85 
or reduced with a new community policy. One example might be to 
attempt to demonstrate that the current costs for purchasing un- 
blighted open areas and for developing these areas in a carefully 
planned fashion will be less expensive (in present value dollars) as a 
preventive expense, than would be the task of redeveloping the same 
area once it became blighted (assuming that the blight arose as a 
result of inadequate planning and control). Although, at first blush, 
this argument may not seem realistic, the fact that redevelopment 
involves many more costs than just the expenses for demolition and 
reconstruction (e.g., consider the social costs to the people being 
removed) may be sufficient to tip the scales in favor of a ‘“‘preventive 
development” policy. 
Summary 
The purpose of this section was to emphasize the significance of 
legislative findings, to indicate the types of legislative findings that 
have been included in enabling legis!ation for public land corporations 
in other States, and, finally, to examine briefly the substance, scope, 
and limitations of some of these various findings. 
In retrospect, it seems fair to conclude that the significance of 
legislative findings, provided they are accurately and comprehensibly 
formulated and documented, is sufficiently powerful to permit Govern- 
ment action, that, in many aspects, would not have been permissable 
under past law. Thus, the direction is if this type of legislation is to be 
successfully proposed and implemented. What is now required is a 
rigorous and critical examination of the types of findings necessary. 
In short, if public sponsorship of new communities is necessary, and 
if public involvement in the planning and development of new com- 
munities is something that, in fact, benefits the public, both economi- 
cally and socially, and if these benefits cannot be matched by other 
types of public or private problem-solving mechanisms, then these 
facts should be demonstrable. If it cannot be so demonstrated, then 
the utopian notions of new community development must be cast 
aside and more practicable solutions should be sought. In any event, 
this is clearly the direction for futurere search. 
B. HOME RULE DILEMMAS 
One of the most striking features of the political geography of 
Massachusetts is that it contains no territory that is not incorporated 
into one of the Commonwealth’s 312 towns and 39 cities. '°? The 
process of incorporating towns in Massachusetts hit its peak between 
the years 1775 and 1799, declined generally through the 19th century, 
and ceased entirely after 1920.1° Similarly, incorporation of cities, 
first permitted by Constitutional amendment in 1821, ceased by 1923 
with the establishment of the Commonwealth’s 39th city. Since the 
1920’s not only has there been little tendency to diminish the number of 
municipalities in Massachusetts,!” but the general court, when pe- 
titioned for the consolidation of two or more cities or towns in recent 
years has refused even to consider the possibility.’ 
109 Bureau of Governmental Research, University of Massachusetts, Intermunicipal Relations in Mas- 
saghusetis 31 (1956) (hereinafter cited as Intermunicipal Relations). 
111 Legislative Research Council, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Report Relative to Municipal Home 
Rule (Proposed Constitutional Amendment) 88 (1956) (hereinafter cited as Municipal Home Rule). 
112 Intermunicipal Relations, supra note 145, at 2. 
113 National League of Cities, Department of Urban Studies, Adjusting Municipal Boundaries: I- 
Practice 177 (1966) (hereinafter cited as Adjusting Municipal Boundaries). 
