42 
THE CITY BEAUTIFUL. 
With the rapid expansion of Honolulu, it is gratifying to notice 
symptoms indicating municipal action toward system in regulat- 
ing the construction of sidewalks in residence districts, with some 
promise of the adoption of the modern plan of having the side 
paths proper only occupying a moderate proportion of a generous 
width of parking space. There is an element of combined econo- 
my and utility in such a plan which makes a strong argument in 
its favor apart from esthetic considerations. Pending the time 
coming which many people deem inevitable, when owners will 
have to bear the burden of civic improvements upon their front- 
ages, the rapidly increasing street mileage presents a problem of 
construction and maintenance, both, which is taxing all available 
resources to solve with general satisfaction. With most of the 
streets in new additions laid out at a width of fifty feet, a park- 
ing space of twelve feet on each side will, save in exceptional cases, 
leave an ample breadth of roadway. The more narrow a roadway 
serving all necessary demands is, the less will be the area to 
macadamize or pave, and hence the greater excellence of con- 
struction which can be afforded, or a saying made which can be 
taken out in increased mileage, as circumstances dictate. Then 
when it came to maintenance, the economical advantage of reduc- 
tion of highway area would, in a period of years, be simply 
prodigious. 
It is obvious to casual observation that the methods of road 
building in the city residence districts which have been in vogue 
hitherto have been not only extravagant in cost but productive of 
positively baneful results. The traffic upon excessively wide pav- 
ing area leaves an unused margin of roadway on either side on 
which dirt accumulates and foul weeds attain rank growth, mak- 
ing what should be delightful avenues and attractive driveways 
into filthy lanes — to residents a source of germ-laden dust clouds 
in dry weather and a nuisance of mud in wet, and to pleasure 
drivers stretches of ugly wilderness to be avoided at all times. 
When the question of appearances is considered, the modern 
plan of moderate paving area and generous parking space must 
be admitted to promise more for “the city beautiful” than almost 
any improvement that can be commended to the district clubs 
having that object in primacy. Only with adequate parking space 
can trees be grown upon the street sides without having them an 
obstruction cither on driveway or side path. By the two improve- 
ments — the institution of parking space and the abolition of fence.s 
— every individual I'esidence district of Honolulu would constitute 
one handsome park, while the closer these districts would draw 
together in the march of development the nearer would this mid- 
pacific metropolis come to deserving the characterization of one 
great park comprising plain and valley, mountain and Oceanside. 
