Atlanta designer among those opposed to Eisenhower memorial

By John Bachman

Congress doesn’t seem to agree on much these days, but they have decided to spend millions of tax dollars to build a new Dwight Eisenhower Memorial. The cost is one problem, but a bigger problem is that some members of the Eisenhower family even have concerns about the project.

Groundbreaking is set for late next year for the monument near the mall in Washington, DC. The Eisenhower Memorial Commission is asking Congress to fund most of it.

“Our working number is $112.5 million, with 80 percent of that to be federal funding and the balance to be raised privately,” said Brig. General Carl Reddel, executive director of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission.

Congress already has given the commission nearly $60 million in taxpayer money and will ask for much more. Federal records show the Martin Luther King Memorial that just opened on the mall only got $10 million in federal funds.

Historically, taxpayers have funded presidential memorials in Washington. Studies by the Eisenhower Commission show the most recent memorial built, the FDR Memorial in 1997, was 89 percent federally funded. The commission believes the financial constraints of 2011 shouldn’t matter.

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http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/atlanta-designer-among-those-opposed-eisenhower-me/nFgW4/

By Dhiru Thadani – 06 Jul 2011

“Until now, Washington, DC, has managed to keep Frank Gehry from leaving his imprint on the city. However, all signs indicate that his $90 million monument to President Dwight D. Eisenhower may get built.

Unfortunately, the banal design by the star-architect falls short on several levels: architecture, urban design, landscape, and respect for the L’Enfant plan. As a consequence it will fail to inspire or enthuse future generations in the same way that other memorials in the nation’s capital do, such as the Lincoln, Jefferson, and Vietnam War memorials.”

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http://newurbannetwork.com/news-opinion/blogs/dhiru-thadani/14948/misshapen-memorial-president-eisenhower

3:36 pm June 20, 2011, by Howard Pousner By Howard Pousner hpousner@ajc.com The Atlanta impresario behind Atlantic Station’s 82-foot-high Millennium Gate and the designer of Midtown’s World Athletes Monument is back at it, encouraging classical design in favor of the modernist twists he scorns. Rodney Cook Jr. was part of one of five winning teams [...]

Michael and I would like to thank you for this commendation. We thought it was our patriotic duty to enter this competition as well as compel our friends to do so in order to showcase many examples as possible to the Congress and the American people, what a noble and beautiful monument to one of [...]