Evening star., 1941-10-23

commercial loading zones at places
throughout the District If the Com
missioners would consider such a
plan. Mr.. Bedell protested that
many private vehicles are parked
days at time on the streets to a
degree that truck drivers cannot
park at the curb when making de-
liveries and often are forced to
double park.
Cites Boston Example.
A former member of Congress
from Massachusetts and a former
traffic commissioner for Boston,
Joseph A. Conry, declared the prob
lem Of loading and unloading of
commercial vehicles and of all-day
and all-night parking could be met
If the Commissioners wanted to
meet 1t. Boston did it, he said, add
ing he was somewhat amazed to
hear recitation of the difficulties to
be encountered by the merchants.
There is fundamental miscon-
ception, he said, that the people
have a vested right in the highways.
This is not true except as to the
right of the people to pass over the
highways, but it does not extend to
right to use the street in front of
home or business for parking"
Mr.. Conry argued that the same
difficulties as recited by Washington
merchants prevailed in Boston, but
that arrangements were made for
truck deliveries at non-rush hours
and that business still continued"
Seeks Unified Control.
A proposal that motor cycle men
of the police traffic division be
placed under the District traffic
director came from Charles Selden.
former counsel to the Consumers
Council.
He stressed the need for real CO.
ordination of all official traffic agen-
cies-a subject now being considered
by the Commissioners. Mr.. Selden
specified. however, that all measures
affecting mass transportation should
be considered by the Public Utilities
Commission before action is taken.
This commission now has but one
member, Engineer Commissioner
Charles w. Kutz, and formal orders
cannot be issued until at least one
additional member is qualified.
Dean Locke, speaking for the Cap
!tal Transit Co., said his firm is
studying possibilities of downtown
storage for busses after their rush
hour trips to avoid dead d-heading"
back to present terminals. If this
could be done, he said, it would
greatly relieve traffic congestion.
but he doubted if such step could
be taken now because of the high
cost of downtown land. Gen. Kutz
revealed he had urged the company
to pursue the suggestion.
Parking Ban Tried Once.
Mr., Sundlun opened the hearing
by recltlng that some years ago the
Commissioners banned parking on
various downtown streets but after
several days trial rescinded the
order when they found Washing
ton was not ready" for such a
very drastic regulation" AS a re-
suit, he said, the Commissioners,
advising with merchants, established
specified loading and unloading
zones for trucks on downtown
streets. He said this helped con-
slderably but was not working well
now because police are unable to get
enforcement and because private
are parked in these zones,
forcing many truck drivers to dou-
BILE park.
During colloquy with Commits
sloner Young as to whether the mer-
chants had agreed to the rush hour
ban on the 80 arteries, Mr.. Sundlun
said they did, but urged many more
reserva tions.
G. w. Turner, head of the Traffic
Committee of the Merchants and
Association and
division superintendent of the Rail-
way Express Agency, declared that
The rush hour ban on loading and
would cause a lot of diff
culties. and that changes in hours
for deliveries and rerouting of trucks
would increase costs and cause in
He cited % reasons,
One was that extra trucks would
be needed, and that due to national
defense priorities rulings it is diff
cult to buy extra trucks. Further,
he protested, the additional trucks
and the rerouting and extra deliver
les would use up more gasoline.
some merchants now have
trouble getting large enough gas
quotas.
Must Clear Alleys.
Lester W. B. Powell, member of
the Traffic Advisory Council, and
representing the District of CO.
lumbia Trucking Association. de-
elared the Commissioners must take
steps to keep the alleys cleared of
parked cars so trucks could make
deliveries without using the streets. ]
Commissioner Mason at one point
declared: You merchants can't
have your cake and eat it too. You
have got to get parking off the
streets or change your delivery sys-
tenn. If it is q matter of cost. then
add that to your merchandising
charges"
When one merchant argued there
we're Interstate Commerce Commits
sion rules truck drivers must comply |
with, Mr.. Mason retorted: That is
nice screen, but it is no answer"
Laundry Men See Difficulties,
George N Walker, secretary of the |
Laundry Owners Associa ton. said the |
rush hour ban on loading and un-
loading would be a particular hard
ship on the laundry industry since
customers demand deliveries in the
rush hour. He urged more |
commercial parking reservations.
Whitney Leary, chairman of the
Traffic Advisory Council, declared |
the Commissioners were headed in
the right direction" and also sug-