Evening star., 1921-06-15

sion has made it's report to Congress.
The Focht bill. authorizing exten,
sion Of 14th street. which is Identical
with Senate bill 1885. introduced by
Senator Ball. provides that when It
shall be opened to traffic to the south
boundary Of the hospital grounds. the
control and jurisdiction of that por-
tion Of the street within the grounds
shall Immediately pass to the Com
missioners of the District. the grade
through the grounds. however. to be
subject to the approval of the Secre-
tary Of War.
Expect Large Attendance.
1nasmuch as several citizens asso-
Citations have gone on record favoring
extension of 14th street through the
hospital grounds to the District line,
It Is expected the hearing to be con-
will attract q large attendance. All
persons interested are invited to at
tend. The commission prefers that
views be presented in writing. and
that a copy be furnished 1t for use in
Preparing its report. but oral State
ments also will be welcomed.
Members Of the Maryland delegation
in Congress are manifesting much inter-
est in the proposal to close 18th street.
believing that such action would retard
seriously development of that section Of
Maryland adjoining the District on the
north. Residents Of Takoma Park. Md,
have signed q petition protesting against
the proposed closing Of the street, which
Senator Weller and Representative Zihl-
man of Maryland will present to the
Senate and House District committees
Citizens Adopt Report.
Reaffirming its former position, the
Sixteenth Street Heights Citizens Asso-
citation last night unanimously protested
against any action by Congress which
would stop 18th street at its point Of
intersection with the hospital reserva-
ton. A report from a special commit
tee, headed by S. D. Grove. was adopted
It says. in part:
THE said bill (providing for closing
all streetan including 14th street. in
the Walter. Reed Hospital grounds)
among other things calls for the clos
ing Of that portion OF 14th street now
lying between Alaska avenue on the
north and the present Walter Reed
Hospital grounds on the south. This
the streets entering the city from the
north Of 18th street and Georgia ave-
nue.. Congress has recently taken ac-
tion to enlarge the hospital grounds
to the north and the said land Is now
in the process Of being taken over oy
north of this land is the subdivision
known as 18th Street Heights and a
tract extending therefrom to Kaln1ia
road on the north, that Is soon to be
subdivided. comprising in all about nine
hundred large lots suitable .for ana
tached houses Of a good class. A
large number of these lots have been
sold to individuals for the purpose Of
erecting homes thereon, with the un-
derstanding that 18th street was to
be extended through the said sub
division to the District line. In ac-
cordance with the plan OF tho pexma-
nent system of highways OF tho Dis
trict of Columbia. approved by act
of Congress and referred to in Senate
street. Closing this section. therefore.
would be q direct violation Of the said
plan and would cut of and isolate
this large section and deprive prop
erty owners therein Of the use Of the
said section Of 18th street and tho
we are informed. the Capital Trac-
tion Company stands ready to extend
as soon as 14th street is extended by
act Of Congress as provided for in
the said Senate bill No. 1856.
Property Owners' Rights
'The said property owners are le-
use Of both the street and car linea
PaasaSe Of tho said bill 1873 in it's
present form would deprive them
Of these rights without any advan-
tase! accruinE- to anybody. In fact.
it would be positive disadvantage
to the hospital. as the car line is
necessary to tho comfort and con-
sonnel and the visitors thereto, both
of which will undoubtedly be largely
increased by the proposed enlarge
ment Of the hospital.
Passage of the bill in its present
form would retard the growth and
the hospital. while the extension of
14th street and the car line would
soon result in the building up to its
capacity limit Of tho said section
and corresponding increase in tax
able value.
Concerning the second point Of pro-
at present in any formj, it may be be
said that a large part OF, the pro-
posed addition to the hospital
grounds has been involved in con-
proceedings for some time
and may be involved in such litiga-
tion for a long time in the future.
1t is also understood that an addi-
tional appropriation by Congress will
be necessary before the land can be
taken over. as the property owners
have the right Of possession until
they receive their money. A number
of the property owners are now occupy
ing their homes until the settlement is
made. Closing these streets at pres
ent would, therefore, deprive these
people OF the, right Of ingress and
egress to and from their homes to
which they are by law entitled.
1T is further Of no advantage to
the hospital to have these streets
closed prior to the acquiring by the