The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1920-02-25
City Planning is
Discussed by Kiwanis

arrangement of Fairgrounds and play
| facilities. They should be establish
ed before it is necessary to demolish
buildings and destroy costly improve
ments. The view that the streets are
good enough for the boys and girls to
play in is absolete. 1t is dangerous
and may be costly in life. The street
becomes veritable school of crime,
In,making a Study Of the juvenile
court records of the city of Cleve-
land, Ohio, found that those records
were a nearly accurate barometer of
the city's play ground facilities. In
the section from which the greatest
number Of Juvenile offenders come
the city had only one playground and
| that ground accommodated only 1919
of the juvenile population of the
section. Statistics from Chicago
show that playground can be de-
pended upon in a radius of one mile
to reduce juvenile crime by % 1-2
per cent. Boston studied the problem
and found that it could keep normal
boy in school twelve years for $500.
On the other hand it required $400 to
maintain him in the state Reform
school. Fairgrounds are a good bust
ness proposition, are they not? Let
his city grow to large industrial
city and neglect it's schools and play
grounds and we will be building
hospitals and jails and graduating
Boys and girls into the State peniten-
siary who ought to become the indus
trial and civic leaders of the COM
munity.
Play is an instinct and normal men
and women need it as we'll as boys
and girls. What the playground is
to the child the park is to the adult.
The park must be an integral part of
the city's recreational system. John
Nolen, city planning expert says that
every city should have one acre of
park area for every two hundred
persons.
The logical and natural place for
Maryville's parking system can be
determined by study of topograpi
cal industrial and residence condi
tions, but / venture the suggestion
chat the city can not afford to allow
the valley between the main part of
town and the college becoming any
hing but park. The building of
factories, for instance, in this section
would be detrimental to town and
college, but from the beauty stand
point and the congestion to which the
development of factories in that To-
cality would lead.
There are still other problems o.
recreation and amusement to which
the city must give attention. During
the last two years we have seen the
evil effects of the neglect of our
civic and community training. | have
no quarrel withsthe picture show, for
it can be an influence for good as
well as for evil, but that it has nearly
replaced the community hall and
community gathering is well known
fact. Wherever population has in
creased it has been on the job and
long before any other recreationa'
facilities have been thought of. In
the district of Cleveland, of which l
spoke few minutes ago, which con-
tanned only one playground and
practically no community gathering
facilities we found that the people
were spending at the picture shows
33 cents per capita per week. In
stances like this of large cities ought
to challenge the thought and energy
of young and growing city.
Whether the need now exists for
larger system of school grounds, a
central city high school, p9rk
system, it is imperative that the
growing city should look forward to
their establishment in proper rela-
tions to each other, which will give
beauty, convenience and usefulness to
the city.
We have a common ideal in this
city, whether we are business men or
representative of other lines of
work. That ideal is a larger and
better Maryville. The first step to-
ward city plan is to have a vision.
Let this be our vision--a city, built
in business-like manner for beauty
and for usefulness and with an indi-
viduality distinctly it's own