Evening star., 1935-06-21
.SLUM ELIMINATION.
IN DISTRICT WITHIN.
9 YEARS FORECAST.
Alley Dwelling Authority Re-
ports Two Projects Being
Worked On.
1893 OTHER BLOCKS
TO BE IMPROVED
Property Owners Cooperating.
Ihlder Reports, by Fixing Ac-
ceptable Prices on Blocks.

In nine years washingtonians will
see all the Slums cleared away, all the
alley eye-sores turned into useful and
ornamental projects, according to John
Ihlder, executive oficer Of the Alley
Dwelling Authority.
The authority has been set up and
functioning since last November, and
two major projects are under way
with 1913 still to come.
The square bounded by Twentieth
and Twenty-f1rst, E and F streets,
the rowdy-dowdy square that gave
birth to such places as O'Brien Court,
Thimble Alley and Columbia Terrace,
is being turned into a parking lot.
The square bounded by Pennsyl-
vania avenue. C street and Second and
Third streets southeast, which har-
bors Ruppert's Court, is taking on a
new complexion under the Alley Dwell
ing Authority.
Each Problem Weighed.
Lots of people have misconceived
ideas of what we are trying to do, !"
Ihlder said today. They believe we
are going to go into the slums, tear
down the alley dwellings, and replace
them with some sort of modernized
tenements, or such. We have no such
idea. Each square will be dealt with
as separate problem, and improve
ments made to suit the absolute needs
of individual sections-and sectors.
Thus, if parking place is the real
need, parking place it will be. Or
a hotel. Or an apartment"
Ihlder is pleased with the progress
being made in clearing up the slums
of Washington-though he is averse
to talking about something which is
really only getting started.
Wait until we have actually ac-
complished something worth while,
and then come back and see u.s." he
told a reporter from The Star this
morning.
Blaze Own Trail.
It seems that in getting the Alley
Dwelling Authority started, Ihlder and
his staff had to set up lot of pre-
cedents of their own. There was nc
chart to guide them. One of the first
problems was how to have property
appraised-whether by board of ap-
praisers or by using the data already
gathered by the assessors office. II
was decided to use a board of ap-
praiseFs. Then, that was discarded
Now, the Authority uses the figures
compiled by Assessor Richards-and
they work.
Property owners of Washington have
met the Alley Authority more than
half way, it is said. Whereas under
the law the Authority could pay as
high as 1870 per cent tax assessment
value on property. some property was
bought during the past week for IS
per cent Of the assessed value.
Because there are 200 squares ir
Washington that will eventually come
under the supervision of the alley
authority, and because the authority
under the law, has nine years in
which to do this work-there is lee
way for bargaining" with the owners
of property.
Hopes to Get $3,000,0O0.
Under the present set-up, the Alley
Dwelling Authority is composed OF
District Commissioner Melvin c.
Hazen, Arno B. Cammerer, Capital
Park and Planning Commission; A
r. Clas, director, Federal Emergency
Administration of Public Works;
James Ring, administrative assistant
and John Ihlder, executive officer.
Ihlder and his assistants are now
working under a half-million dollar
appropriation and hope to raise "the
ante" by $3,000,0oO as soon as the
Public Works Administration gets
around to q consideration of the re-
quest.
The Alley Dwelling Authority OF
Washington is working with other
agencies, some of them relief agencies;
for although there is no legal obliga-
ton to house people driven from the
slums, Ihlder considers the authority
Is morally bound to find homes for
those elected from their old alley res
idences.