20 COMMISSION ON BUILDING DISTRICTS 



avenue for business use and thus secure a larger and more self-contained 

 residential area. This, it is believed, will improve living conditions and will 

 conserve values on both the business and residence streets. 



The amount of space needed for retail business purposes depends a 

 good deal on the economic condition and habits of the population. Gen- 

 erally speaking, the smaller the average income per family the larger the 

 proportion that will be spent in the purely local stores. In the case of the 

 very poor, practically the entire income is spent in the local stores. On the 

 other hand, the well-to-do make a very large proportion of their purchases 

 outside of the local area s The local retail section of a well-to-do neighbor- 

 hood may be confined to a very limited variety of shops. Consequently, a 

 tenement section requires a much larger allowance of retail business space 

 than an elevator apartment section. It is believed, however, that even in 

 the most crowded tenement sections, if business had been confined to the 

 avenues along the ends of the blocks, sufficient business space would have 

 been provided and living conditions in the side residential streets would 

 have Leen very greatly improved. In an elevator apartment section a busi- 

 ness street every second or third avenue is ample. 



. The protection of the home environment is vital to the welfare of the 

 state. It needs no argument to demonstrate that a business or industrial ■ 

 street does not furnish the most favorable environment for a home. 



Quiet is a prime requisite. The zone plan, by keeping business and 

 industrial buildings out of the residential streets, will decrease the street 

 traffic in the residential sections and thus reduce to a minimum noise incident 

 to street traffic. Aside from the increased vehicular traffic the business and 

 industrial uses disturb the quiet and peace of the residential street by the 

 crowds of employees and others incident to a business or industrial use. 

 The above evils are present even though the business or industry is in itself 

 entirely unobjectionable from the standpoint of noise. Dr. Gustave F. 

 Boehme testified that business and industrial uses on a residential street and 

 the noise and confusion incident thereto made such streets much less 

 healthful and desirable for residence purposes. He said that such conditions 

 tended to produce and intensify all kinds of nervous disorders. 



The efficient cleaning of the streets and the collection of refuse are of 

 great importance to the health and welfare of the city. The segregation 

 of uses will make it possible to adopt more efficient and economical methods 

 for each particular street or section. It is recognized that for sanitary 

 reason* a residential street should be kept cleaner than a business or indus- 

 trial street. If, however, there is a mixed occupancy, residential, business 

 and industrial, the traffic, trade wastes and litter incident to business and 

 industrial use may make it physically or economically impossible to keep the 

 street in the good sanitary condition demanded for residential use. John T. 

 Fetherston, Commissioner of Street Cleaning, testified on this point as 

 follow* : 



" It is well known that where different public conditions exi*t in 

 any particular locality, it is impossible to adopt a single uniform 



