Dealey Plaza to get face lift

This post is for your information.  I do not endorse the idea of giving money to this.  The City of Dallas should be respectfully maintaining Dealey Plaza all the time, not on selected anniversaries of the assassination.

From The Dallas Morning News:

Dealey Plaza, on the western edge of downtown Dallas, is known around the world as the site where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.

More than a million people visit the site each year to pay homage to the fallen president.

There was a 2001 master plan to revitalize the plaza, but only a small part of it was completed. Conditions at the plaza had deteriorated, and with the 50th anniversary of the assassination approaching in 2013, something needed to be done.

In late 2010, Judith Garrett Segura, retired president of  The Belo Foundation, and Nicola Longford, director of The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, met for lunch and agreed that the city needed to tackle the problem with more urgency.

Segura agreed to lead a fund drive to help the city of Dallas accomplish the task.

City Manager Mary Suhm gave a critical boost to the project.

Segura enlisted The Dallas Foundation to serve as the fiduciary agent for the campaign. Last year, the foundation established the Dealey Plaza Restoration Fund to help the city of Dallas complete its $2.2 million restoration plan.

“This is the right thing to do since Dealey Plaza is a national historic landmark district but doesn’t include any federal support for upkeep,” Segura said.

The plaza dates to the 1840s, when Dallas’ first settler, John Neely Bryan, marked the site as Dallas’ birthplace. A century later, under the leadership of the publisher of The Dallas Morning News, George Bannerman Dealey, the concrete colonnades and triple underpass were built to serve as the “front door of Dallas.”

The plan to revitalize the plaza includes maintenance work on the steps leading to the two concrete pergolas, concrete repair, lead paint removal, and cleaning and painting of the pergolas and the underpass that serves Commerce, Main and Elm streets. There will also be upgrades to the lighting and directional and historical signs. The goal is to complete the project by November 2013.

The Dealey Plaza Restoration Fund has secured more than $1.1 million in commitments, including $750,000 from the city of Dallas.

Other major gifts include: $125,000 from Downtown Dallas Inc., $100,000 from The Decherd Foundation, $50,000 from Belo Corp., $50,000 from The Dallas Foundation, $35,000 from The Jim and Lynn Moroney Family Foundation and $25,000 from A.H. Belo Corporation.

Dallas Foundation president and CEO Mary Jalonick said that all donations are welcome, regardless of size.

To make a gift to the fund, visit dallasfoundation.org and search for “Dealey Plaza.” You can also mail a contribution to Dealey Plaza Restoration Fund of the Dallas Foundation, 3963 Maple Ave., Suite 390, Dallas, Texas 75219-3209.