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Interior Secretary Doug Burgum made a simple but sharp point on Breitbart: President Trump’s push to restore fountains, monuments, and parks in Washington, D.C., shows that squalor is not inevitable — it is a choice. Burgum credited President Trump for cleaning up public spaces, removing homeless camps, and bringing life back to places like Meridian Hill Park and the Columbus fountain. If you like beauty, order, and pride in the capital, that matters.
Beauty Is a Choice — Leadership Is Too
Burgum didn’t mince words. He said the District’s rundown fountains and graffiti-laced memorials were not fate; they were the result of choices by those in charge. Under President Trump’s direction, the Interior Department has repaired fountains that hadn’t worked for decades and rededicated the Columbus fountain after it was a homeless camp and covered in pro-Hamas graffiti. The message is blunt: public space is for the public — to visit, not to be abandoned.
From Homeless Camps to Working Fountains
The numbers Burgum gave are concrete. He said crews removed 152 homeless camps and that people taken from those sites were provided services. He pointed to Meridian Hill Park, where the cascading fountain now flows and where visits have increased roughly tenfold. That’s both good policy and good optics. Restoring water and benches turns a neglected spot into a place families want to be.
A Model for Blue Cities and the Freedom 250
Burgum framed the work as a model for other big blue metros like Los Angeles. With the country heading toward the Freedom 250 celebrations, the restored reflecting pool and monuments should reflect more than neglect. They should reflect the country’s history and pride. If you care about tourism, safety, or civic pride, restoring public spaces makes sense. If you prefer slogans over results, you’ll keep looking the other way.
This is about more than fountains. It is about leadership and choices. The Biden-era habit of accepting decay as permanent is being flipped by action. Clean parks and working monuments are a small, visible part of making cities safer and more welcoming. If we want beauty, we can choose it — and leaders like President Trump and Secretary Burgum are showing how it’s done.
