An expert suggested to The Washington Post on Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool paint job will leave it looking “sharp.”
Workers recently began painting the bottom of the Reflecting Pool “American flag blue” as part of Trump’s broader effort to revamp parts of Washington, D.C. ahead of America’s 250th anniversary in July. D.C.-based nonprofit the Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) announced on May 11 that it is suing the Trump administration, alleging that its decision to repaint the Reflecting Pool violates federal law.
Steve Goodale, a pool expert known online as “Swimming Pool Steve,” told The Washington Post in an interview that the Reflecting Pool’s new paint job is “not really going to end up looking like a swimming pool.”
Instead, it is “going to very likely be a more sharp and accurate reflection versus the original gray color,” Goodale told the outlet, adding that “what you’re going to see is a higher contrast to the light of the sky and clouds.”
TCLF President and CEO Charles Birnbaum said in a May 11 statement that “the Reflecting Pool should not be viewed in isolation; it is part of the larger ensemble of designed landscapes that comprise the National Mall.”
“The design intent, to create a reflective surface that is subordinate, is fundamental to the solemn and hallowed visual and spatial connection between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial,” Birnbaum added. “A blue-tinted basin is more appropriate to a resort or theme park.”
However, Trump maintained Wednesday during a Cabinet meeting that “we made the surface [of the Reflecting Pool] as good as it can be,” according to the AP.
“And we’re now covering it with the most beautiful blue, very thick – you can think of it as a very sophisticated form of rubber,” the president added. “No leaks. No problems. And it’s beautiful. It’s called American flag blue.”
The ongoing repairs to the Reflecting Pool are now projected to cost an additional $11.3 million compared to Trump’s original estimates, The New York Times (NYT) first reported on May 11. The repairs have also seemingly fallen behind schedule, according to the NYT.
“This is the Reflecting Pool at The Lincoln Memorial,” Trump wrote in an April 24 Truth Social post. “Two thousand five hundred feet, the length of the tallest Building in the World. Starting the final phase of Renovation that was supposed to cost 301 Million Dollars, and take three years, and was instead done, with the help of Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, and his entire Department, and a much better final result – 2 Million Dollars in one week! I do many such things for Government and, as President, it is my Honor to do so. This is just one of them.”
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