President Donald Trump unveiled his budget plan for the upcoming 2027 fiscal year last week, which includes a $10 billion Presidential Capital Stewardship Program aimed to spruce up DC. The funding initiative, which will be overseen by the National Park Service, is designated “to coordinate, plan, and execute targeted, priority construction and beautification projects in and around” the city. Trump has long found DC rather ugly, so much so that he launched a task force to make the city “safe and beautiful” again a few months into his second term. Some of his administration’s projects, like the restoration of several area fountains, have been largely welcome. Others, including his takeover of the city’s public golf courses and temporary closures of multiple neighborhood parks for renovation ahead of the semiquincentennial, have sown seeds of skepticism among residents. Just this afternoon, the White House released designs for Trump’s brainchild “Independence Arch,” a 250-foot-tall monument that would tower over the Lincoln Memorial and fundamentally alter our skyline. The Trump administration has not yet revealed exactly how it plans to spend the $10 billion allocated for DC beautification, so we asked a couple of local landscape architects for their two-cents on which of our public spaces could use a little TLC. Here’s where they would invest the new funds. Tourist hotspots Doug Koeser, a landscape architect and certified arborist with the Chantilly firm Gordon, says that some of the most overlooked opportunities for DC beautification are right by the National Mall. He’d like to see some of our seasonal tourist destinations transformed for year-round use. He’d replace turf at Constitution Gardens with more pollinator gardens, which he says would strengthen local bee and butterfly habitats and reduce maintenance needs “without changing the overall character of the Mall.” With some tweaks, Koeser also thinks the Tidal Basin could become a community gathering point for more than cherry blossom peeping. “If it’s not March and April, it’s not used at all,” he says. Across the Mall area, he would add more visitor seating and wayfinding signage. “It’s been a while since I’ve been out there as a tourist, but I know sometimes it’s really hard to get around the area,” he says. “I think more signage would be really huge, and more kiosks and educational signage.” Koeser would also focuses on upgrading major thoroughfares like New York Avenue and South Capitol Street. These roads are “not aesthetically pleasing right now, and sometimes it doesn’t look like an entrance into the city.” He would focus on improving the tree canopy along these streets and others around the city, especially near Metro stations. Tree canopy “helps cool the city, anywhere from five to 15 degrees Fahrenheit,” he explains, which also tamps down energy demand. More trees can also reduce the risk of flooding by absorbing rainfall; they also work wonders for air quality. Plus, “street trees [help] reduce stress and improve moods and encourage outdoor activity,” Koeser adds. Any Washingtonian who has ever dared to leave their apartment during one of our soul-melting heat waves shouldn’t need much convincing on that front. (Don’t look now, but one is forecasted for next week.) Throughout the city, Koeser would also welcome more public art, including murals and sculptures. “Having public art will help bring in people,” he says, especially if those installations are accompanied by ample seating. Local green spaces “DC has a really rich history as a garden city,” says Ryan Moody, a founding principal of DC landscape architecture firm Moody Graham. “We’ve got this incredible collection of parks, but many of them have deferred maintenance and safety issues.” The US National Arboretum would be his first priority. “I can’t tell you the number of people that I’ve talked to that said the National Arboretum was their respite during Covid,” he says. “But it’s perennially underfunded, and there’s such an opportunity there. They have such a great collection. I really feel like that’s an outdoor space that could be improved with some significant investment.” The neighboring Kennilworth Aquatic Gardens would also rank high on his list for the same reasons. Moody would also like to see some attention paid t0 Anacostia Park, which he notes is also “consistently under invested in, especially in comparison with some of the wealthier parts of the city.” The DC government and community leaders are also working to develop the 11th Street Bridge Park nearby, which will mark the city’s first elevated green space. “That park and groups that are associated with it could be well-served with additional money,” he adds. Many smaller parks in the city could use refreshes, Moody says, particularly those east of the Anacostia River in Wards  7 and 8. These adjustments might include turf replacement, lighting improvements, and bench repairs. “There’s a lot of data developed over the past 40 years that really gives us clear understanding of how access to nature [and] parks can improve human health, lower our stress, lower our cortisol levels, let us heal faster. There’s all kinds of incredible things that it can do for our mental and physical wellbeing.” Public golf courses At the beginning of this year, Trump severed a 50-year lease agreement with nonprofit National Links Trust, which for the last five years has managed DC’s public golf courses: East Potomac Golf Links, the Langston Golf Course, and Rock Creek Park Golf. The administration’s plans to oversee these spaces have not sat well with many locals, including the nonprofit DC Preservation League, which has legally challenged Trump’s plans to reconstruct the East Potomac grounds into a championship-level course. From Moody’s perspective, these courses could be meaningfully improved with additions like nature trails, amphitheaters, and clubhouse spaces. “I would love to see more money go to these golf courses, and for the administration to reconnect with [the National Links Trust] to build up these courses as they intend to do in their planning, to really be affordable and accessible places—not only for golfers, but for the entire DC community,” he says.The post Trump Set Aside $10 Billion to Beautify DC. Where Should the Money Go? first appeared on Washingtonian. ...read more read less