Landscape architecture goes through design fads and trends like clothing or furniture. In the past few decades the profession has evolved to incorporate more ecologically driven design. There is a chance a heavy hitter LARCH design firm back in the 1960's would have done similar to the old design. Thank you Charles for giving credit where due.

"Melanie" Trump? Seriously, if you all need a proofreader (spoiler alert: you still do), I'll do it for free if I get a byline.

And Mussolini got the trains to run on time.

I have a friend who works for the Federal government, and his take is much more prosaic: that this was a project that had been budgeted years before to fix issues with drainage and accessibility. The office of FLOTUS probably had some involvement, but it was mainly a product of the bureaucracy.

I stopped listening to Mudede on design issues when he trashed the Beacon Hill Library, clearly the finest neighborhood library in Seattle.