National Mall Redesign Could Seriously Restrict Free Speech By Scott Thill, AlterNet Posted on February 27, 2008, Printed on February 27, 2008 http://www.alternet.org/story/77799/ The National Park Service (NPS) is planning to redesign the heavily trafficked National Mall -- the sprawling open area between the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol that has become America's iconographic site of popular protest.