Evening star., 1925-06-07
PLANS ALL-YEAR
CARE FOR PARKS
Col. Sheriff. Intends to Keep
Men at Work on Grounds
Continuously.

SOittiiiuOlOiJs
establishment OF a permanent force
ol employees to look after the care
ana maintenance of the parks and
parkWays OF the city is being planned
by Lieut.. Col. Clarence o, Sheriff.,
director Of public buildings and public
parks or the National Capital. Such
a permanent force will be composed
OF men who can be kept all year. and
VIII De thoroughly experienced in the
methods OF keeping the public parks
In the best Of shape
ihls IS one of the efficiency moves
"hlch has grown out OF the consoIi-
datlon OF the old Offices OF public
buildings and grounds and the super
lnlendent OF the State. War and NAVY
Eulldlng into the present office OF pub
nc buildings and public parks of the
National Capital. and is in line with
the Idea or the President so to ar
range projects to reduce seasonal en-
ployment and provide employment for
WofkInen the year round
Under the methods which have been
IN use up TO this time it has been
necessary TO employ a very large
Iorce 10 care for and maintain the
hundreds OF acres Of parks in this cirv
| duFlhG the Summer period. let them
go IN the Fall for about four months.
and then attempt to recruit anotbar
large force the following Summer.
This was not considered an efficient
| practice, and Col. Sheriff. will At
tempt 10 avoid this in the future and
is so arranging the projects for which
ne has appropriations this wear that
those which do not require immediate
attention during the Spring and sum
ner months will he looked after in
the FAN and Winter with the stable
! maintenance force. In other words
they will have all year empIoynenf
instead Of being without work in the
public parks for four months. With
the provision Of such force II will
| be possible TO organize it with men
VINO Will know the public parks work
| here thoroughly
VIII Improve Rock Creek.
One OF the first large projects which
Will be used TO keep this force 10
| gether will be that of the Rock Creek
| and Potomac Parkway: that is. that
! section Of Rock Creek Valley vet un-
/ improved from the Connecticut Ave
| nue. Bridge TO the Potomac River.
| Although the land for this project
| mas been acquired. practically no at
| tention has been given TO it until this
year when $40 900 was obtained, which
| becomes available July l.
| II Is the plan of Col. Sheriff. to use
! about $4,000 of this amount to clean
| up this large section and make il as
| slightly as possible and use the re
! naming $4,000 for the building of
| concrete road, the first installation of
which will begin at the Connecticut
| Avenue Bridge end to ioin with the
/ present roads in the upper end of the
| park As there is no particular hurry
! ABOUT this project at this time, the
! work. according to present plans. will
not be started until late in the Fall.
! ana then. instead of the discharge of
| a large part of the employees. thev
VIII be turned toward the work Of
cleaning up this section of the valley
/ ana putting in the roadwayS The
/ money available will not be sufficient
! 10 build A roadway for the entire
! length of this project but it will be
carried as far as possible
II IS the ultimate idea to have A
road on either side of the creek in the
valley and another road in either side
| OF the rim of the valley. and the de-
! tailed plans for this project will be
! carried forward as quickly as possible.
| Ihere are a number of other proi.
| ects which now are receiving the al
| tentlon of the public buildings and
PAL Ms once lot winch money will be
| come available on JULY /. and. il is
said, ali of these are being considered
| In connection with the idea of so ar:
ranging them that the work may be
spread out through the entge year
Money for Bridges
The roads and bridges in Rock Creek
Park also are to receive some atten-
! ton during the fiscal wear which he
gins I1lIN- / A h..
| priation of $4,000 becomes available
for widening the roads and bridges In
the park. This is the first year thar
such an appropriation has been OBJ
| talned, and II is expected it will be
| followed each year by additional ap.
preparations to carry out a complete
ana general scheme for this work
which has been mapped out in great
detail by Col. Sheriff.. The roads in
this park We're practically all built
before automobiles came into use. and
/ the result is that they are all so mar
row as to be really dangerous, accord
| Ing to Col. Sheriff.. The object of the
appropriation, he said, is to widen
those bridges and to widen some of
the most dangerous parts of the roads
on the sharp angle. 1t is expected
however. that much of this work. so
far as possible, will be deferred until
the Fall and Winter months. so that
the permanent force may be kept To-
gether. Furthermore. to start anv Of
TINS work Immediately might make a
bad situation more difficult. as It might
tend TO retard traffic on the ALREADY
narrow places. owing to the heavy au-
tomobile movement which these roads
bear a this time of the year. 1t can
be better done during the Winter when
the traffic is comparatively light.
Plans also are being formulated for
| the construction of a tourist house in
| the tourist camp in East Potomac
| Park. The money for this becomes
| available after July l. and plans now
are being prepared for it. although II
has not vet been decided. according 70
| Maj. j. c. Mehaffey, just what type of
| house will be placed there. However.
| ii is to have many conveniences for
| the tourist. such as an assembly
/ place, showers, etc. and every possi-
| bic comfort that can be contained with
in the limits of the appropriation out
| of which also must come money for re-
! placing the present cinder roads there
with fine concrete roadways, water
| lines, etc.
The plans for widening the inlet
! bridge on the Georgetown channel
! side of Potomac Park are about ready.
! and bids will soon be asked for It's
| construction out of an appropriation
of $4,000. This bridge bears very
heavy two-way traffic and is at the
/