Evening star., 1950-11-20
Joint Planning of Nations Capital

President Truman, IN foreword to the long
awaited master plan for the Washington Metro
politan Area, has given special emphasis to a
factor which will have an all-important bearing
on the plans effectiveness. This factor is the
joint stake which the various urban and sub
urban communities of the area have in the Or
dery development of the Nations Capital. How
we'll the Washington of 1880 will serve its pur-
pose as the Seat of Government will depend In
large measure on how well these communities
work together in planning and building for the
future.
Properly" the President wrote to the
National Capital Park and Planning Commission,
"this plan covers the metropolitan region sur
rounding the limited boundaries of the District
of Columbia. Because jurisdiction is divided be-
tween the Congress and the neighboring States
of Maryland and Virginia, it is essential to have
a guiding plan for the development Of the
area as whole. Hence, to extend and perfect
the plan requires cooperation Of high Or
der"
In the days when the Limited boundaries"
of the District were adequate to contain the
Federal establishment without overcrowding, the
need for interjurisdictional cooperation was not
so pressing as it is today. Now that the Gov
ernment has spilled outside of the old boundaries,
however it is no longer possible to ignore the
ties have recognized this need by setting up in
dependent planning agencies which have
worked closely with the National Capital Park
and Planning Commission.
But even closer cooperation and co-ordina-
ton will be required to carry out the compre-
hensive plan devised for the growth of Greater
Washington during the next 80 years. The
counties which are becoming so much a part
Of the Capital have right to take more
active part in the overall planning of the
city. They would be permitted to do this under
the pending National Capital Planning Com
mission bill. That bill would give Maryland
and Virginia membership the commission,
along with the District of Columbia and the
Federal Government.
Irrespective of, whether this legislation is
enacted by the next Congress, as it should be.
the present movement toward more effective
teamwork among the various planning commis-
sionS in the Washington area deserves the
encouragement given to it in the summary re-
port. The first step toward interjurisdictional
coordination was taken by Maryland when it
created the Maryland-NationalC Capital Park and
Planning Commission The most recent step was
the establishment across the Potomac River of
Northern Virginia Regional Planning Comnlis-
sion, composed of representatives of the several
planning agencies in the nearby counties and
ClGleS. 111e lepoit piopoSeS te LUZ IIlei SIep ol
voluntary association of all planning groups
in the whole Metropolitan Area.
The suggestion is a good one. Such re-
gional council could be of service to the area
even if and when the new National Capital
Planning Commission comes into being It.
could, in fact, help convince Congress and the
Maryland and Virginia authorities of the need
for such truly representative statutory plan
ming agency. There has been some opposition
to the planning bill that probably could be elm
mated if the areas planners joined in clearing
up misunderstanding about the proposal Ger
tainly the great city of 100000 inhabitants en-
visioned in the master plan cannot evolve as
desired unless there is general acceptance of
the plan and interjurisdictional determination
to make it work