Evening star., 1932-07-11
Residents of Arlington and
Fairfax Plan Fight Before
Lieut.. Col. U. S. Grant, Sd.
OTHER FACILITIES HELD
AMPLE BY OPPONENTS
Arlington C. of C. Head Declares
Boulevard Should Be Kept for
Pleasure-Seeking Public.

Vigorous opposition to the proposal
that the Mount Vernon Memorial High
way be turned over to the indiscriminate
use of bus companies for regularly
scheduled bus lines was developing ali
along the route traversed by the high
way today.
Civic leaders and public officials OF
Arlington and Fairfax counties and OF
the City of Alexandria were marshalling
their forces to combat the proposal
when it comes before Lieut.. Col. U. S:
Grant, Sd, director of the ONCE OF
Public Buildings and Public Parks, at
a public hearing Thursday morning at
10 o'clock.
Agreement Is Unanimous.
Unanimous agreement that the stately
gateway to the shrine of the Nation.
the tomb of Washington at Mount
Vernon, should not be made boulevard
for commuter traffic, and that there are
ample highway facilities for this traffic
without the use of this broad, beau
tifully Handicapped pleasure road was
found among the Virginians.
Louis Carl. president Of the Airing
ton County Chamber of Commerce, to-
day declared he personally would attend
the hearing and oppose any proposal 10
open the road to regularly scheduled
bus traffic. He said he is seeking a
similar expression from the entire board
of directors of the chamber. Sentl-
ment, he said, is in favor OF retaining
the road for pleasure seekers alone.
Opposes Exploitation"
1T is a pleasure road" he declared,
"and should not be turned over to bus
interests for exploitation and utilitarian
purposes. I will attend the hearing and
make that clear"
Likewise, Harry A. Fellows. chairman
of the Arlington County Board of Com
missioners, condemned the effort of bus
companies to secure permission to make
scheduled bus trips along the Memoria!
Highway.
Il am heartily in favor of keeping the
Mount Vernon Memorial Highway as d
park area. The people going to and
from Washington and points in Vir-
ginia can be carried over other roads
and leave the Memorial Highway to the
enjoyment of the public" he declared
Mayor Edmund Ticer of Alexandra
was OF the same opinion.
Chambers Plan to Meet.
Meanwhile, both the Alexandria and
Fairfax County Chambers Of Com
merce were planning to meet, the for
mer this afternoon and the latter to-
night, to take action on the question
of permitting the busses on the Memo
rial Highway.
Dan S. Hollenga. secretary of the
Alexandria Chamber of Commerce
while refusing to commit the board OF
his organization to any proposal. said
he believed the sentiment among the
Alexandria business men and civic
leaders is against anything that would
mar the enjoyment by the public OF
the Memorial Highway. and believed
the chamber would go on record as
opposing the permitting of regularly
scheduled bus traffic on the road
Sentiment among business men ir
Fairfax County likewise was reported
unfavorable to the proposal to allow
bus lines to operate commuter service
on the road.
Virginians Oppose.
w. F. P. Reid, president of the Fair
fax County Board of Supervisors, who
also represents the Mount Vernon dis
trict on the board, declared that 'it
would be shame to commercialize the
Memorial Highway" and that he did not
think it would be advisable to put
busses on the Memorial Highway at the
expense of the service now being given
on Route No l, the Richmond-Wash-
ington Highway.