I saw a documentary recently about the mall where all the monuments are. It showed that when we see pictures of it they are pictures that were taken some years back. They showed how it actually looks now. Lawn all blotchy, cement in the sidewalks all broken, etc. I was shocked.
The last time I was in DC was back in mid-95 and even back then, the grass areas on the Mall weren’t looking so good.
I figured it was due to so many people walking across it as well as all the demonstrations, etc that are held there.
I don’t remember the sidewalks looking all cracked and beat up though. They probably were though.
What I do remember is how rough-looking DC starts to get when you walk about 2-3 blocks north or east of the Capitol though.
You’d swear you were in a totally different city.
It’s sad, isn’t it? I don’t remember the mall area being quite that terrible when I lived near there (northern VA) over a decade ago. But yeah, the MD side...it’s been pretty bad for a long time.