locally preferred alternative for the Metro Station was not encumbered by that ordinance, (because there was a property in between), but that happened only after the design was approved.
Only after the approval of the Potomac Yard Metro Station, did Alexandria relinquish a parcel of property that fronted the Parkway to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). In accordance with the agreement, the city then gave the remaining parcel to the NPS as part of the restitution of the project impacting the George Washington Memorial Parkway, which again places the Potomac Yard Metro Station fronting the parkway, and also under the auspices of the Washington Street Standards. However, the NPS rejected that offer.
Thus, negating the ordinance enacted to protect the memorial character of the parkway because the land being offered is polluted. The Potomac Yard Metro Station should have been under the zoning ordinance requirement to meet the Washington Street Standards as part of the agreement signed by the NPS. The current design is not in accord with the Washington Street Standards, or in keeping with the memorial character of the George Washington Memorial Parkway as prescribed in the 1929 agreement between the city and the federal government as a result.
Poul Hertel
Alexandria