Founder of D.C.’s WWI Memorial effort expresses ‘grave concerns’ in a letter to Commission of Fine Arts

Dejonge is not alone in his views that the memorial’s potential location at Pershing Park may not be for the best. In June 2017, The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) President and CEO Charles Birnbaum sent a letter to National Park Service about his views on the site placement. He wrote that the design was “incompatible in scale” and may “destroy ... the integrity of the heart of the park.” He also argued that the project’s design could end up in the loss of more than 50 feet of open access between the upper and lower plaza levels and the severed relationship between the southern and western amphitheater stairs and risers.