Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1910-01-29
PLANNING OF TOWNS
Some of the Needs That Must Be
Considered.

COnSIQeTeO.
STYLE OF STREET IMPORTANT
No Curved Thoroughfares In Business
Centers and No Straight Ones In
Residential Sections-How Germans
Plan Cities.
erick Law Olmsted, Jr., a son of Amer
icas greatest landscape architect, said
that our city and town planning ordi-
narily aims at making new streets
connect with older ones so as to form
continuous lines of travel and to make
them wide enough to avoid congestion
OF traffic. He said this led to Il me
chemically standardized arrangement
of streets and blocks with uniform,
straight streets covering the whole or
most OF the town. This leads to THE
concentration OF street traffic upon
limited number of streets, causing dan
ger of serious congestion and incon-
venicnce" unless such traffic is provid-
ed for.
Many will take issue with Mr.. Ohm
Sted in his general statements, for all
that he first said goes for naught in
face of unless provided for In resi-
denCe sections we need and should
have streets laid out on anything but
straight lines. but there are more than
the residence parts III every city and
town that have to be 'provided for.
and not the least of these is caring for
business traffic in an economic manner
considcrat ion hat necessarily excludes
the aesthetic What we must have
in business centerS are new streets
connecting with older ones to afford
continuous lines of travel" We also
need uniform straight streets and
mechanically standardized arrangement
of streets and blocks" Business de
mands it. We further need "Concch-
tration of street traffic upon limited
number of thoroughfarcs. but we
should provide these of sufficient width
and OF such substantial surface that
they would fully satisfy all demands
upon them.
No one more fully believes in the
city beautiful movement than the
writer: no one diSlikeS straight lines
and square corners more, but we must
not have curved streets in business
centers The plans for the improve
ment of the business portion of Los
Angeles by Charles milford Robinson
provided fer straight streets only and
aimed to have all beautiful by reason
of simplicity and fully meeting all
the requirements of traffic. The prep
err planning of the business sections
and the proper planning of the resi-
dencc portions OF any city or town are
two distinct though not necessarily
separate problems.
Now that nearly all of our cities
and towns in southern California have
effectively tackled the planting of
street trees those most % the fore will
be looking to the next step toward the
ideal. AS to what this step will be is
briefly outlined in letter lately re
ceivcd from J. ii. Reed of Riverside,
Cal. He writes: Now that the prob
lem of we'll planted streets is nearing
solution We must look TO further i'm
provcmcnt of our city. If your city
beautiful experts did not cost so much
we could get you to plan or suggest
block bcautifur system of landscape
improvement or, better still, provide
for carrying out a scheme of embel-
liShment and improvement for Il whole
street.
Even if we have to pay fat fees
the cost would fall so lightly on each
individual owner that every one could
find out how best to improve his yard
so that it would be attractive in it
self and harmonic with the whole
scheme"
The city or town first to adopt this
method OF making the city beautiful
both as a whole and in every detail
will not be able to hide her light I'M
der a l.lshel." but would soon become
famous for her unusual beauty both at
home and abroad.
The five most important points OBJ
tanned by the German system of city
or town planning are thus summed up
by Mr.. OlmSted, who last year visited
Europe for the purpose of studying
city planning:
FirSt-A reasonably good provision
Of main thoroughfaresti we'll planned
and we'll equipped.
Second.-An increasingly liberal and
equitable distribution of small parks
and Fairgrounds as we'll as numerous
small interesting squares.
Third-A good distribution of excel
lent public building sites, and on many
Of them some very interesting public
buildings.
Fourth.-Eyery notable facilities for
commercial ard manufacturing dis
tricts in connection with water fronts
and railways. When the city plan
LAYS out a district with a special view
to manufacture it does not Just cut it
up into the standard streets and blocks
and then leave the railways, the man
ufacturers and transfers to struggle
with the transportation problem. but
begins by laying out the necessary
rights of way for the railroad facili-
ties and provides long rows of fac
tory sites, with railroad SidingS on one
side and streets on the other.
Fifth. of the newer
districts in less crowded and much
more homogeneous manner than in the
past