00:00This is the first Hall of Fame in America, but you've probably never heard of it.
00:04It's over 125 years old, and it has busts and plaques dedicated to Americans whose contributions to our country deserve
00:12a special place of honor.
00:14When the Neoclassical Monument first opened, it was a huge hit, a national treasure.
00:18It even got a shout-out in The Wizard of Oz.
00:30Unfortunately, the area was ravaged by crime and fire in the 1970s.
00:34The tour buses stopped coming, and the Hall fell into neglect.
00:37But now that President Trump wants to create a National Garden of Heroes in D.C., here's a better idea.
00:42Let's restore the one we've already got.
00:45I'm here with Sam White, whose great-grandfather designed the Hall of Fame.
00:50He designed a campus originally for NYU that is now the home of Bronx Community College.
00:55This is, I think, the most beautiful community college in America.
00:59It's an extraordinary campus.
01:00Restoring the Hall of Fame would cost a fraction of the $40 million Congress has allocated for a new Garden
01:06of Heroes.
01:07Bringing the Hall back to life should include selecting new members, and the public should pick them.
01:11Americans should decide the nation's heroes, not a president.
01:15Restoration would also attract more visitors to a working-class neighborhood and create new jobs and opportunities there.
01:21It's really the perfect project for Mayor Mondami and President Trump to team up on.
01:25A less expensive, more beautiful, and unifying Garden of Heroes, it would be the ultimate art of the deal.
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