Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1921-10-01
SOME TYPICAL RESULTS
OF CITY MANAGER PLAN

The city which first made the COM
mission-manager plan famous is Day
ton, 0. When the first Dayton COM
missioners took office in 1914, they
realized that the success of the new
government depended largely upon
the personality and equipment O.
the man whom they would select t.
fill the City Managership. The ioL-
was offered to Colonel Goethals, the
builder of the Panama Canal, at S25,.
900 year. He declined. The commits
sion then discovered II. NJ. Waite, o..
Cincinnati, and right hand man 0:
young Mayor Hunt, whose briIian
reform administration there was jus
closing. Waite had a long and I'm
portant engineering experience. III
refused an. offer of $4,000 a yea.
from a private corporation, and tool
the Dayton managership at S12,500.
During the next seven years tn
new government reduced the death
rate and infant mortality; inaugural;
ed free nursing, medical service ant
clinics; and extended food inspection
passed pasteuriZation ordinance; eli
minated seven thousand dry vaults:
substituted correction farm for work
house; abolished prison contract Ia
Dor; established parole system; en-
larged Summer and Winter recraa-
ton program; supervised over five
thousand vacant lot, home, school.
and boys and girls gardens, furnish
ing free seed; increased park area
from twenty to five hundred and forty
one acres; increased public charities;
inaugurated free legal aid bureau
handling one thousand cases q year:
eliminated eleven loan shark COM
panies; operated free employment Du-
reaH for women; reorganized police
and fire departments; established
training schools, and members incor
poratcd an educational society; or
ganizcd crime prevention bureau and
juvenile police; employed police wo-
men; abolished segregated district;
motorized all fire apparatus; passed
building code and provided inspec-
ton of buildings, sanitation and
smoke prevention; established eight
hour day for all city labor; construct
ed sclf-supporting garbage disposal
plant; bought water supply and lands
for $4,000 as against an earlier bid
four times as high and gave abund-
ant supply 70 rthc first time; cpcrat-
cd a municipal garage; saved several
hundred thousand dollars per yca-
to gas consumers by securing univer-
sal natural gas at 34c instead of arti-
fical gas at Soc; contracted for bet
ter street lighting at lower rates de-
spite modern costs; provided ace
quate budget procedure; central pur-
chasing; central billing; reduced float
ing debt from Sl25.000 to $4,000 first
year; put civil service on honest ba-
sis; provided annual audit of &C
counts; publicity on all city matters;
appointed city plan commission and
numerous other citizen advisory
boards; fostcred civic music league:
published $4,000 annual reports, an
nually distributing same to all homes
Norfolk, Va, (pop. 115,7TD haC
doubled its population suddenly dur
ing the war yet the new government
dating from September, 1915, reduced
the inherited deficit $2,000,OO0, added
$l,500,OOO of public improvements.
made the police and fire departments
the best paid in the country, estab-
lished juvenile court, employed
visiting nurses, opened free medical
and dental clinics, and established d
city hospital. Through cooperation
between the city-planning commission
and the citizens, a street extension
project which would ordinarily have
cost the city $250,000, was completed
for $4,000. A 50-acrc water front
age worth S750,000 was acquired for
S25O,000. Fourteen new Fairgrounds !
were opened and recreation develop |
cd for adults. municipal tennis |
tournament. Infant mortality was
radically reduced Taxes reduced 80 |
cents on the 500.
Wheeling, W. Va, (pop. 54,322N |
adopted the plan in 1917. and when
the first manager died In 1919, this
was what they said of his regime:
Raised al! wages of all city employees
Saved $4,000 by combining Jobs |
Motorized the fire department. Wiped |
out the red light district and gambl- |
ing Gave city new electric light !
system without extra cost. Negotat- |
cd new contracts that saved the city |
SO, 500 on gas and $4,000 on clectra.
city per year. Made the traction CON-