Tanks a lot: DC mayor fears Trump-Army parade will chew up city streets downtown
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said she is still "concerned" about damage to the city's streets from the dozens of tanks and armored vehicles set to roll through the capital's downtown during the Army's massive 250th anniversary parade on June 14 − also President Donald Trump's birthday.
Bowser said last month that running tanks over Washington's streets "would not be good" and "should be accompanied by many millions of dollars" for repairs.
The Army has since told reporters it did not expect damage to the streets, and would cover the cost of any distressed asphalt. Thick metal plates will be placed over turns on the tanks' parade route to protect the roads, according to Army officials.
But Bowser said at a May 29 news conference she worried the city would have to shoulder those repairs and wait around for the Pentagon to reimburse.
"I remain concerned about it," she said. "These are, for the most part, local streets, and if they're rendered in unusable, we have to make them usable."
"Probably we would fix it and then go seek our money from the Fed," she said. "That gives me some concern about fronting costs and waiting for them to get back."
More: Trump's getting his military parade. Here's what they look like from France to Russia
The parade – which falls on President Donald Trump's 79th birthday – is a pressure point between Bowser and Trump, who clashed over Trump's push for a similarly huge military parade in his first term.
Trump announced in 2018 that he had canceled his plans for the earlier parade, blaming Bowser and "local politicians" for jacking up the price tag to $21 million.
"The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it," he tweeted.
Bowser hit back that she "finally got thru to the reality star in the White House with the realities" of the cost.
This time around, Bowser has held back from criticizing the upcoming parade, which will likely cost more than twice as much as the 2018 estimate – up to $45 million, according to the Army.
The Army said May 21 the parade will feature 28 Abrams tanks and twice as many armored vehicles rolling down a strip of Constitution Avenue north of the National Mall.
Historic fighter planes and at least 50 helicopters will fly overhead. Army parachutists, called the Golden Knights, will sail down and one will present a folded flag to Trump, who will speak from a presidential booth, USA TODAY previously reported.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DC Mayor Bowser 'concerned' tanks will rip up streets in Army parade
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