4 66 



Cook County Forest Preserve District, the fact that its boundaries are 

 coterminous with the county. The Boston and Cleveland district plan, which 

 ignores existing political divisions, is the more flexible and far better adapted 

 to planning and administration in metropolitan areas than is a county unit. 

 It is perhaps impossible to lay down a general principle regarding con- 

 ditions under which a city is justified in setting up a special district authority 

 to handle outlying park problems. It would appear, however, that in any 

 urba,n community of five hundred thousand inhabitants and less the munic- 

 ipal park authority equipped with adequate legal powers should be capable 

 of handling efficiently park problems both within the city and in outlying 

 districts. The problem in an urban community of any size, however, becomes 

 exceedingly involved when the metropolitan region is within two or more 

 _states or when there are a number of satellite municipalities within the region. 



COMMENTS ON DIVISION OF FuNCTioNS^r-JrrRTSCTcTioN WITHIN 

 INCORPORATED LIMITS OF MUNICIPALITIES 



There has grown up, in a large number of municipalities in the United 

 States and in a few counties, a division of function in the general field of 

 parks and recreation represented by the existence of a park department and 

 a recreation department in the same city, and also, in the cities, a division 

 based on arbitrary or historical lines. A further division of authority in a 

 few cities has arisen out of the conditions of gifts of property or money for 

 park and recreation purposes held in trust. 



(a) Division in administration of parks and recreation. In a number of 

 cities the park department is administering the city's recreation through 

 the department itself or through a special bureau or division of recreation, 

 and in still other cities, fewer in number, there has been created a park 

 and recreation department combining the functions of both. The separate 

 park commission and the separate recreation commission or board still 

 exist, however, in the majority of cities, and very successful results are being 

 secured under this plan. In the great majority of cities very close cooperation 

 exists between these two departments, the park interests being represented 

 in many instances on the recreation commission and the recreation com- 

 mission using the facilities provided by the park department. 



(b) Territorial division within the limits of a municipality. Chicago and 

 New York City are outstanding examples of a multiplicity of park and 

 recreation authorities within the incorporated limits based on territorial 

 divisions. Reference has already been made to the number and type of 

 the different park and recreation authorities in Chicago, page 465. The 

 present territorial jurisdictional division of parks and recreation in Chicago 

 no doubt had its origin in the rivalry between or among geographical sec- 



