Why hasn’t the land just been purchased by a private trust?
Here’s an article about the controversy, and something about the 49 WWI servicemen who are honored there:
Because if that had been done, the liberals win. The liberals would have established a precedent that they can force the sale of crosses to a private trust, without settling the legal status of a cross on public land.
The cross was built on private land with private funds. As originally conceived, the monument flanked the road facing the bridge over the Anacostia. The state acquired the property years later in connection with road widening and to build a traffic circle. This is the intersection between U.S. Alternate 1/Bladensburg Road and MD 450/Annapolis Road. These are busy roads. The cross now sits in the middle of the traffic circle and the state maintains the site, which means the state mows the grass.