Trump's 'American flag blue' reflecting pool project gets a mixed reaction in D.C.

Workers paint a corner of the reflecting pool blue on Monday morning. Rachel Treisman/NPR hide caption toggle caption Rachel Treisman/NPR WASHINGTON — On a typical spring morning in D.C., the area around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool bustles with runners, photographers, tourists and families of ducks. This Monday, however, the 2,030 foot-long pool sat completely empty, save for a smattering of construction vehicles, portable toilets and traffic cones. In one of the corners of the drained pool, workers stood in a cluster, spraying the bottom with what looked like blue paint. "I honestly can't tell what they're doing right now," said Laurie Collins, a lifelong D.C. resident who was taking pictures of the scene to update the nearly 180,000 followers of her Instagram account @dccitygirl. "The way it seems that they're spraying this paint it's probably going to take them a year to finish it." The pool is being resurfaced as part of President Trump's efforts to reshape iconic parts of the city. He says the project will take one week and cost $2 million. The overhaul would turn the reflecting pool from its longtime gray hue to a swimming pool-like blue. NPR has reached out to the National Park Service, which administers the National Mall, for more information about the timeline, cost and upkeep of the resurfacing, but did not hear back in time for publication. Trump told reporters last Thursday that he is working with one of his best "pool builders" from his real estate development days to clean up the pool, fix some of its joints and resurface it with "industrial-grade" material in the color "American flag blue." Crews paint a new blue coating on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Saturday. Andrew Leyden/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Andrew Leyden/Getty Images The following day, Trump shared photos on Truth Social of workers using paint rollers to coat the concrete in a vivid dark blue. When NPR visited on Monday, the shade looked more subdued — and workers had seemingly switched from paint rollers to sprayers. Passersby peeked at the scene through holes in black tarps on the tree-lined walking paths, and some walked down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to take it in from above. Reactions were mixed: Some people welcomed the changes, while others dismissed them as a costly waste of time. Jalisa Cater, a fifth-generation Washingtonian and professional tour guide, just wishes the renovations weren't taking place during peak tourist season. She says some of her visitors, including that day's group from Colorado, have been disappointed to see the pool in its current state. "Even though we might not be happy about how the city looks, because of all the construction … especially stuff with the reflecting pool, at the end of the day it's going to look beautiful," she says. The pool has needed renovations over the years The Memorial Bridge, Lincoln Memorial, Reflecting Pool and the World War II Memorial, pictured in December, are fixtures of D.C.'s National Mall. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP hide caption toggle caption Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP The reflecting pool was completed in the early 1920s, right after the opening of the Lincoln Memorial. It's been the backdrop of plenty of historic moments, including presidential inaugurations and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963. But the pool, built of asphalt and tile on extremely marshy soil, deteriorated considerably over the decades. It sank by 12 inches in some 90 years, and the water wasn't circulating properly, requiring two to three refills annually. It underwent major renovations between 2010 and 2012, funded by $34 million from an Obama-era economic stimulus package. The project addressed "water quality and watertightness issues" and also redesigned the pool to be "shallower and more aesthetically pleasing," according to Sika USA, one of the firms involved. But it wasn't a perfect fix, according to the Departme