Evening star., 1937-05-22
PARK COMMISSION
WILL SURVEY D. c.
''BL|GHTED AREAS"
Consultant to Be Called
From st. Louis for
City Study.
ATTENTION TO CENTER
IN BUSINESS SECTIONS
Chances for Regeneration of Run
down Districts Will Be
Assessed.

With the Alley Dwelling Authority
making headway in obliterating un.
desirable residential areas here, the
National Capital Park and Planning
Commission next month will undertake
survey of the so-called blIghted areas
of the city, especially those in business
sections.
The commission. at its final session
yesterday voted to bring from St,
Louis Harland Bartholomew, consult
ant on zoning and city planning mat
tiers. He has made studies here before,
especially with relation to traffic and
zoning, and will be in Washington
in June for about a week making an
intensive survey Of the situation. Bar
tholomeW especially will investigate
rundown business areas, seek to de-
termine the reason for their downward
grade and assess the chances for their
regeneration.
The study will include Ninth street
from Pennsylvania avenue TO L street,
1t was said.
Roberts Urges Survey.
William A Roberts. attornev for
Ninth Street Associated, few months
ago wrote to the planners, advocating
that a survey be undertaken. Busi-
ness men and owners Of property are
interested, Roberts said, in seeing the
thoroughfare improved
Immediate condemnation of an
acre OF ground at Sixteenth and
Lamont streets was ordered by the
commission. This was done, officials
said, TO prevent development of the
area for apartment houses. The acre
will be utilized as a playground, which
civic leaders have long been trying
to establish there.
Thomas S. Settle, secretary Of the
commission, in announcing the de-
c!Slon of his group. said that in New
York and other cities similar move
ments had been launched by properly
owners themselves to restore the char
acter of neighborhoods The COM
mission approved the replatting of the
area near Sixth and Seventh, l and
K street southwest as requested by
the Alley Dwelling Authority.
Building trends in the National
Capital formed the subject of re-
port 10 the commission by John
Nolen. jr., its director of planning. He
likewise reported on the Fort Drive
and the acquisition of parkways here
and their development to date. Civil
ian Conservation Corps and Works
Progress Administration labor have
aided in improving the situation here,
Nolen said.
The commission voted that the site
for the new Naval Hospital should
be approved by the National Capital
Park and Planning Commission after
Congress supplies authorization and
funds and the Navy Department is
ready to build
Reaflrming its stand on the naming
OF the drives in the Mall after the
first four Presidents of the United
States, the commission instructed its
chairman, Frederic A Delano, to in
form the Senate District Committee
that there are a number of streets
available to be named for the four
States-Ohio, Maine, Missouri and
Oklahoma-Which are without repre-
sentation in the Washington street
system now. The committee will be
furnished with a map showing where
these streets are located The COM
mission did not reveal what streets it
has in mind.
The Recreational Planning Commit
tee of the co-ordinating group of the
commission was asked by the planners
to recommend the proper use for the
tuberculosis Hospital at Fourteenth
and Upshur streets after IT has been
abandoned by moving the patients to
Glenn Dale. Md. The commission has
carried the site on its plans as q po-
tentlal recreational area. The hos
pital is District property and the Com
mlSslonerS have not decided what the
land will be used for later.
T. c. Jeffers, landscape architect OF
the commission, presented plans for
the development of the abandoned res
ervolr at Sixteenth and Kennedy
streets for recreation The commits
sion considered number of applica-
tlons for gasoline stations, which we're
approved, in accordance with the reg
ulations. Settle laid before his COL
leagues an outline of the legislative
situation and mentioned particularly
the projected Hall of Fame to care for
the statues in Statuary Hall at the
Capitol and the proposed new radio
station to be erected in Washington or
Its vicinity by the Navy to transmit
pan-American programs to Latin
America to aid the goodwill program
Of President Roosevelt.