Evening star., 1942-04-05

Delano and the exceptional ad-
miration and affection which he
arouses in all who know him. But
he has decided to resign; and con-
sidering the tremendous planning
problems created here by the COM
bination of local, federal and
national activities and interests, the
time would seem to be at hand to
try the full-time Craftsmanship.
A full-time chairman would direct
and organize the presentation of the
planning program for the full COM
mission; he would be the leader in
the promotion of planning and in
the establishment of cordial rela-
tionships between the planning
agency and Congress, the Federal
and District administrative officials
and the public, both local and ma
tional. This is big job; its magni-
tude and Importance cannot be
overstated.
Mr. Francis P. Sullivan, in his
interesting article in The Sunday
Star of March %, argued that a
large proportion of the citizen men,
bers of the Washington planning
agency should be drawn from the
permanent residents of the city, and
further, that they should be drawn
from certain professions, such as
engineering, architecture, sociology
and others he named.
National Interest Involved.
The representation of the resi-
dents should, of course, be strong.
If the commission be given all its
appropriate powers, the members
would have so much to do that they
probably would be chosen from men
who live in Washington or come
! there frequently. Still, the national
interest in the planning of the Ma
tional Capital should not be over
| looked.
The important qualification for a
member of city planning agency
is what may be called large e-scale
planning -mindedness; and that type
of intellectual attitude is not lin
tied to any particular profession or
group of professions. AS Mr.. Sulli-
van so splendidly stated, planning
is concerned with all the people OF
the city; and that is one of the rea-
sons why the experience which
qualities man to be a good plan
ming commissioner may be derived
from many fields: law, administra-
ton, architecture, landscape archi-
lecture, engineering. real estate,
government, housing and others. The
appointing power should be left
free to discover the best men for
the positions.
Other than the chairman, there
is no need for full-time member
ships of the planning agency: for
with an adequate working staff and
the full-time leader. the matters
which need be submitted to the full
commission can be SO we'll organized
as to require the presence of the
associate members only periodically
or when exceptional problems arise.
Should Give More Time.
More of the associates time is
nee0eO, however, tnan mas napltuaI-
ly been given in the past. In Wash
ington the enormous activities of
the Federal Government, added to
all the local activities of a city of
three-quarters of million inhabi-
tantS, and the peculiar structure Of
the Government of the territory,
create city planning problems of an
exceptional quantity and complexity.
How about the ex-officio member
ships? The Importance of close and
cooperative relationships between
the planning agency and the legis-
latlve and administrative officials is
so obvious as not to need elabora-
ton. Where a city has a small
council and a single chief admins