WATER AND WATERFRONTS 159 



Shaker Lake parks. At any moment a major superhighway may go 

 down the center of these lakes and destroy them. This common 

 danger is found in places too numerous to mention, and highways 

 have irrevocably polluted innumerable urban shorelines. 



City after city is losing course to the new autocrats in our de- 

 mocracy. ( I somewhat hesitate to contradict our beloved First Lady 

 who said there is no longer autocracy here.) Somehow we must 

 equate human values with natural values, monetary values, and 

 utility. 



Is there a computer capable of so doing? I say, no, and I say that 

 we cannot continue to lose ground on open space and urban waters 

 to incompatible and all-devouring use. 



I urge the Federal Government to recognize what its various hands 

 are doing. I urge the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, the Housing 

 and Home Finance Agency, and the various Federal highway, power, 

 conservation, and other interests to get together and present to the 

 general public a unified action program which will state that our 

 all too pitiful open space capital be preserved and helped by them. 



The present reign of terror must be stopped forever. 



I urge the President to note this serious domestic problem. 



In passing, we cannot fail to mention the temptations to the 

 State and the local levels when the goal of Federal aid is temptingly 

 dangled. 



Urban based metropolitan park systems with ocean, lake, and 

 stream orientation will be found in Washington, D.G., Boston, New 

 York City, Cleveland, and others, but nowhere enough for present 

 or future populations. Vastly enlarged urban service open space 

 programs using stream systems and water bodies are imperative. 



Decorative uses of water in American cities are growing in urban 

 design importance. The older great fountains in Orlando, Chicago, 

 and Philadelphia are having influence but the newer downtown 

 mall fountains and pools included also in central city renewal projects 

 are encouraging. 



As recommended in the Community Renewal Plan financed by 

 the Urban Renewal Administration of the Housing and Home 

 Finance Agency, the city of Rochester, N.Y., has just published the 

 first municipally financed complete inner-city river inventory and 

 improvement study for the Genesee. Urban renewal powers will 

 be used in Rochester in selected riverfront areas. In New Bedford, 

 Boston, Philadelphia, New Haven, Annapolis, Buffalo, Louisville, 

 Nashville, Baltimore, Georgetown, District of Columbia, and others, 



