Evening star., 1927-10-27
CITY PLANNERS HIT
LACK OF FORESIGHT
THROUGHOUT EAST

Continued from First Page)
potentially a beautiful stream, WHICH
runs through the heart of the banking
district of Providence, Is nothing but
an open sewer. carrying sewerage
from the cities above.
Skyscrapers Increase.
Skyscrapers are going up in Provi-
dence at a rate which causes deep
emotion of one sort in the hearts OF
city boosters, but emotions of another
sort in the hearts of city planners
for skyscrapers mean congested traf-
fic, and Providence and Rhode Island
so far have been unable to adopt a
regional highway plan. So the metro
politan district Of Providence affords
striking illustration of the fact that
regional planning must be undertaken
from viewpoint that is comprehen.
sive, embracing not only the neces-
sity for parks, but Of highways, water
supply, sewerage dispOsal-in fact, all
of the problems which the individual
municipalities have solved in relation
to their own well-being, but without
thought to the other cities in the
immediate vicinity.
But. regardless of what it has in
some cases left undone, Providence
has not been behind in the matter
of parks. AS in Boston, visitors to
the American Civic Association
fact that Providence and Boston have
not contented themselves with
acquiring land for municipal park
development within the city limits,
but have gone far out of the city
limits to purchase such land. Bos-
tons 5,000-a3re Blue Hills Reserve
is one illustration, and others of the
same sort are afforded in Rhode Is
land. This had led to a natural COM
parison by those familiar with what
is going on in Washington to the
fact that until the establishment of
the National Capital Park and Plan
ming Commission little thought ap-
parently has been given by Congress
to acquiring while it can be acquired
land outside of Washington neces-
sary for the extension of its park
system into the bordering States of
Maryland and Virginia.
Held Urgent Need.
Even now the limited funds and
their manner of appropriation pre-
vents this.
But it is pointed out that even more
the Government to hold what it has
within the District, and to set about
purchasing in Washington now what
it must have within few years. Two
years ago a bill was introduced in
Congress for the sale of Fort Wash
ington and Fort Hunt, and although
these two items were stricken from
the bill, they were taken out only
when the unwisdom of the disposal
of these two valuable sites on the
Potomac River had been emphasized
by persons not in Congress.
Still later, Congress authorized in
the last session the sale of about Is
acres OF land between the Naval OBJ
servatOry grounds Massa chusetts
avenue, land from which few
thousand dollars may be realized, but
which, according to the experience of
other rapidly growing American com
munities, will be needed badly for
governmental use within a few years.
In addition, the Commissioners have
been authorized by Congress to dis
pose of the Industrial Home School
grounds. which lie between the Naval
Observatory and Wisconsin avenue,
and while the sale has not been made
there is nothing to indicate that it
will not.
The point empha sized by those at
tending this meeting who are familiar
with the situation in the District is
this: The plot of 10 acres may not be
suitable for a park, and there may be
no necessity for park in that area.
But in a few years that plot of ground
will be valuable as a site for some
Government building and Congress
will have to seek another. The In
dustrial Home School grounds are
considered valuable for their potential
use as q park or recreation area.
but ii is to be sold and lost forever
to the use of the city. The Navy De-
partment, which owns the 15-acre plot,
and the Board of Public Welfare, con-
trolling the Industrial Home School
grounds, have their own needs to look
out for, and neither can be blamed