GENERAL PLANNING OF A PARK SYSTEM 59 



cially if the report is to be used for popular educational purposes. Most 

 people are mentally lazy and many have difficulty in visualizing what they 

 read from the printed page. Any method that will help to visualize a fact, 

 a condition, a project or a conclusion is of the highest importance in the 

 compilation of such a report. The methods employed by planners in pic- 

 torial, map and diagrammatic representation are very numerous. Only a 

 few samples of these methods are presented in this section. (See illustrations 

 throughout this chapter, pp. 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 38, 42, 46, 52, 56, 58, 62, 

 and 66.) Those who wish to go into the subject further will find, through a 

 study of the various illustrated reports listed in the bibliography at the close 

 of this chapter, many examples of the methods used by different planners. 

 The local committee or public authority sponsoring the study and 

 formation of the plan should give special thought at the time the arrange- 

 ments are made for the study to methods of publishing the report and plan 

 when completed. This is a general rule applicable to those situations where 

 the report is to be used for educational purposes as well as a guide to public 

 officials. It should be issued in an edition large enough for very extensive dis- 

 tribution among the various organized groups in the community and among 

 individual citizens whose influence may be valuable in realizing the plan. 



PUTTING PLANS INTO EXECUTION 



The making of studies, the formation of plans, the building of programs, 

 are all of little avail unless means are devised for putting plans into effect. 

 This important part of the task is largely a matter of education of the public. 



The Chief Objectives. The study of the findings of park and recreation 

 surveys usually shows the following objectives to which educational propa- 

 ganda must be directed. 



1 . The need of additional legal authority either for the establishment of 

 park programs if none exist or the extension to legal powers already in the 

 possession of an existing administrative authority. This may involve action 

 by a state legislature, an amendment to a city charter by a vote of the 

 people themselves or passage of an ordinance by the municipal govern- 

 ment. With some of this legislation the public is often little concerned. 

 Where charter amendments are in question, however, the public is likely 

 to take a keen interest, and it is most important that the citizens be kept 

 fully and accurately informed of the meaning and scope of the proposed 

 legal measure. 



2. The need of additional sources of revenue for parks and recreation. 

 To meet this ever present need, municipalities may issue bonds, secure 

 annual appropriations, establish or increase a special tax. Any one of these 

 methods of securing funds will arouse a great deal of interest, since there 



