Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-01-02
By Maj. Gen. u. s. Grant III,
nan, National Capital Park and Planning Commissio

may be, into Fourteenth street and the
most congested part OF our city without
material damage and producing condi-
tons that will demand other very ex~
pensiye solutions such as underpasses,
tunnels. etc. In order to route the Vir-
ginia traffic going into the eastern part
Of our city and at the same time pro-
viding way for that which is willing
TO bypass the city to move on up out
side OF the congested central area, a
bridge across the Potomac at the north
end Of Alexandria seems to afford a
highly satisfactory solution at very rea-
sonable cost, much less cost than addi-
tional capacity on a new Highway
Bridge and further expensive treatment
OF the existing means within the Dis
trict Of Columbia. Trafic crossing this
bridge would flow into the eastern part
OF the city over the new South Capitol
Street Bridge, the John Philip Sousa
Bridge or otherwise as may be most con-
venient, while through traffic toward
Baltimore can find Its way north
through the Anacostia and Anacostia
Park road systems
Under the Capper- Cramton Act the
small amount of land needed to extend
the Anacostia Park system into Mary
land has been purchased and a project
for a high-speed traf1c road to Balti-
more touching various Government in
stallations on the way has been made
possible. project that is very near the
point OF being actually initiated, and for
which the cooperation of Maryland is
expected.
Recreation Needs.
Manifestly one of the outstanding
problems of the permanently increased
population will be the provision of
schools, Fairgrounds, recreation areas.
Libraries and similar facilities. not only
for the young people but also for adults.
With the decreased working hours that
are an inevitable consequence of tech
biological improvement, there will be a
corresponding increase in leisure hours.
One OF the major responsibilities rest
ing upon the community is to provide
for these leisure hours to be spent in
such way as to be profitable to the
individual and make for better COM
munity, rather than for them to be de-
voted to idleness and the qualification
of bad habits.
Foreseeing this problem years ago, the
Planning Commission, as one of its first
activities. developed a comprehensive
plan of Fairgrounds, recreation centers
~
for the smaller units, namely, play
grounds and recreation centers, recog-
nized the divisions of potential recrea-
ton areas. especially for children by
such existing barriers as the railroad
lines, thoroughfares carrying heavy
traffic loads, rush hour, shopping and
theater crowds, etc. With the limited
funds At its disposal, the commission
wisely purchased unoccupied or sparsely
improved land which it saw was neces.
sary for such purposes, and the program
is almost complete except for certain
Fairgrounds and recreation centers rec
ognized from the beginning as necessary,
but comprising such highly improved
land as to have made the price unat-
tainable with the funds available. To
show the economic justification for this.
let me quote a few figures: The total
area Of is projects especially studied
amounts to 127.11 acres The total cost
was $1,014,559. AS measured by the
change in assessments there has been
an increase of 379 per cent in the value
Of this land since it was acquired-a net
profit to the city for its having been
acquired before it was improved. If the
commission had waited until it was i'm
proved. reliable estimates indicate that
the same land with improvements would
have cost s10908,647 or 975.2 per cent
of its actual cost.
AS justification for delaying the
purchase of improved land for the rec
reational system, submit the IL acres
acquired in built-up sections after de-
velopment, aggregating only 1894 acres
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