NPS document lays out path forward for Triumphal arch despite potential harm to historic views

The Cultural Landscape Foundation, a Washington-based education and advocacy organization, has fought the project for months. In a Sept. 14 letter to NPS Associate Regional Director Tammy Stidham, foundation founder Charles Birnbaum wrote that NPS "not only maintains that the site selection and design are unalterable and non-negotiable, but it also refuses to even consider alternate sites and designs." Birnbaum cited Andrew Lewis of the D.C. Historic Preservation Office, who told NPS at a June 15 consulting parties meeting that the agency "failed to meet the most basic requirement of Section 106."