Norwich bulletin., 1922-04-11
uEGEs ccnMuNlTY SPIRIT
 TO KEEP CITY BEAUTIFUL

Billbcaids in city and country, un- | slightly roof signs on city property, | and inconsruous buildings erected in | city neighbofhoods came in for con demnation by albert S. Bard of New | York, native of this city, who spoke l Monday night before the meeting of the Art stu itHts association in Siater hall annex ifr Bard's subject WAS Community Splrit which he applied es- peclally to !be natter of the appedr- ance of a city.
 The meeting was open to the pub lie by invitation and Mir. Bad was introduced to the good sized audience by Ozias Dodge, who referred to the | great interest that all have in the beauty and welfare of their own city. | In his opening words Mir Bard spoke of the pleasure it gave him to meet so many old friends and others who seemed like friends to him be- cause he saw in their faces the re- lsemblances to friends of another gen l eration that he had known. Commit nity spirit, he said, was not a new Eh.iS. Pr imitive man showed it in tbe tribal spirit. It all grows experience. We want something and we find we can get it by clubbing together Com munity spirit can be shown by our interest in streets. lights, stNyacs, fire
 
 pearance of our city. There Is a real obstacle, though, in the right of the owner of private real estate to do with 1t cS he pleases. About all he car not GC with 1t is to crsa.s 3 nuisance by his use of it. We have laws to protect against offensas tC our ears and noses but nothing tx protect our eyes. So we see a beau tiful grand place cut up an cheap, un- suitable places built upon and tn,
 community is helpless against this
 Municipal beauty is a real municipa asset, neighborhood beauty is neighborhoed asset It comes bac., il dollars and cents in both instances
 We call in experts for other kind
 or work but anybody is good enougl to tell how a city ought to look
 The worst sinner against the beaut, ot city Is the one who puts up a build ing without grace. Money and beaut, are not the same thing. It is the effort t be pretentious that spells it's all Gu lovely New England towns give a back ground of quiet dignity that is wonder ful if it could be let alone. but inconeruit in building is the bane of the small tow and of all the incongruous things tn
 worst is the billboard that fills up spot in the landscape with advice as t
 what we shall eat, wear, smoke an, chew.
 MT. Bard advanced the proposition tha the people who perpetuate these offens [ es to good taste are treading on our toes for there is a common patrfmony
 neighbcrhood patrimony. even in privaf
 property. The courts, however have no
 in the past backed up this public -spiri: ed point of view. but there is a changin
 sentiment along this line that. is rapidl crystallizing and the beginnings ar
 creacdng in He spoke of roof signs . unsightly as well as being fire hazard. and said that rural communities have tw
 remedies that they can apply against tn bill board in the application of taxatio
 and the boycott of the advertised ar r ticle.
 We should think. said Mir. Bard i
 closing, that New England towns of a
 places. ought to show community spiri t Why not have renaissa nee of that ol spirit that once certainly used to dive in our New England towns? Such alway ? comes through the work of one person c : at most small group. Why not ou s town?
 r Mir. Bard is an ex-president and d !, rector of the Municipal Art society New York and has been for some wear , treasurer of the Fine Arts Federations l group of sixteen art societies in Ne e York