Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-26
SPACE FOR PARKING
INSIDE BUILDINGS
is URGED IN REPORT
Park and Planning Group
Also Would Encourage
Private Garages.
FEDERAL LEADERSHIP
IN PROBLEM SOUGHT
Government Is Given Double Re-
sponsibility to Meeting Needs
for Traffic.

Limited parking in downtown Wash
ington and encouragement OF private
investors to set up parking garages are
suggested in the annual report of the
National Capital Park and Planning
Commission, made public today, in urg-
ing that Uncle Sam lead the way by
providing parking areas within Govern
ment buildings.
Future public buildings in the tri-
angle should embrace adequate parking
facilities, in the opinion Of the COM
mission, as the Bureau of Internal Rev.
enue and the new Department OF Com
merce Buildings do not
1.-THE best way to provide for the ex-
tensive daytime storage of automobiles
in d business district appears to be in
multistory garages, of which numerous
ingenious and economic types have been
and are being developed in many Ameri-
can cities, both as Independent plants
and as part of Office buildings" the
report says.
Recommendations Made.
In making its recommendations on
this phase of city planning, the COM
mission urged:
In Washington, there should be
agreement upon, and persistent adher-
ance to, a self-consisterlt and far
sighted policy, or group, OF correlated
policies, by the several agencies OF
Government responsible in various ways
for the handling of automobile storage
in the principal business district, in
Guiding the District Commissioners and
the once of Public Buildings and Pub
lie Parks as concerned with parking
regulations, the Public Buildings Com
mission and, in the last analysis,
Congress
Such a policy or group of policies
should probably be controlled by recog-
milton Of the following principles
It is not legitimate permanent
function Of public streets and parks to
provide storage for vehicles when not
in use for transportation.
The policy of progressively and per-
sistently increasing the stringency OF
restrictions upon the free storage OF
vehicles in the streets and parks should
be so clear, and so firmly established
that fear of competitive free storage
provided by public authorities at the
expense Of the general tax payers Will
not deter investors from providing con-
venient and economical storage places
on private property in the business
district at charges commensurate with
the cost of the services, and with the
values of the service to those who use it..
SHOulu EIOtIuC SpdCCs
The Government, in its capacity of
builder and operator of Office buildings,
should, as q part of its office building
program, provide reasonable amount
of cubic feet of building space adapted
to the daytime storage of automobiles
Of the occupants of its Office buildings.
This storage, except in the case OF
oficial cars, should be provided only on
the basis of a reasonable charge suf1-
cient to cover the cost of the service so
that those to whom the convenience
of such storage and valuable central
land is not worth its real cost, may use
the public transportation systems. Other
wise they parasitically obtain a luxury
at the cost of others which is not worth
to anybody what it costs.
ing to the uncertainty as TO what
# automobile storage space to
pace will prove economically
is expedient to make at least
such structures for automo-
in connection with Govern
readily convertible to other
use, as cgu readily be done with ordi-
nary bodybuilding constructions.
Two Responsibilities.
The report reviews the findings Of its
expert, DR.. Miller McClintock of the
ErSkine Bureau OF franc Research OF
Harvard University.
With reference to automobile parking
in the central business district, the re-
port asserts: I'm dealing with this
problem in Washington, the responsible
ty of the Government is peculiar In
two ways. In the first place, on gen.
eral principles, Washington ought to be
leading rather than tagging behind in
the solution of an urban problem so
acute and so general. In the second
place, the Government not only has all
the powers and responsibilities vested
in ordinary municipal governments in
this matter, but is at the same time
the largest single land owner and occu-
pant Of Office building space in the
central business district, and thus unit
ing in a single agency responsibilities
and powers for dealing with the prob
lem which in other cities are divided
between the municipal government and
the owners and users Of private prop