Norton Calls on NPS to Improve National Mall Experience by Allowing Food Trucks and Providing Sitting Areas in the Shade

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released a set of questions that she sent today to National Parks Service (NPS) Associate Director of Business Services Lena McDowall regarding ways to improve visitor enjoyment on the National Mall following last week's Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing examining current NPS concessions policies. Norton asked McDowall to permit food trucks on the Mall in order to diversify and update the current food options. She also requested that McDowall work with her on a public-private partnership to place tables and chairs in shady spots on the Mall so residents and visitors can sit and fully enjoy it as a park.

"The Mall is not a static national treasure like a painting," Norton said. "It is a unique park in the nation's capital that receives millions of District residents and other visitors annually. Allowing food trucks to operate on the Mall and providing residents and visitors with tables, chairs and benches in the shade would go a long way toward enhancing the Mall experience. This is not too much to ask, particularly considering the extraordinary rehabilitation the Trust for the National Mall is already undertaking. The visitor enhancement I am asking for could be accomplished while that work is occurring without cost to NPS."

Her questions for the committee hearing record follow.

NPS Concessions Questions

In May, I introduced the National Mall Revitalization and Designation Act, which would require the Secretary of the Interior to submit a plan to Congress to enhance visitor enjoyment on the Mall. Both tourists and D.C. residents deserve a variety of quality food items and shady places to sit to enjoy the Mall when they visit. In September 2014, I hosted a roundtable discussion with representatives from the National Park Service (NPS) regarding the food options on the Mall, and the feasibility of food trucks in particular. In response, NPS promised me it would consider allowing food trucks to operate on the Mall after the current concessionaire's contract is up in 2015.

• Ms. McDowall, to diversify and update the food options that are available, would you consider regulations to permit a minimum number of appropriate food trucks at the Mall approved by NPS?
• Ms. McDowall, in your written testimony, you describe a number of improvement projects in national parks around the country, including new facilities that have benefited visitors and enhanced their experience while visiting NPS parks. I have worked closely with the Trust for the National Mall and deeply appreciate its ongoing and long-term work to rehabilitate the Mall. The new grass that allows our residents and visitors to play games and sit on the grass is much appreciated. However, the Mall lacks tables, chairs, and benches in the shade for residents and tourists to sit and enjoy the Mall as a park environment, or even to eat the food they buy from the current concessionaire or when they bring their own. Would you work with me on a public-private partnership in keeping with current federal and NPS regulations to place tables and chairs in shady spots on the Mall at no cost to NPS?