Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-18
Municipal Center Financing.

No recent development so clearly en-
phasizes the dangers TO this community
inherent in departure from and the
destruction of an equitable and fixed
concept of the partnership between the
District and the Federal Government
in their joint task of Capital building as
the bill for financing the Municipal
Center through Treasury loan At
three and one-half per cent.
The proposal itself is sound. There
Ii no good reason why money thus adj
vanced should not yield interest.
But there is a more fundamental
point involved than that which lies in
the amount of the loan or the interest
to be charged.
This point was developed pretty well
in the hearings on the appropriations
bill before the Senate subcommittee,
which became available yesterday. Sen
ator Bingham explained that interest
on the loan would be charged In the
case of the Municipal Center, when it
was not to be charged In the CramtOn
or the airport bills, because he felt
that the Municipal Center was for local
use. The difference there" he said,
ais that both of these measures Cthe
Cramton and airport bills) are measures
which concern the National Capital as
q National Capital"
There was never planned for the Dis
trict any more elaborate undertaking
than the proposed Municipal Center,
and from the beginning the scheme has
been discussed and developed with one,
and only one, point in mind, namely,
that the Municipal Center concerns the
National Capital as a National Capt.
tai"
The very site itself has been selected
with this point in mind. The monu-
mental building layout and the designs
for the buildings themselves have been
discussed with the incidental purpose Of
accommodating the municipal govern
ment, but with the primary purpose Of
creating a vast group of impressive
structures that viii conform in scale
and appearance to the Governments
own building development on the other
side of the Avenue.
In the beginning, when the present
Municipal Building was erected, the cost
of the enterprise-about $2,51s, oo0-was
shared equally between the local tax
payers and the Federal Government.
This division Of cost was based on the or
ganic law, which has since been changed
but never repealed. What circumstances
now have arisen that make the new
home for the municipal government
the Federal Governments agent In gov
erning this community local" I'M
dertaking, distinct in character and use
from the semi-national undertakings of
parks and airports?
This community, nor any community
of its size and resources, would never
undertake the elaborate and expensive
Municipal Center project merely to
house the agencies of its local govern
ment, If this were not the Federal city.
Driven out of the present Municipal
Building by the Federal Governments
own building program, the local gov
ernmental agencies could easily find
site and build building that would
answer unitarian needs at far less cost
than the $22,500,000 or more now
planned for the new undertaking. To
cucumber itself with such debt mere
ly to house its municipal offices would
be gross extravaganza. The stimulating
effect of visualizing the chief Of police
in marble halls would be lost upon the
taxpayer whose child attends part-tine
classes or sits all day in portable
school.
The Municipal Center to conform
with the Governments own embellish-
ments of its Capital, housing the Fed
eral Governments agent for govern
ing the Federal City, is based entirely
on the fact that this is the Capital.
But If our wise legislators thus seek
to differentiate between the local or
Federal benefits from projects carried
in the District bill, let them go the
whole cloth; divide and divorce on that
basis every item from beginning to end;
recast the accounts from top to bot
tom and start out on brand-new basis
of financing the Capital. Give the local
taxpayers the right to speak as to when
and how their own money will be spent;
reserve to themselves, as now, the deci-
sions on how Federal money will be
spent.
Destroy at once the whole idea of
partnership, if that is possible or If that
is wise. But do not do it piecemeal, or
in a manner that shoves the greater
burden on the silent and paying partner.