Evening star., 1941-06-23
|ckes Favors
Plan for Fringe
Parking Lots
Secretary Urges
Solution Before
ills Too Lute'
BY NELSON nj. SHEPARD.

downtown parking problem should
be found before it is too late" and
pledged his support to proposals
looking to the Inauguration of rapid
shuttle bus services to parking lots
fringing the central business and
Government district.
The War Department, he said,
should take advantage of the oppor-
t,lnity provided by the defense pro-
gram to acquire the 146-acre sit of
the old Washington-Ho Hoover Airport
for automobile parking.
ut was learned today an ap-
preparation of S1000,000 will be
added to the S10,000.0 900 900 mil
itary supply bill to buy the old
airport for an Army training
ground.
Nine days ago, Mr.. Ickes directed
O blast at the Navy Department for
seeking to acquire parking lots in
areas of West Potomac Park and to-
day he said he would continue his
opposition.
ut would indeed be tragedy if
we turned our parks over for such
purposes he said. "A year from
now it would be impossible to dis
lodge any Government agency from
its parking space in the parks and
there is always the danger OF such
a policy becoming permanent"
Government Bus Service Suggested.
Mr.. Ickes discussed various phases
of the parking problem, even to the
extent of advocating the establish
ment of governmental bus services
to outlying districts to pick up Gov
ernment workers. He is thoroughly
in accord with Navy Department
officials who regard the situation
now as one threatening the efficient
functioning of defense agencies.
While the Interior Secretary had
no intention of renewing a contro-
versy started last week. he reiterated
that the Navy Department has lost
o full year in approaching the park
ing problem and doing something
about it."
Conditions are bad enough now"
he said "As months go on thou
sands of other defense workers Will
be coming here and the problem
will become more intense and unsat-
isfactory. What is to be done then?'
Mr.. Ickes said he had suggested to
the President a year ago that Jesse
Jones should build a number auto
mobile parking garages and llquldate
them over a period of, say, SO
years"
He added he saw no reason now
why the Reconstruction Finance
Corp. of which Secretary Jones is
still the head, could not undertake
such a program The corporation
financed it's own Office building here
and it's funds could be properly used
to build garages for public use. 1T
would be cheaper than widening
streets for auto parking he sug-
gested.
Like School Bus Service.
Mr.. ICkes said he has long favored
the establishment of outlying park
ing areas to keep down the number
of automobiles daily entering the
city.
II don't see why the Navy De-
partment. for instance, couldn't buy
buses of its own and operate them.
The plan. he suggested, could op-
crate somewhat along the idea OF
the school bus services now being
used in all sections of the country.
National Capital Park and Plan
ming officials said approximately
80 200 automobiles could be parked
on the 146 acres of the Hoover Air
port site. They estimated 200 cars
per acre. That would take care OF
all the Virginia cars corning into the
city.
Mr.. Ickes was thoroughly in &C
cord with the proposal and the es-
tablishment of shuttle buses to serve
the area. He visualized 10-minute
run from the airport to downtown
areas.
Government Garages.
Governmental garages OF
three and four stories could easily
be built in the West End section,
Mr.. Ickes suggested. Standing at
the window in his office, he pointed
to the area west of the Interior
Building. Roughly, the area en-
braces property south of street
between Seventeenth and twenty
sixth streets. 1t was the same area
which Frederic A. Delano, national
resources chairman, proposed for
parking lots and garages.
ut would cost the taxpayers much
less to buy some of those old build
ings than it would TO put IN new
streets and widen others to take care
of traffic" Mr.. Ickes reminded.
Aside from the proposals for park
ing lots and shuttle transportation,
the Interior Secretary said it is i'm
perative to reduce the number OF
cars that are tying up traffic here.
More Riders Per Car.
That could be done by each car
owner carrying as many friends as
he can in his car" he explained. Mr..
Ickes was not familiar with estl-
mates made of IT persons per car
carried in Washington, but he said
1t seemed to him that the majority
of cars on the streets carried only
the driver.
AS a matter of general policy, he
said, the Government should remove
as many of its bureaus out of Wash
ington during the emergency as it
could do conveniently without i'm
pairing the efficiency of Federal op-
erations. He has made start in
his own department by ordering the
removal of personnel in the Grazing
Division.
There is no sense to cluttering up
Washington with thousands of Gov
ernment people who could perform
their duties just as well in some
other CITY," he suggested. He indi-
Gated that there were some bureaus
like the Navy's Navigation Bureau
or the Army's Engineer Division
which could function just as eff
riertlv outside of Washington,