Posted on 09/20/2019 8:52:19 AM PDT by simpson96
First lady Melania Trump cut the ribbon Thursday as the Washington Monument reopened to the public for the first time in three years.
The 555-foot stone obelisk closed in September 2016 in order to replace the aging elevator and upgrade security systems.
Accompanied by a group of local fourth graders, Trump took the new high-speed elevator to the observation floor near the top, which offers a commanding 360-degree view of the entire District of Columbia.
The monument has been closed off and on for most of the past eight years. An August 2011 earthquake left cracks in the stones near the top of the obelisk. It reopened in 2014 but National Park Service officials were forced to close it again two years later after a series of elevator breakdowns.
“This is one of the most distinctive buildings in the world and one of the signature attractions of any visit to Washington,” said Jeff Reinbold, superintendent of the National Mall for the National Park Service. “So we really didn’t want to close it. We kept putting Band-Aids on, but eventually we had no choice.”
With the closure already necessary, officials took the opportunity to build a completely new high-tech security screening facility. All told the project cost $12 million — $3 million for the elevator and the rest for the security center.
The new facility juts like a grey cube from the base of the marble obelisk. Inside, visiters find literally gleaming new machinery and automated bank-vault type doors blocking the way to the elevator.
(Excerpt) Read more at newdelhitimes.com ...
*ping*
RE Very First Picture:
Tomorrow’s headline in NYT: “First Lady Slaps Black Children In Front of Racist Washington Monument”....
Love the dress and shoes!
You can bet Antifa types are going to Doxx those kids’ parents and send them death threats.
Did this have something to do with the Washington Monument and a ribbon cutting? I can’t remember.
LOL
Democrats Outraged!
She always seems very happy to be with children. I’m not sure about the shoes. Maybe I’ll like them better next time I see them.
Yes, it was re-opened after it had suffered structural damage from the 2011 earthquake.
Nadler will call a hearing!
NYT Headline Page 2:
“NADLER WANTS FIRST LADY’S SHOES INVESTIGATED FOR TIES TO RUSSIAN FASHION DESIGNER...”
Thanks. The pictures destructed me.
My brother and I walked all the way to the top in the early sixties.
Wow.
After 8 years of the Kenyan usurper old George must be smiling in his grave to have the beautiful, gracious and humble First Lady Melania Trump reopening his monument.
That would be good. Maybe then she and Jared would go back to New York and quit giving the President bad advice.
Melania could make a potato sack look high class and elegant.
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