Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1915-06-09
President of Local Commission
Delivers Address at De-
troit Convention.
Special to the Evening Star.

Special to the Evening Star.
DETROIT. Mich, June 9.-Auslen
Fl. McGregor, president of the city
Plan Commission of Newark, n. j.,
was one of the principal speakers at
the convention of the National Con-
ference on City Planning mere touay.
He told of the work accompllshe0 py
the Newark commission and outlined
the work to be done
His speech is as follows:
The topic suggests a flelu Wnlch
is without precedent, IIelu VI I'M I'M
itless activity and untiring elIort
upon which depends the successlul
preparation and presentation OF the
citv plans. From inception the city
planning agency ana those gotilieJsoo sse,..,s
with il are usually on the defensive
either because of lack of knowledge
or a complete misunderstanding upon
the part of the citizen public, or 1all-
ure of the citizen public to divorce
city planning from politics. To dis
pei these two clouds of doubt and IN
decision is the first, the most I'M
iportant and the most dlfflcuH step
in the creation and maintenance OF
the city planning agency. mere IS
the rock upon which many well IN
tentions have foundered. In fact,
successful city planning depends en-
tirely upon whether the plan once de-
vised is honest, practical Wen pre-
sented and well understood.
ITO remove the first difficulty. e..
lack of knowledge or misunderstand-
ing-is the easier of the two. by
means nf a proper publicity cam
paign and a plan so presented as 10
be thoroughly understood and so IN
telligible as to preclude petty crit1-
cisms, it should be possible to accom-
plish this end. To convince the cltl-
zen public that the city plan has TO
do with the physical rather than the
political future welfare of the city is
not SO easy a task. Its accomplish
ment depends greatly upon the cnar-
acter of the city planning agency,
the personnel of the membership ana
their general attitude toward PROB
lens of civic Importance. Further
more, it must be self-evident that the
plan is a vital necessity, that 1t is
founded upon facts which are well
known rather than upon supefn-
cial knowledge of general conditions;
and, lastly, the ends which the plan
aims to attain must JUSTIFY the means
of accomplishment. To successfully
do these things, and to show that the
plan is an imperative part of the city
all municipal ills is to make Tor
eventual success
Creation of City Planning Agency.
serhere should be an act of the
LEGISLATURE in every State makins
mandatory the creation OF city Plan
ming agencies. This means wide
spread activity with broad results.
TO make the creation of city PLAN
ming agency permissive means lack
of response in many instances, chiefy
because of lethargy or ignorance, al.
though its practice may be OF vital
Importance.
.The city planning agency should
consist of not less than five nor more
than seven members in cities navlnF
a population of 100000, and of three
to five members in cities and towns
under 100, 900. For effective work 1t
is essential to have small board.
Citizens and officials may be added
as advisory members only If larger
membership is desired. An agency OF
five members could well consist OF the
CITY engineer and one other repre-
sentative city official, for instance, a
member of the Board of Estimate,
Common Council, City Commission or
similar body, the other three mem
bers to be citizens of the highest re-
pute, preferably representative
business man, physician and an
architect or lawyer. Much depends
upon the personnel of the agency.
and the decision of the board VIII
carry much more weight if they are
free from suspicion of political bias.
City planning demands expert ad-
ministration. There should be at the
command of the board expert. ad-
visers having wide experience IN
engineering, in architecture and in
publicity. The office force, according
to the size of the municipality and
the character of it's problems. should
be trained to render the necessary
services along these three lines.
Powers of City Planning Agency.
"The powers of city planning
agency can be divided under two
headings:
"d-Those which are subject to
the veto of the executive governing
body.
ommendatory.
"Since the city planning agency is