Evening star., 1961-11-12
Cities
''d People
A Question
Of Beuuty
By ROBERT ]. LEWIS
MR.. JUSTICE DOUGLAS

AAAC SOA4SCP1 VI S4AC PuO44C
welfare is broad and inclu-
sive," he said.
"The values it represents
are spiritual as well as physi-
cal, esthetic as well as none
tary.
at is within the power of
the Legislature to determine
that the community should
be beautiful as well as
healthy, spacious as we'll as
clean, well balanced as well
as carefully patrolled."
UNDER POWERS defined
in this opinion back in 1854,
the Alexandria City Council
Tuesday night is going to
bring into focus some bother
some questions.
Shouldn't Alexandria
change more with the
times?" people have been
asking.
Shouldn't we be less salts
fled with things as they are,
and become more like other
cities?
Shouldn't we welcome the
new American look with
more enthusiasm and better
grace?
Shouldn't we 'revitalize'
our city, improve its appear
ance, change its downtown
business district, and look
more to the future instead of
to the past?"
Under urban renewal laws,
AleXandria'S City Council
has the powers to go ahead,
If 1t wishes. The hearing
next Tuesday can settle
those questions. For after it's
over the council can decide
whether to file an applica-
ton for a loan and grant
from the Federal Govern
ment to undertake a down.
town urban renewal project.
&R%
TO THE VISITOR, this
little city is charming as it
stands. 1t is mellow. It's
downtown Is small enough to
be comprehensive. 1t is
of itself, and not of Wash
ington-so near and yet so
far away.
In this old town, almost
everything is small-scale.
Overtime parking costs a 81
fine, for example; not SO, as
in Washington. The streets
are narrow, the downtown
stores are small, people
know each other better be-
cause there are fewer people.
1t is only natural that
many of the good things
about this city are taken for
granted-or viewed differ
emily by residents than by
visitors.
The quality of smallness,
for example, has turned out
to be a big local issue, par
ticularly along the main
business street. King street
should be wider, bigger, sup
ply more parking space, the
local planners say.
So the most drastic part of
the urban renewal plan
would take eight blocks of
the heart of the business dis
trict, knock down the build
ings, clear the land, widen
the street, turn it into a
pedestrian mall, and sell
land on both sides for rede-
velopment.
There has been substantial
agreement to this plan-pro-
vided controls are adequate.
But one hitch has devel-
oped that seems to go to
the philosophic heart of the
powers under which the
council will act.
&& &'*
THE HITCH involves own
ers of properties on the south
side of the 800 block of King
street. They want to restore
this block, instead of having
it demolished. They have
employed Architect Edgar T.
Jenkinson to design their
project. 1t is his design that
you see on this page.
Their hopes conceivably
can be said to rest on the
values involved in the con-
cept of the public welfare
defined by Mr.. Justice Doug
las, when he upheld the con-
stitutionality of the act al
lowing property to be con-
demned for urban renewal
purposes.
The law can determine
that a community should
ha beautiful - he said and