134 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



not to build. It is in this direction that I think we have to direct a 

 great deal of our effort. 



I am thinking particularly of a situation, a current battle, that 

 will go on for another four years or longer, whatever is necessary, to 

 save a very magnificent, not a good park, but a magnificent park, the 

 Brackenridge Park in San Antonio which is threatened by an ex- 

 pressway. This is a classic case because most controversies with 

 regard to the route of an expressway involve a parkway, a play- 

 ground, a college campus, a zoo, or some special kind of garden. 



It so happens in this case that the proposed expressway invades 

 all of these things in one wholesale swoop, not only crosses over rec- 

 reational area, destroys a Girl Scout camp and nature trail, cuts across 

 a flood basin where water went up to a very high height with 

 recent floods, crosses over a roller coaster, over a huge dam, cuts 

 through a college campus, blocks off the extension of the municipal 

 school gymnasium, blocks off the entrance for the east side of the 

 school stadium, practically destroys the sunken gardens, and on 

 and on and on. 



If we are to be concerned with the kind of problem facing us, 

 and I would like to balance or redress a little of this in balance in 

 tone, there are many important things in this country we must save, 

 but it is no good trying to save with one hand what we are losing 

 with the other. I fear that this is not understood and is retained in 

 all of our thinking. I think this is terribly important to keep in mind. 

 Where the fight is being carried on, we have to get a little bit more 

 direct action. Beauty is now politically sacrosanct. The President 

 of the United States has made it so. 



I remember a meeting in Reno, Nev., just a few weeks ago, a 

 meeting of the county officials of the Midwest and Western States. 

 The county officials in the western areas understand what is being 

 talked about. The problem is what kind of programs can be 

 developed at the Federal level and through the Federal impact and 

 I think we ought to face up to this as a reality. My specific sugges- 

 tion would be that the rest of this session be combined with other 

 sessions on the design of highways and that we try to get the Presi- 

 dent's message to all of the agencies. 



A DELEGATE. We are using the regional planning vehicle. 

 If you are not using it in your part of the country, let me 

 recommend it to you. It has been demonstrated that if districts are 

 organized and coordinated with the State and Federal governments, 



