90 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



I speak as one who just came from a very difficult problem affect- 

 ing the slopes of Diamond Head Crater in Hawaii. High-rise apart- 

 ment buildings are being urged as the highest and best use of the 

 land. I think that the problem is how we can best convince local 

 officials that the policies for preserving natural beauty have long 

 range as well as immediate importance. 



MARVIN B. BURNING. We citizens will have to do the con- 

 vincing at the bottom level. However, I think we just have not 

 the full scale of the problem in mind unless we also involve Fed- 

 eral agencies to take a look at the over-all effects of the various 

 Federal programs. 



The President is talking about rebuilding America in 40 years. 

 Only a massive, an over-all dedicated attack under Federal leader- 

 ship can meet that kind of a challenge, and to do that, we propose, 

 some of us from Seattle, that legislation be enacted to make it a 

 precondition of all of the Federal assistance programs affecting the 

 urban environment that there be developed by the local community 

 an integrated plan for guiding the growth of that community. This 

 plan would include action programs affecting air and water, utility 

 lines underground, highway design, billboard control, scenic ease- 

 ments, urban design plans, rapid mass transit, sign controls, and 

 building parking and open spaces. 



I think if you cannot get the money without pulling yourself to- 

 gether there will be some incentive to pull yourself together. 



Mr. SLAYTON. To pick up your phrase, put it all together, it spells 

 help. This kind of an approach is one that has to be thought out very 

 carefully in terms of where you are going to do the most good. 

 You can have a requirement of that nature, very stringent, just as 

 you outlined it, and it will not produce anything in the way of 

 encouragement to cities to rebuild, to have good design, to plan 

 for orderly growth, so forth and so on. 



We do, at the present time, have Federal incentives. We have 

 requirements and Federal incentives to get cities to do certain 

 things, requirements in terms of local programs and urban renewal. 

 We also have a planning assistance program which is aimed to assist 

 cities and metropolitan areas to plan themselves in a very orderly way. 

 The things you have described are eligible expenditures under this 

 program. 



It is just the old question of the carrot and the stick and how you 

 produce the best results. 



