136 COMMISSION ON BUILDING DISTRICTS 



place for the best residences in thai particular section to line up along the 

 parks and playgrounds, and it is valuable from many points of view. 



Streets as play space 



The child spends a great deal more time out of school than in school. 

 The time the child is out of school is at least double the time it is in school. 

 If we do not develop, protect and make attractive the small neighborhood 

 places for playing, the child will play in the street, exposed to the dangers 

 of street accidents, also exposed to moral danger, through lack of super- 

 vision, such as we have on the playgrounds. The natural tendency of such 

 children is to gather together in small gangs and to develop the ethics of 

 the street gang, the fundamental point, as 1 take it, in which is solidarity 

 of feeling in opposition to the government, that is, in opposition U> the 

 police. That' is the one prevailing point of view which you find in a gang 

 of street boys. 



As the policeman is obliged to restrict their play activities and ask 

 them not to play ball for fear the ball will break windows, constantly sup- 

 pressing some of the natural play instincts these boys have, and prevent 

 them doing things which, if out in a lot and playground, would be the 

 natural and right thing to do, they very soon, even the best of them, develop 

 a feeling of resentment against the policeman, and to their minds he repre- 

 sents organized adult society and this fosters in the minds of the children 

 a very dangerous and unwholesome attitude towards society in general, and 

 a great many of them grow up with it. 



That is just one point of view in regard to the moral aspects of the 

 question. The physical side of it seems to me rather obvious. The street 

 is no place for children to play either for safety, comfort, health, or for 

 their moral and mental development. 



It is desirable to preserve the exclusive residential character of street s 

 so as to provide safer and healthier places for children to play until ade- 

 quate space can be provided. I think there are ten children playing in the 

 streets in Brooklyn to one playing in the playgrounds. Now. that is a very 

 conservative statement. That is simply because our supply of playgrounds 

 is so inadequate. The old law that no schools shall be built without a play- 

 ground has not been observed. Now we have not a sufficient supply of these 

 playgrounds. Land has become so expensive that there is no immediate 

 prospect for years to come, of our having an adequate number of play- 

 spaces distributed through the various parks of the borough. So I believe 

 the Commission is warranted in taking that situation into account and it can- 

 not be answered even by saying " Well, the thing to do is to supply these 

 playgrounds." The cost of doing that on a sufficient scale would be entirel) 

 beyond the present financial ability of the city. It would be- a project com- 

 parable to the building of the subways to start out to get sufficient neighbor- 

 hood spaces for play throughout the city. While we wish to get these spaces 

 as far as we can, we shall be grateful for any wise consideration in the 

 making of this plan which will help to make the streets where the children 

 actually do play a little more safe than they now are, and I believe that 

 end can be furthered by separating industrial from residence districts, and, 

 in so far as is compatible with the convenience of the residence sections, to 

 separate the stores also, keep them off as many blocks as conditions will 

 warrant. 



Distribution of population 



I admire the work of this Commission and its report most profoundly. 

 I think if any mistake has been made as applied to Brooklyn it has been 



