The Washington herald., 1921-10-30
THINKS coming IS
INEVITABLE WITH
AMERICAN CITIES
1t Concerns Use and Con-
troll of Private Property
Plus Development.
RECREATION PLACES
Cites the New York Case AS
Example Of Present
Day Methods.
RECREATION PLACES

There are many phases OF city
planning. Everything that has 70
do with the physical makeup Of
the city Is part Of city planning"
says J. B. Ford In The Nstional
Real Estate Journal
That Is to say, the circulation
In the streets, trafic. transit. trans
portation by the railroads, develop
ment of the water front and water
transportation. parks. Fairgrounds
and places of resreation. and. to
certain extent. housing, the loca-
tion Of public buildings. civic CEN
tiers. local centers, and so forth. are
all parts OF 4 city plan.
There IL another side 10 Il. that
which concerns the control and use
OF private property and It's develop
ment, such As building codes, sani-
tary codes. tenement house and
housing laws. garage laws or
ordinances, billboard ordinances. .
control Of subdivisions. sncroaeh-
ments over streets. and 80 on, all
Of which Is vastly important.
7 think you realize the enor-
nous growth that city planning
has had In this country during the
last ten or fifteen years. particu-
larry. even during the last nve
years Whereas, ten or fifteen
years ago we hardly heard the
term. today there are literally hun
dreds of cities and towns that are
active in the work Of city planning.
City planning 10 not raising
taxes. am afraid some Of you
feel that city planning Is an ex-
pensive luxury and that II IL go
Ing TO cost q lot OF money. II does
not
city planning is q matter Of
avoiding expense and correcting
mistakes OF the past II II right
here In Chicago that the city plan
commission came out with q state
ment a while ago that during the
last nfty-odd years the amount Of
money that ha sheen spent by the
city OF Chicago in improvements
that have not looked Tar enough
ahead and have had to be strapped
is something like $3.50. 100000.
City planning IL the foreseeing
OF those difficulties. planning far
enough ahead so as to avoid the
larger part of that waste and to
correct the mistakes of the past.
1t Is good business sense.
In city planning We are trying
to give the visitor to the town a
bcNlcE lHnpEc5slOn- Dy Dy
thinking ahead OF how the stranger
Is going to view our town we can
so build up the interest Of that
town that strangers will come to
the town Of their own accord: in
other words, the town has got to
sell itself. and towns that have
spent money wisely in this connec-
ton have found that II has paid.
city planning Is vision. Mr..
George McInerney of New York.
when he, was president of the board
Of aldermen. took II into his head
that II would be a good thing for
the city to remove the encroach-
ments over the streets. on Fifth
avenue. 42d street, and other
streets, and when he started in to
do IL he found enormous opposition.
However. he had the courage
of his convictions. went ahead and
removed those entertainments at no
cost whatsoever to the city, and,
today those very same owners have
come to him. almost without ex-
Ception, and told him that is one
of the finest things that has ever
been done.
City planning has been divided
into two main parts, the develop
ment of public property and cir
culstion of public utilities. and the
control Of the use Of private prop
erty. and the latter covers from
two-thirds to three-fourths of the
total area Of the city or town.
''zoning Is inevitable. 1t Is bound
to come. II is so logical and rea-
sonable that 1t must come sooner
or later. Zoning ordinances are
going to be Just as common as
building codes. or sanitary codes
within a comparatively short time,
and Someone has got to take the
initiative in getting IL started.
Whoever does II Is going to ac-
.quire glory for doing II, and you
are the logical people to undertake
It. That glory may just as well
be yours as someone else's
"Zoning cannot be done in most
cities without its being done with |
permission of the State Iegisla-
lures In other words, most of |
our States particularly east of the
Mississippi and north of the Mason
and Dixon line have already passed |
zoning enabling acts, permitting
cities and towns and even villages |
to create coming ordinances, and In l
most States you have all the power
you need to zone. The recent zon-
ing enabling acts are copstda-