Evening star., 1961-06-18
(Hies
and People
New Vision
For the City?
By ROBERT ]. LEWIS

Just looking is one Of the
toughest jobs in the world.
With most of us, the more
we looks the less we see.
Take the White House, for
instance.
We're so used to having it
available to look at that we
never bother.
After a few years in WASH
ington, we hardly know
there is such a place.
Yet out-of- f-towners from
all across America travel
here by the thousands for
one chance to see it as it
really is.
Eyes we have, but we see
not.
The best way to see some
thing clearly is to pretend
we've never looked at it be-
fore.
It's amazing what turns
up.
All kinds Of beauties we
never dreamed of, in the
most usual places.
And all kinds of horrors
and groteSqueries, too, that
should be banished forth
with.
The other day, city plan
ners came up with a Year
1000 Plan" for Washington.
The planners said Wash
ington'S problems, as a city,
"are steadily getting more
serious, despite the deter
mined efforts of many
people"
Why?
"The main reason is
growth" said the planners.
-
THAT CERTAINLY may
be true.
But we think one of the
problems with every city,
also, is that people shut
their eyes to uglineSs.
When the eye does not
see, the heart does not
grieve, as the saying goes.
If we don't see the ways
in which cities are being
wrecked, we'll never take
steps to stop the breakup.
Pretend, for example,
you've never seen all these
parking lots that are slash
ing into Washington.
Then look at them again.
Couldn't they be less un-
slightly?
They could be, with a little
screening and landscaping.
In Miami Beach, parking
lots are like parks.
In Washington, with a
few exceptions, they're scars
on the city's surface.
Out in Montgomery Coun-
ty, people are beginning to
see their parking lots. The
Potomac Valley Chapter,
American Institute of Ar
chitects, has just proposed
that a tree be planted in the
corner of every 10th parking
space. They want the lots
to look better.
Whoever thought that one
up deserves a Medal for
Seeing.
MEDALS LIKE this should
go to the people who've just
begun to see what has hap
pened to Connecticut avenue.
Back in 1887, someone got
the idea for a traffic tunnel
under Dupont Circle.
Thirteen years later, the
tunnel was opened.
To achieve this result, the
street was drawn, quartered
and sliced down the middle
with an open cut.
Traffic moved faster.
But-as Mr.. Sam Rayburn
might have put 1.-THE
clocks of things" had not
been improved.
Now, we've heard, there's
a proposal to roof over the
unsightly open underpasS
north of Dupont Circle, and
create a new kind of land
scaped urban space that all
Washington could enjoy.
Businessmen in the area
are behind the movement,
now in the formative stage.
They have opened their
eyes. They are taking seri-
ously the Year 1000 Plans
invitation for neighborhood
projects to improve the city,
and give it new quality.
"The development of small
urban spaces available to
the public should be encour-
aged" said the authors of
the Year 1000 Plan.
Connecticut avenue busi-
nessmen believe they have
such a proposal.
Perhaps their plan is a
sign and an omen, not alone
for its neighborhood, but of
a vision for the entire city.
More and more people, ap-
parently, are opening their