National Mall

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Caroline Cunningham, president of the Trust for the National Mall, and Donald Stastny, an architect advising the group, look over two of the competing proposals for redesigning three areas of the Mall. A winner for each site is to be chosen in May. (Associated Press)

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An undated artist's rendering from Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architect & Paul Murdoch Architects shows a proposed design for Constitution Gardens, one of three underused and neglected areas of the National Mall in Washington, which architects and designers have been competing for the chance to renew. (AP Photo/Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architect & Paul Murdoch Architects)

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Susan Eisenhower (left) and Anne Eisenhower, granddaughters of President Eisenhower, listen to testimony on Capitol Hill on Tuesday during the House subcommittee on national parks, forests and public lands hearing on the proposed Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial on the National Mall. (Associated Press)

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Renowned architect Frank Gehry talks in October about his concept for an Eisenhower memorial to be built near the National Mall in Washington. (Associated Press)

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With the Washington Monument as his backdrop, Philanthropist David Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Managing Director, The Carlyle Group, speaks to reporters on The National Mall, to announce his donation of $7.5 million dollars to help with the repair of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., Thursday, January 19, 2012. The gift matches federal funds approved by Congress in December and completes the funding necessary for the overall repair. Rubenstein's donation will be made through the Trust for the National Mall, the National Park Service's philanthropic partner whose Campaign for The National Mall will raise $350 million over five to seven years towards the $650 million needed to restore The National Mall. (Rod Lamkey Jr/ The Washington Times)

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Philanthropist David Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Managing Director, The Carlyle Group (right) talks with Dean Malissa (left) playing the part of former President George Washington, before speaking to reporters on The National Mall, to announce his donation of $7.5 million dollars to help with the repair of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., Thursday, January 19, 2012. The gift matches federal funds approved by Congress in December and completes the funding necessary for the overall repair. Rubenstein's donation will be made through the Trust for the National Mall, the National Park Service's philanthropic partner whose Campaign for The National Mall will raise $350 million over five to seven years towards the $650 million needed to restore The National Mall. (Rod Lamkey Jr/ The Washington Times)

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Emma Cardini, a civil engineer from Melrose, Mass., right, and a member of the difficult access team, dangles by a rope more than 500 feet above ground, with co-worker Daniel Gach, as they inspect the exterior of the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, Thursday Sept. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

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Keyana Smith, 11, at center, of Washington, D.C., watches her brother James Taylor, 8, read in a family storytelling tent at the National Book Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 25, 2011. (T.J. Kirkpatrick/ The Washington Times)

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Katey Caceres, 8, hugs the Sesame Street character 'Honker' during the National Book Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.(T.J. Kirkpatrick/ The Washington Times)

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Kelly Caldwell, center, of Washington, D.C., walks with her son Fionn, 4, behind her husband Chris through the National Book Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 25, 2011. (T.J. Kirkpatrick/ The Washington Times)

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The sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr. is seen Monday, Aug. 22, 2011, the day that the memorial, the last memorial to be built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., officially opened to the public. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

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This image released by the National Park Service shows Steve Lorenzetti, Deputy Superintendent of Planning, left, and Robert A. Vogel, Superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks conferring with civil engineer Ned Wallace, right, inside the Washington Monument Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011, amid debris that fell to the floor after a 5.8 magnitude struck the Washington area on Aug. 23. (AP Photo/National Park Service)