Evening star., 1935-01-31
Work Plans for the District.

Work Plans for the District.
The Commissioners have asked de-
partment heads in the municipal
government to submit suggestions for
work which might be undertaken with
the ALLEGATION to the District of funds
provided in the work relief bill which
has passed the House and is now
before Senate Committee. These
suggestions will be studied by the Dis
trict's Work Planning Committee, es-
tabliShed about two years ago. and
the best of them will be made ready
for submission to the proper Federal
authorities when the money is ready
and the plans are announced for its
expenditure
A similar list was prepared when the
Public Works Administration was es-
tablished and another list was COM
piled when the Civil Works Admins
tration came into being. Much of
the work planned for the c. w. A
was left unfinished when the C. w.
A. went out of existence, and of the
long list of projects outlined for sub
mission to the Public Works Admins
tration only two-the sewer plant and
the adult tuberculosis hospital-were
undertaken as municipal enterprises.
The new list will doubtless include
most of the work left uncompleted by
the c. w. A. workers as well as new
projects planned for many years but
left untouched through lack of funds.
But the value of any listing of local
projects remains uncertain until more
is known about the nature of work
which may be undertaken and the
conditions governing expenditure of
funds.
The House, in passing the work.
relief bill, eliminated language which
described the purposes of expenditure
as including, but not limited to, "Slum
clearance, rural housing, rural cleo
triflcation, reforestauon, soil erosion,
blighted area and Submarginal land
reclamation, improvement of existing
road systems and construction of ma
tional highways, grade-crossing elm
ination, Civilian Conservation Corps
work and other useful Federal or non
Federal work" There are relatively
few projects within the District which
could come within such classifications.
But as passed by the House the prof.
ectS are merely claSSed as Federal
or non-Federal, and the work to be
undertaken in the District will prob
ably lie within the discretion of the
President and those advising him.
In the District there are many
municipal as well as distinctly Federal
projects which could be undertaken
and which would meet the work-relief
bills general objective, which is to
take employables off the relief rolls
and put them to work. High on the
list of local projects, of course, should
be such items as school and branch
library construction, buildings for the
Municipal Center and the publication
of Rock Creek. ANY list of Federal
projects should include completion of
many plans which have been made
for park and recreational develop
ment in the District, such as pro-
posed treatment of the arena at the |
eastern end Of East Capitol street, in
cluding construction of the stadium |
and National Guard arena. And while |
the District Alley Authority has al
ready been organized and supplied
with some funds for alley clearance
work in the District, additional funds |
would permit larger undertakings and |
greater speed in carrying them out
than is now practical.
The hope is that money can be
utilized within the District for really
useful, community projects, |
which at the same time will provide
maximum employment for those who |
need it. The c. w. A. experiment |
demonstrated the futility of employ
ing men for work, much of which was
useless and would not have been under
taken under normal conditions.