WASHINGTON MONUMENT CLOSED UNTIL 2019 FOR ELEVATOR REPAIR

The Washington Monument is getting an update. Businessman and philanthropist David M. Rubenstein has donated between $2-3 million to fix ongoing elevator issues. His gift will allow the National Park Service to replace the computer system that controls the elevator, and refurbish the existing elevator machine. The national monument will remain closed until 2019 while repairs and improvements are underway. Mr. Rubenstein has been quite the benefactor to our National monuments. Here is what he has done so far:
January 2012 – $7.5 million to restore the Washington Monument after the earthquake
July 2014 – $12.35 million to restore Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial
September 2014 – $5 million endowment for the White House Visitor Center
April 2015 – $5.37 million to improve the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial
February 2016 – $18.5 million to restore the Lincoln Memorial
April 2016 – $1 million to fund critical repairs to Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument
* Yet I don’t see his name on anything, like Trump. Go figure.
* Sure – the monument involving women gets a fraction of what the men’s monuments get. Sheesh!
* Save some money, Mr. Rubenstein. We’re gonna need to power wash the White House in another four years.
* They soaked this guy for $7.5 million just four years ago, and now they’re hitting him up for another $2-3 million? When’s he gonna learn?
* $3 million – or what Jim Parsons gets for three episodes of The Big Bang Theory.
* It’s a government project, so you know if this was a private building, the owner could fix it for about $20 grand.
* And they’d get it done in four months.
* Gee, the Otis Elevator company could have stepped up and gotten some amazing free publicity.
* What ever happened to using the steps in the Washington Monument? Oh, wait, that’s right – we’re Americans. We don’t do stairs.
* Does anyone else see this as a bad omen?
* I mean we want Washington to make the economy go up and we can’t even get an elevator to work in the Washington Monument.
* How about at least a rope ladder out the side?
* Don’t ask Trump for help. He’ll turn it into condos.