Evening star., 1941-07-26
Letters to the Editor
Criticizes Destruction" Of City's Beauty
For Alleged Traffic Progress"

Criticizes Destruction Of City's Beauty
For Alleged Traffic Progress"
To the Editor of The Star.
l was much intrigued to see in your
paper an account of the destruction of
many of the age-old shade trees of
Southwest Washington and the raZing
of many perfectly good homes and
apartment houses to provide for the
widening of Independence avenue.
1 talked recently with the owner Of
one of those homes and found that the
plan of progress" was a far-reaching
one. and a longtime one. 1 was told
that the trustees of the Marvin Meth
odist Church were informed that it
would be useless for them to erect an
other church on an adjacent site be-
cause within the next few years the
Government intended to acquire all of
that property.
There is no other Methodist church
in that vicinity: there is a brand-new
junior high school, for which the resi-
dents of that community have worked
for 80 or more years. But because the
street must be widened to 80 feet-and
why we do not know-all of these
things must be liQuidated, and the peo-
pie who reside in the houses and apart
ments must of necessity seek new dwell
ings.
Where in Washington will they be
able to find homes comparable so far as
rent is concerned? Why, when We are
told every day that there is an acute
shortage of dwellings, should whole
blocks of perfectly good houses and
apartments be destroyed and the owners
and residents forced to find new dwell
ingS?
Apropos of this whole matter, one of
the houses in the path of progress" is
certified by the Department of the In
terror as worthy of being preserved be-
cause of the excellence of its architec-
ture, representing the period in which
it was built Q840). Also, incidentally, it
was designed by the architect who de-
signed the Smithsonian Institution, and
was built of the same kind of bricks used
in that structure.
Why must Washington be made the
target of every so-called progressive"
who happens to come to the city? Why
must we sacrifice all of the beauty and
charm, all of the tradition and back
ground which have been Washington's
since it first was designed? Why must
our beautiful, tree-lined streets be laid
waste one by one and wide stretches of
concrete substituted, in order that more
and more automobiles may crowd upon
them at given time? Why, because our
streets are congested for an hour or two
morning and evening, must we sacrifice
their beauty?
Washington has been known for dec
AIDES as the City of Magnificent Dis
tances," as city of trees-but all this
rapidly is becoming thing of the past.
and unless something radical is done
to stop it, we soon shall be just another
big city-burning hot in the summer
because of a lack Of shade and bleakly
cold in winter, because of no protection
from trees-even the bare trees of winter.
A great deal of fun was poked at the
women who tried to stop the destruction
of the cherry trees about the Tidal
Basin. But the result bears out their
contention. The place is bare-snd the
cherry trees, which were supposed to be
planted along the canal, must have been
transported to some unknown section
of the canal-because 1 haven't been
able to locate them.
There are lot of people who live in
Washington permanently-who even
were born here. They love the city;
they love its beauty, and its tradition.
and its significance. And they stand
appalled, at the destruction which goes