Cancel the Ballroom and Arch — The Reflecting Pool Contract Proves Why

Cancel the ballroom and the arch. The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool contract has ballooned to $14.7 million — and the original estimate was a fraction of that, meaning costs have spiraled dramatically in a short period of time. A $460,000 transaction on June 15 sits in federal records with no explanation. If a single pool cleaning job can hemorrhage millions beyond its original budget, there is no reason to believe larger, splashier projects will fare any better. Fiscal responsibility means making hard calls before the damage compounds. Scrapping the ballroom and arch now is the responsible move — not after they follow the same trajectory this contract already has. I expect you to push for exactly that.