Evening star., 1948-11-05


the state. PAMELA p. THOMAS.
Property Owners Complaint
70 thesDdtor Of The Star:
Recently, new measures have been intro
duced and imposed upon the property -owners
of the District-multiform measures, for which
security" against fire, for example) in
variably has been offered as the primary justi-
hcation. In truth, however, I fail to see, first,
why only one class of citizens namely, prop
erty-owners) should be made to bear the
burden, the trouble, and the expenses. of guar
anteeing the security of the whole of the citi-
zen-body. Why should the security measures
be one-sided and not extended to the whole
range of precautions that easily could be re-
quired of all the population? And secondly,
I am reluctant to believe that security really is
the cause of all the measures that we have been
subjected to; I am rather inclined to believe
that the greed of the District authorities is at
least as responsible for these measures as the
concern for the security Of the residents of
the District
Let me be now more specific:
% We recently have been subjected to as
cending and increasing financial demands in
the forms Of taxation, direct and indirect,
license fees, insurance fees and far-reaching
remodeling expenses Pubc-liability insur-
ance, for example was demanded of property
owners few years ago; license fees have been
raised considerably; so too water taxes, and
property taxes.
I'd Every now and then. moreover, new
remodeling regulations are enforced and re-
modelings which have been made by us only
a year or so ago become unsatisfactory and
have to be done all over again, with a waste
full duplication of unnecessary expenses in
CURED by US. For example, Fire escapes, which
cost some Of us hundreds of dollars recently,
have been declared unsatisfactory; new meas
ures for fire prevention and fire pIecaution
are being introduced. with expenses running to
thousands of dollars. Similarly, unnecessary
remodeling Of Easements was demanded
and no sooner had we complied than we were
told that We cannot rent the Easements. Ex-
amples could be multiplied. We fail to UNDER
stand the wisdom in such short-sighted re-
quirements which are demanded OF us only to
be cancelled shortly afterwards and replaced
by more expensive ones.
90 While we obediently were meeting all
these demands, and paying all these expenses
We were Systematically denied previous privi-
leges-like trash collection-which we now have
- While all this narrowing situation con-
tinues, rent control remains, preventing us
from adjusting our rents to the increasing ex-
penses and the higher cost of living
60 Beside these financial requirements, and
these injustices, practical difficulties contri-
butte to make the new measures absurd Thou
sands and thousands of houses now have to
be remodeled in view Of the exacting FIRE code
and all remodeling of these thousands of
houses has to be carried out within the short
period Of one to three months, with heavy
fines for any single days delay.
Do the authorities realize that we inevi-
tably will encounter such difficulties as the Sc
curing Of materials and the ARRANGEMENT for
skilled labor for the purpose of carrying out
the new regulations? Apart from the ex-
pected rise in the cost of these materials and
labor, there is the more puzzlins question OF
their availability at all. Have the authorities
paid a moments attention to this problem?
80 In view Of all these considerations many
property owners that have spoken with tind
themselves obliged to cut down their business
to the minimum limits by. throwing out tenants
in excess of the number which will exempt
them from the duty Of meeting the new re.
quirements, or else by closing down their busi-
nesses altogether. Do the authorities realize
that this STEP harmful though It Is to our
business, may prove equally or more harmful
to the community at largely rendering more
acute the housing and rooming problems of
thousands and thousands of residents of the
District? PROPERTY OWNER
The Voice of America as a Pledge
To the Editor of The Star:
The only voice America needs tall standing
and in chorus):
II pledge allegiance to my nag and to the
Republic for which 1t stands, one Nation
indivisihle with liberty and justice for ALL"
This costs nothing! SUSAN GOOGINE.
Clothes Horses on the Pan
To the Editor Of The Star:
Apropos Mrs. Veronica Deneels observa-
tions on washington dress customs. published
October 26: hope the American people have
sense enough to appreciate the men and
women in the Government service who are
more concerned with the proper execution
of their duties than with foppish attention
to personal attire It is gratifying to know
that we have such worthless conducting the