Evening star., 1961-04-13
Timely and Helpful Report

The Federal City Councils Urban
Renewal Committee has responded most
helpfully to an invitation by Chairman
Mcmillan Of the House District Com
mittee to diagnose the cause and pre-
scribe a cure for the Illustrations and
delays that seem to retard urban renewal
in Washington.
; Its excellent report, prepared under
the supervision of we'll qualified con-
sultantS and presented to the House
District Committee on Tuesday, finds
that the major and basic impediment"
Is ineffective administrative organiza-
tion, together with lack of assigned
responsibility and authority to discharge
1t. The recommended remedy is re-
organization, assigning fixed RESPONSE
bil1ty for getting the job done to the
Commissioners and establishing pro-
cedureS facilitating the effective CO.
ordination between various agencies,
which thus far has been none too easy
to achieve.
There are controversial elements
in connection with the proposed re-
organization that have already been
challenged. We hope that a hearing
will be arranged at which the validity
OF objections can be weighed in rela-
ton to anticipated advantages. For
while the Urban Renewal Committees
report offers positive answers, such a
hearing would provide opportunity for
the sort of constructive criticism that
often results in their improvement.
~
ample, apparently in the minority at
the District Building, is skeptical of the
reduced authority of the National
Capital Planning Commission. It's
existing veto power In urban renewal
projects would be abolished. It's func-
tIon would be purely advisory, not
necessarily binding on the Commis-
sioners, who would be given direct re-
Sponsibility and authority to accept or
reject its advice. Commissioner Nc
Laughlin is fearful that purely local
preSSures, rather than the interests of
the Nations Capital, might become
controlling.
r The reasons behind creation of the
planning commission many years ago
lend a certain weight to Mr. Nc
Laughlin's point of view, although it is
hard to believe that the Commissioners
would ever proceed in the face of adverse
advice from the planning commission.
The difficulty in the past has not been so
much with the nature of the commits
sier's advice, however, as the time
required to obtain it. The report
recommends time limit in which the
planning commission would have to act,
and this alone might remove defect in
existing practice. Yet Mr. McLaughlin'S
point of view, with that of others con-
cerned with the planning commissions
function, should receive examination.
The wisdom Of other recommended
tfons by the consultantS should be sub
nitted to question by those who may
have their doubts. But the point on
which there can be little disagreement is
that definite action should be taken, by
enactment Of corrective legislation, to
speed up the process of urban renewal
toward full realization of its inherent
advantages to this community. Repre-
sentative Howard Smith of Virginia was
right in pointing out that this report
should not suffer the fate Of so many
others that wind up forgotten on dusty
shelf. 1t would be good thing if the
Senate District Committee and the
House District Committee-each of them
concerned with urban renewal in Wash
ington-would hold joint hearings,
utilizing the Federal City Council report
in shaping constructive revision of
urban renewal legislation without delay.