President Donald Trump is forging ahead with a sweeping overhaul of the White House and the nation’s capital that allies hail as beautification and critics say is costly and unnecessary. Undeterred by criticism of his plans to construct a 90,000-square-foot ballroom in place of the White House’s East Wing and to paint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue, Trump is now poised to add a helipad to the South Lawn.“President Trump has continued to make improvements at the White House and all around D.C. to benefit future presidents and Americans,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the Washington Examiner.
The helipad project is in response to concerns regarding the new Marine One helicopters, VH-92A Patriots, which scorched grass during testing, creating a potential fire hazard for the White House.
Reports of the helipad on Sunday coincided with last weekend’s creation of a temporary White House staff parking lot on Pennsylvania Avenue, opposite the North Portico, and the return of the historic Meridian Hill Park fountain.
The fountain was reopened as part of a Trump-directed $54 million National Park Service project to restore the capital’s water features ahead of the country’s 250th birthday this July 4.
