Evening star., 1939-05-06
u. ). Towns Declared
In a LawIess State
In Their Planning
Lack Of Programs for
Growth AssuiIed
By Architect

In their physical development,
American communities eare to a
great extent in lawless state"
Abram Garfield Of the Cleveland
Chapter OF the American Institute
Of Architects declared in a report
made public by the Institute Com
mittee on Public Information. There
Is a discouraging lack of regional
planning, and destructive decentran-
zation proceeds unchecked, Mr.. Gar
field finds.
There is no city or good sized
town which has escaped the decen-
tralizing effects of the automobile"
Mr.. Garfield says. Decentralization
has in it great possibility for good
when we know how to take advant-
age of it, but in the meanwhile there
are drawbacks. 1t has destroyed
property values In very large areas,
reduced tax returns, built up tax
delinquency and has added to the
need for more expensive highways"
Mr.. Garfield urged citizens through
out the country to organize, and
not to wait for fully equipped per-
Sonnel to be educated in regional
planning. Chief difficulty, he points
out, is the scarcity of trained plan
nerS.
"Cities and towns do not need to
wait for expert guidance" he con-
tinueS. IF it can be obtained, so
much the better but we cannot wait
The problems which have dropped
down on our towns and cities owing
to the loss of real value within their
limits and because of the necessity
of more expensive highways to con-
meet their centers with outlying dis
tricts are too insistent and can be
helped greatly by citizen groups.
Civic Units Urged to Act.
"City plan commissions have done
invaluable work, but they cannot
solve all of these problems alone
If plan commission happens to
have money enough to make COM
prehensive city plan and undertakes
to impose it without this preliminary
citizen backing, it will have then to
defend its plan against attack from
all quarters.
IF the citizens themselves. be-
ginning with their own neighbor-
hoods and having their desires CO.
ordinated by central committee,
bring their problem and their Sug-
gestion Of solution to the plan
commission and the legislative body,
they are likely to meet with success.
1T must be remembered that
legislative bodies and plan commits
sions have a great mass of routine
business to transact. They are not
always able nor do they have time
to initiate action on all of the needs
of their community, and if demands
and unco-ordinated requests come
In from all neighborhoods there will
be little chance of attention.
"On the other hand, responsible
group of citizens is not burdened
with routine and is not governed
by expediency as the legislative
body must be. 1t will have sorted
out the neighborhood problems,
concluded something as to the order
of importance, and will have re-
arranged adjacent plans and ideas
so that they work together and
not against one another.
Expert Advice Helpful.
"A report to the legislative body
from such group will receive at
tention, the turmoil of public hear
ings will have been greatly reduced
and, while mistakes will occur, they
will be mistakes which have been
more or less agreed to.
"A legislative body will almost
always carry out the known wishes
of the electors and the problem is
to organize the wishes. This may
sound like backward step since 1t
appears to be throwing technical
subjects into public debate. Tech
nical problems must finally be de-
cided by those who are qualified.
but we yet lack public interest
without which greater mistakes are
liable.
There is no intention to suggest
that expert guidance is not very
valuable thing if it can be obtained.
Any one who has considered these
problems has found, almost at once,
that he has not thought about this
or that feature which often is OF
first importance. When this occurs
1t must not be permitted to be dis
couraging because nothing will be
more valuable to the final solution
than early discussion, difference Of
opinion and nearer understanding
by the public at large. Public opin-
Ion is formed by trial and error.
"The immense and dramatic traf-
nc solutions for Manhattan Island
haVA caught the attention of the