GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL OF PARKS 463 



among park governing authorities, it is highly desirable that a summary at 

 least of the reports of all park authorities be published annually. 



In Regard to the Acquisition and Administration of Properties. 



None of the powers delegated to park boards is more important than 

 those having to do with the acquisition of property and the extent of terri- 

 torial jurisdiction, with the attendant problems of planning for future 

 development and of relationships and responsibilities with which other local 

 groups are concerned. 



1. Acquisition of properties. In all municipalities (villages, towns, 

 cities and counties) where parks are administered by a plan other than a 

 park board, the acquisition of properties is a power exercised directly by 

 the governing body of the municipalities and counties and delegated to the 

 municipalities and counties by the states. Under the park board type of 

 governing parks, the board or commission usually is empowered to acquire 

 properties in various ways on its own initiative, but even under this plan 

 of park government the acquisition of properties is often subject to the 

 supervision and control of the city council or the county board of super- 

 visors or county commissioners. (For detailed consideration of various 

 ways of acquiring properties, see Chapter VII on "Park Financing," Section 

 on "Acquisition and Permanent Improvement of Properties," pages 471-491.) 



2. Extent of territorial jurisdiction of park governing authorities. Every 

 municipal park governing authority should have the power to acquire, 

 develop and operate properties and facilities both within and without the 

 incorporated limits of the municipality. There are a number of reasons for 

 this extra territorial jurisdiction. 



(a} The development of rapid transit lines and especially the wide- 

 spread ownership of private motor conveyances have increased greatly the 

 mobility of the population of every municipality. The effective radius of 

 this mobility for week-end excursions is between fifty and one hundred 

 miles from any given center of population, and for longer vacation periods, 

 such as camping one or more weeks, the effective radius may be several 

 hundred miles. For daily vacation trips the effective radius may be as far 

 as fifty miles at least. 



(b) The modern city environment lacks several elements vitally neces- 

 sary to the very life of the people elements that can be provided only 

 through a more or less naturalistic environment. It is therefore important 

 in park planning to provide, in addition to open spaces of a number of types 

 within the city, both small and large outlying spaces where environmental 

 conditions will be as completely opposite as possible to urban conditions. 



(c) Because of the difficulty of changing fundamentally old built-up 



