Evening star., 1942-03-22

tions it has carried out in the past,
wider field.
Those who are interested in the devel-
opment Of the plan OF Washington have
been waiting expectantly for a report
from the Budget Bureau. That bureau
Is facing other problems Of even greater
moment than this one In connection
with the provision of funds for military
and naval activities. However, as long
as its report Is delayed, and the Plan
ming Commission Is functioning as an
ad interim body, awaiting a revamping
along lines that cannot even be pre-
dicted, continuity OF thought is inevitably
being lost, and there is grave danger
that errors may be made which will
have to be corrected at some future
time.
The Planning Law.
The law that created the Park and
Planning Commission imposed on it a
task of staggering size and complexity-
ITO develop comprehensive, consistent
and co-ordinated plan for the National
Capital and its environs in the States OF
Maryland and Virginia, to preserve the
flow of water in Rock Creek, to prevent
pollution OF Rock Creek and the Ana
costa Rivers, to preserve forest and
natural scenery in and about Washing
ton and to provide for the comprehen-
sive, systematic and continuous develop
ment of park, parkway and playground
systems of the National Capital and its
environs."
The commission has worked earnestly
In the attempt to carry out the varied
duties imposed upon it and has achieved
Q remarkable measure of success, con-
sidering the difficulties of the task.
But as 1t has been handicapped by an
Illogical organization inherited from the
original act creating the Park Commis-
sion. burdened by a mass of petty ad-
ministrative details, the result Of SINH
lar inheritance, and limited by ridicu-
lousy inadequate funds, it has been diff
cult, If not impossible, for it to devote
the necessary time to the chief function
to which all other tasks should properly
be subordinated, namely, the preparation
and publication of master plan for
Washington and the areas adjacent
thereto.
The plan Of city does not consist IN
schemes for the provision of highways
and parkways or sites for public build
ings. It is a picture based on an intelli-
gent projection OF the past into the
future, of what lives our citizens will live
so years from today. Such picture will
concern itself not merely with streets,
parks and Government buildings, but
with the lives and homes Of the meanest
citizens.
To the public at large, who do not
clearly understand the field appropriate
to city planning, two elements OF the
plan assume an entirely disproportion-
ate importance.
OF these the first is the physical
movement Of traffic on the city streets;
the second is the location Of individual
public buildings.
The Traffic Problem.
Trafic Is a thing that affects immedi-
ately the convenience of every individual.
Every one sees and suffers from traffic
congestion, and, as result, plans are
proposed for widening certain streets:
for providing here a bridge and there
an underpass; for lifting express high
ways over the rooftops. and otherwise
coping with the immediate engineering
problem Of moving given volume OF
trafdc without considering the long-term
effect.
Frederick Bigger, chairman Of the
Pittsburgh City Planning Commission,
commenting on such attempts to relieve
the situation said I'VE spend Gin case
you are interested in the absurO millions
of dollars on highways, so that more and
more automobiles can bring more and
more people, from more and more remote
places, more and more rapidly, to the
places where they must wait longer and
longer to enter the congested areas,
where 1t becomes more and more diff
cult to move at all
Similarly, the public is always acutely
conscious of large masses of bricks and
mortar, and is easily aroused to argu-
ment over the location of particular
buildings within the city area.
These questions are usually accom-
panied by differences of opinion over the
handling of the traffic arising from the
buildings proposed, so that they again
resolve themselves into disputes over
the provision Of traffic facilities.
The problem Of traffic is not solved by
solving the problem of traffic alone.
Trafhc IS not just automobiles rolling
along the street; 1t is the movement of
people and their possessions resulting
from the fact that the city is populated
by living. moving beings. As these move
ments are retarded or facilitated,
changes take place, reducing or enhanc-
ing the productive capacity of the in
habitants as well as the comfort, con-
venience and enjoyment Of their lives.
These changes consist in part of in
nuxes of new population, and in part of
the flow Of existing population from one
area to another. Such shifts OF popula-
ton produce chanseA In property values,