Evening star., 1941-06-16
Navy Presses Request
To |ckes for Space 10
Solve Car Parking
$4,000 Employees Given
Only Enough Room
For 488 Automobiles
BY NELSON SHEPARD.

The Navy Department was ap-
parently in no mood today TO renew
its demands on the National Capital
Parks Office for 2000-car parking
lot on the Monument Grounds but
countered with suggestion directed
at Secretary Ickes that the time had
come for working out "a reasonable
and intelligent solution" of the
downtown parking problem for ex-
A study of the whole problem
should be made by responsible Off
cials as an emergency measure, it
was claimed, in view of the fact
that wartime conditions might be
thrust on Washington at any time.
In that event the parking prob
lem will increase in size and scope
until it becomes a Frankenstein
monster that will tie up work and
impair the efficiency of defense bu-
reaus." said 1t. Comdr. Hal
OFlaherty, U. S. N. R., on behalf
of the Public Relations Bureau of
the Navy,
Won't Open Potomac Park.
Meanwhile. Interior Department
officials insisted today they had nc
intention of turning over any of the
areas in West Potomac Park for
the parking of employe automobiles
and added that they certainly would
not countenance the surrendering
of approximately % acres of park
space as proposed in survey by the
National Capital Parks Office.
Responsible Navy Department OFF,
cials said the memorandum request
ing parking space which Secretary
Knox had approved, was not in
tended as a demand" but was put
out as preliminary move looking
to solution of the parking prob
lem.
The Navy is our first line of de-
fense and is entitled to some con-
sideration from that point of view
one official said
Space for Only 4S8 Cars.
Secretary of the Navy Knox was
expected back from Montreal to-
morrow and it was thought probable
that he would have something tc
say on the parking problems of the
10000 employees now occupying the
Navy Building. officials claimed In
his absence they were not seeking
controversy with Secretary Ickes
over the use of park areas, but be-
lieved that Federal as we'll as Dis
trict officials should tackle the prob
lem and work out some plan that
would offer solution.
The situation affecting the Navy
Department is more acute, perhaps
than any other Department in
Washington.
In the first place, they said, no
other Government building quar-
ters so many employees as the Navy
Building. The 10000 workers
squeezed into the building are being
increased at the rate of 135 a week
For these 10000 employees the
department now has parking space
for only 488 automobiles. Recently
it was necessary to vacate space
for 244 cars in the rear of the build
ing to make room for the new annex
Employees Bitter"
Comdr. OFlaherty said the pro-
posal to use the Monument grounds
on Constitution avenue to provide
a parking space for 1000 cars was
made because employees are COM
planning bitterly because of the long
distance they have to work from
their cars"
In the event of an actual war
emergency, officials pointed out that
the Navy would probably need 20,-
900 more employees in a short while
The inadequacy of Washington's s
transportation system was held re-
sponsible in large part for the num-
ber of employees who feel compelled
to use their cars in going to and
from work. A great many of these
employees live in the distant suburbs,
it was said, and in many cases two
and sometimes three transfers
from buses to street cars are neces-
sary to get into the Potomac Park
area. Many employees are forced to
park a half mile, and even farther,
from the Navy Building.
Seek Public Attention.
With the increase in night work,
necessitated by the defense program,
officials said it is already difficult
to get parking space on Constitution
or Virginia avenues anywhere near
the Navy Building. Instead Of seek