The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-05-02
HOME NEIGHBORHOODS
Policy to Create and Protect Them
Should Be Followed by Every
City.
J. G. Nichols.


divisions by real estate men and
municipal authorities. The Kansas
City development has attracted wide
spread attention and favorable COM
ment, and purchasers of homes in the
tract welcome the manifold restric-
tons as being a valuable protection of
their best interests rather than an in
vasion OF their rights. All of this
gives added significance to the article
which fol1ows)
Exclusive Service The Survey Press
Bureau)
City planning in almost every phase
| of its wide modern meaning has TAX
| en- root in the public conscience. Yet
we have thus far done very little,
| as communities or as municipalities,
to properly create, safeguard and
guide the growth OF home neighbor-
hoods.
| Much has been written about the
proper regulation and construction of
streets for residence property; count
less laws have been passed relating
| to plumbing, the thickness OF walls,
hre-proofing and the character of
building materials; landscape engt-
neers have devoted their efforts to the
creation of beautiful drives and mag
| nificent parks for residence sections;
architects and artists have produced
beautiful Individual homes. But the
subdivfdfng of land for city purposes
| in practically all American cities Is
generally left to Nchance and private
and selfish interests City authorities
have to some extent made certain gem
era1 requirements as to a reasonable
continuity and regularity of streets;
| but little progress has been made to
| ward good planning of residential su0-
divisions.
It is easy enough for a real estate
man to> name his addition, file his
plat, stake his lots and advertise them
for sale to those who may wish to
| buy; but it. is g. more difficult mat
| ter to plan. not merely for today but
| for twenty-five years, the class of
shouses, their architectural design, dis
tance from the street, character of
their outbuiIdings, location of tele-
phone poles, location of churches and
| schools, provision of Fairgrounds,
4 open centers for flowers and shrub
berry, concealment of street car lines
| in parkway and erection OF suitable
| shelters along the route, decoration Of
| the streets with ornamental lights.
placing OF neighborhood stores In I'M
Objectionable points. selection of the
best type of street improvements for
residence streets, and the creation of
Icivic and local Improvement associa-
lions that will be sufficiently alert to
protect every restriction and keep alive
the interest and enthusiasm that exists
/ in the addition when new.
A few comparatively small, good
residence neighborhoods have been
provided IN every city by the ordinary
real estate Development. The period
over which the safeguards In these
tareaS extend is generally OF mere nom
| inal duration In proposition to the
life of the city, and covers only
small section. City control in resi-
dence neighborhoods practically ends
with the boundary lines Of the street
and the boulevard; and today, with
only an occasional exception, the in
dividua1 owner in our residence neigh
borhood does whatever he pleases up-
on the property which he owns, with
out regard to the interest of his
neighborhood or his community. The
welfare of all is disregarded. No van
DIAL ever wrought more havoc than the
residence sections of many American
cities today accept with complacency.
Often the majority of the population,
because Of the haphazard develop
ment of the city, may be found living
| in the most unhealthy sections of the
town, and may be breathing the most
| impure aid, and unconsciousIy the
health and joy OF living may be daily
and unnecessarily sacrificed to pre-
stunned commercial needs Little
| thought has been given to the creation
| of pleasant healthy residence neigh
borhoods. and the safeguarding of
these neighborhoods by the commun-
ity or the city itself, in accordance
with a broad, general plan as applied
| to the layout of the whole city. The
] factory, the railroad, the business,
house, first command the location
most desirable for their particular us
es. Even the wealthieSt men of the
city simply get ground what is left
for the home and the family
The remarkable fact is that nearly
everyone has come to feel that the
successive rise and decline of resi-
dence neighborhoods in our cities is
unavoidable; that the very location of
residence sections must be made sec
o1idard to every other interest of the
city. In the lack of proper centrol
of the laying out of residence Sec
lions, our country suStains a. financial
| loss of millions OF dollars annually to
the home owners by the decline and
shifting OF residence neighbour Gods.
To-day the home owner is generally
helpless to prevent the erection of an
undertaking establishment, or a laun-
| dry at his side, an unsdghtly rear of
| a. fiat at the corner of his block, the
| erection of tall warehouse protrud-
| ing to the very street line Beyond him
cutting off all air and sunshine from
| his family and children. To-day
houses may be built to the line of the
very hot, noisy, dusty street, and on
| lots no wider than the houses them
| selves.
| Rigid municipal control should be
employed in the exclusion of undesir-
able commercial uses of land within
| the territory set aside for residence
purposes. We should not chance the
surrounding of our homes to the pri-
vate and selfish interest of the real
estate speculator We should not hayz-
ard the environment and surroundings
| of our children to the mercenary in
! terest of the shifting ownerships of the
surrounding tracts of land. The
! fronting Of residences and placing of
outbuildings should be so regulated
as not to injure surrounding homes
! nor mar the appearance of a neigh
| borhood. Safeguards Of this sort
should not be confined to the residep-
| tial sections of the well to do APP
| piled to ighborhoods of workmen's
! cottages, they will prove just as great
a. benefit to the community and its
| health and happiness. Lands unde-