PARKS AND OPEN SPACES 125 



scraped buffer areas between the expressway and the neighborhood 

 but to yield developed park and play areas as well. The Cross-Bronx 

 Expressway in New York in its 5.6-miles length yielded no less than 

 22 playgrounds or sitting areas and this without excess land taking. 

 Strong leadership, simple legislation and zoning, good public re- 

 lations and, hopefully, an enlightened public are what is needed to 

 do the trick. There are, unfortunately, no miraculous nostrums or 

 universal panaceas and those who promise them delude us, willfully 

 or otherwise. 



Mr. WASHINGTON. A preacher was called to a church. His 

 first sermon was, "Repent." For the next three Sundays he preached 

 the same sermon. Finally a good deacon asked him, "Reverend, 

 aren't you going to change your sermon?" He said, "No, I do 

 not think so, until somebody repents." 



I am particularly impressed with Mr. Vollmer's statement that 

 planning principles are not new. It brings me to the one charge 

 that this conference would have for planners and developers today. 

 We have to repent if our cities are going to look any better. 



Mrs. Johnson accepted the challenge of urban beautification and 

 formed the "First Lady's Committee for Beautification of the Na- 

 tion's Capital." This committee's structure and performance may 

 well form the model for similar beautification committees in every 

 city of our Nation. 



On the occasion of the initial meeting of the committee, I observed 

 that we are all pleased with the beautification of the Mall and the 

 beauty of the Arboretum and other plantings, but that a really sig- 

 nificant dimension would be achieved in the Washington urban com- 

 plex when a youngster had an opportunity to plant a tulip or an 

 azalea in his own yard. He can then understand the care, the labor, 

 the discipline involved in the development of this flower or plant. 

 This process will permit him to understand and appreciate the beauty 

 of the Mall and the Arboretum. 



Parenthetically, I have been very busy planting azaleas around 

 the city since that time. We must expose all of our citizens, young 

 and old, to area environments which have beauty, joyfulness, interest, 

 as well as character and dignity. In too many instances, our urban 

 and open spaces are characterized by what I call the four D's. They 

 are dull, dreary, dirty, and depressing. 



We can only free our urban citizens from this drab and dreary 

 condition by applying new concepts of physical design and social use 



