Save the Smithsonian’s Haupt Garden!

If you’ve entered the Smithsonian Institution from Independence Ave., you’ve probably enjoyed the Enid Haupt Garden. The Haupt Garden is a small jewel in the National Mall and a real oasis for both tourists and residents alike.

An important component of the Smithsonian Institution’s proposed "South Mall Campus Master Plan" is to completely demolish the Enid Haupt Garden; the existing entrance pavilions to the National Museum of African Art, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, and the S. Dillon Ripley International Center; and the Renwick Gates and Walls at the south edge of the Haupt Garden.

For more details, please see the recent op-ed in the Washington Post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dont-destroy-the-smithsonians-beloved-haupt-garden/2016/03/18/caf0f1e2-eae8-11e5-bc08-3e03a5b41910_story.html

As a supporter of the Smithsonian Institution, I urge the Institution’s Secretary to re-consider the South Mall Campus Plan so that the Haupt Garden and surrounding architectural and landscape features are retained.

Respectfully, the undersigned