Evening star., 1927-05-29

The public must determine whether
it prefers shade trees along the streets
or free storage for automobiles. Inc
time Is coming when it Is Impossible
to have both and the relative adVan-
tages and disadvantages of both should
be given careful consideration.
Every one admits that the streets
OF the city are provided, at the cost
of all the taxpayers, primarily for pur-
poses of trafic-that is. to get about
freely from one place to another.
The custom has arisen, however, of
using a portion of each street for
storing or keeping private property
| for indefinite periods of time. This
practice continues until public protest
| is made.
| 1t is not SO many years ago, and
| still within the memory of the oldest
| inhabitants, when our broad streets
were cluttered up with more or less
temporary outbuildings, merchandise
and packing boxes. The family wash
was commonly hung on the broad
parking spaces and all OF the opera
tions Of building or storing building
materials were carried on In the
streets. The public after much dis
comfort was finally aroused to the
point where not only We're the grazing
horses, cattle and pigs excluded from
| the streets, but even the building
materials were kept on private prop
| erty, and the family wash relegated
| to the back yards-this being the
subject Of much newspaper comment
at the time.
| Now has come the time when still
| further step is demanded, namely,
| that the vehicles, trucks and auto
mobiles, not in active use, should
also be relegated to private property
or back yards. There is no longer
adequate space for traffic on many
of the streets if vehicles are allowed
to remain indefinitely occupying the
paved right-of.way.
The cost to the public Of the oc-
cupation of the paved portion OF the
street for storage. more or less tenn
| porary, of vehicles Is reckoned at
from 25 cents to so cents per day
| that is, taking into account the cost
Of the pavement. it's maintenance and
all Of the other items. the cost OF
which must be paid directly or In
directly by the taxpayers. In other
words, the taxpayer furnishes TINS
free storage space under the assump..
ton that 1t Is for the greatest good
1
no longer sufficient space, and the
next proposition Is to cut down the
trees along the streets so that they
car be widened and more free storage
space provided for automobiles. There
| is no doubt that on some through
streets this Is necessary, but having
once started on this program OF cut
ting down the shade trees, the ques-
| ton is where it will stop.
1t is true that the public legally has
no control of the matter. The Con-
gress, in it's wisdom and without con-
sulting the public. may order the
| trees and sidewalks removed. Re-
cent instances have shown how easy
it is for one or two members OF Con-
gress to bring about these changes
for the benefit of few friends or in
terested parties. This tendency can
be checked only by public outcry and
even then it may not be effective un-
less some alternative scheme Is pro-
posed. Such a scheme is merely car
rying out the precedents established
through the past generation of NOV
ing the storage of junk, building ma
terial and the family wash from the
front parking space to the back yard.
1t is notable that In laying out the
city Of Washington. many Of the
blocks were so planned as to have
large back yards-so large. In fact, that
tenant houses by the score have been
built in the interior of these blocks
to- degree that they have become
a menace to the health and welfare
of the city. Congress has legislated
against these alley, houses, but most
of them still remain.
| y \ \
Suppose that Congress takes still
one further step and permits the con.
demnation or encourages the purchase
Of these alley houses or vacant spaces
cluttered with shanties and junk, and