The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is taking a small but important step toward revitalizing the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The foundation that built the moving Vietnam Veterans Memorial announced last week that it would take over the care of more than 13 acres of lawn on the National Mall. The group has committed $96,000 to repair a broken irrigation system and improve the grass through weed treatment, fertilization, aeration and other work. Foundation officials said they were spurred into action after reading Associated Press reports about the lack of federal funding to upgrade the deteriorating mall.

The work represents only a tiny portion of the estimated $400 million in deferred maintenance that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says is needed on the 650-acre mall, which stretches from the Capitol building to the Lincoln Memorial. The area is the seat of American democracy and honors some of America’s great heroes, but it has fallen into woeful disrepair.

Trying to turn that situation around will be John Piltzecker who took over as superintendent of the mall at the beginning of September. He told the AP last week that he understood the public outrage over the park’s current condition and planned to mine both public and private sources to try to raise money to renovate the area. Plans for the coming year include a major renovation of the Lincoln Memorial grounds and reflecting pool and repairs to a sinking seawall in front of the Jefferson Memorial. The projects, which total nearly $50 million, will be funded through the federal economic stimulus package.

Anyone who has been to the Washington mall recently can attest to its deplorable condition. There is the new World War II Memorial and a recently renovated Washington Monument, but other older monuments, as well as the sidewalks and grounds, are in serious need of work.

The AP analysis of congressional spending since 2005 found that the lack of District of Columbia representatives in Congress put the mall at a disadvantage when competing for national park funds against states with powerful lawmakers.

The fact is, the National Mall, which has been called “America’s front yard,” belongs to all of us and deserves to be among the nation’s most attractive and well-maintained park properties. We hope the stimulus funds and the efforts of the Vietnam Memorial Foundation will mark the beginning of a major public-private partnership to restore the mall to its rightful glory.