Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
In the Motor World
BY q. ADAMS HOWARD.

! ing possibilities today. We find,
first of all, that many cities have
on their books old-faShiored zon-
ing rules which will not permit a
garage in certain business areas
because of the supposed fire risk
or in certain residential areas be-
cause of the theoretical hazard
to property values The under
| lying reason for these require
mentS is that they were put on
the statute books at time when
| the garage was usually a made
over stable, unattractive in ap-
| pearance and poorly designed.
Real estate men are finding
| these laws nuisance with respect
to residential sections because it
is difficult to rent apartments in
regions where there is no nearby
garage accommodation. These
coming laws could properly be re-
modelled to permit modern park
ing hotels to be erected under
proper specifications.
Oid-FashiOned Specifications.
"The specifications which are on
SAAS o1dJuOC DOOho III ltldily N1D1Co
with respect to garages are of a
nuisance nature and not practical.
1t is reasonable to require certain
standards with respect to at
Effectiveness of architecture. It is
proper to have fireproof construc-
ton, but the requirements for
double-thicknesS walls and other
arbitrary standards are not es-
Sential. I would suggest that a
committee of engineers of the
building industries draw up set
of standards which could be con-
Sidered reasonable, reaching an
agreement with the engineers of
the larger cities.
Where Garages Are Needed.
1--WE have reached the point of
American city progress, however,
where it is not enough to rely
upon chance enterprise for the
building of motor terminals. We
do not think of tolerating con-
dition where toll roads would be
privately operated and laid out
according to the whim of an in
dividual builder. Our streets in
every city are laid out with re-
Spect to some kind of a plan,
however meager, and usually &C
cording to some plan which has
been developed at a great deal of
thought and expense. These
streets are built fer the use of
transportation, and yet we are
leaving to chance the entire QueS-
ton of where vehicles may stop
when they are not in movement.
1t is possible for the merchants
and other public spirited citizens
in every community to get to-
gether with the Department of
public works and the city plan
commission to lay out those
points in the city which need
garage accommodation.
Financing Discussed.
"The public has always resented
the restriction of the parking use
of the street, even for a limited
period of time, in order that
private garage operators might
prosper. It is probably more econ
omical for every one concerned
to have cars stored in designated
parking areas, except when max
ing short stops, than to have
them using street space. AS soon
as we see the problem as a COM
parison between street space and
storage space we begin to recog-
nize that the storage problem is
an entirely public one and one in
which the municipality Is in
! evitably concerned.
eff the all-day parker were
compelled to go to municipal
garage, even If he paid a small
fee, he would not have a ground
for complaint because the revenue
would come back to him indirectly
in his function as taxpayer. j. G..
Mckay, director of traffic in
Cleveland, said at the recent
meeting of the United States
Chamber of Commerce that park
ing space in back-lot areas at
municipal cost may come to be
recognized as much a municipal
job as the building of four-lane
streets.
Life of Car Is Aided.
1T may be that municipal
ownership and operation of park
ing garages would not be the
ideal method in many situations.
1t might be preferable to have
these enterprises operated by con-
cesSionaires with profits return
able to the city. Under such cir
cumstanceS the business ability Of
the concessionaire often makes
that type of management more
profitable for all concerned than
municipal management. The es-
sential point in the situation is
that retail trade, industry and the
general public have a definite
stake in seeing that there are
parking accommodations avail
able at minimum cost"
The subject should be investi-
gated thoroughly. No one should
be made to suffer because he or
she cannot find a garage. The
cost of keeping a car in a garage
might be more than Offset by the
added life of the automobile then
under protection from the ele-
ments.
W L