Tri-State Area Is Willing to Pay for Planning

By RALPH SODA

NEW YORK — A survey of people in the 6,900-square-mile tri-state metropolitan area shows they favor regional planning to preserve their cities, protect their pleasant suburbs and improve transportation facilities for fast, easy access to both.

And they are willing to pay for it.

Annual Conference

The revelation was made at the 18th annual Regional Plan Association Conference in the Statler Hilton Hotel yesterday.

The survey was made by the RPA last spring of 5,600 persons living in New York City and 17 counties covered by the association.

It was the theme of the all-day conference—termed Goals for the Region Project—attended by over 1,000 persons and highlighted by a luncheon address by Gov. Richard J. Hughes of New Jersey.

The two conclusions which stand out from the survey, according to Dr. Allen Barton, director of Columbia University’s Bureau of Applied Social Research, which is analyzing it, are:

"Though the great majority of those polled in the survey are suburban residents, very satisfied with living conditions as they find them, they are willing to support changes in present development trends to meet impending problems."

"And though most participants have relatively high positions and income and have backgrounds that would lead one to expect political conservatism, a large majority supported more state or federal involvement in metropolitan planning ... and more public investment and controls on development."

Approve Planning Agency

Barton said nearly two-thirds of those surveyed, who live outside the city limits, approved a metropolitan planning agency with limited enforcement powers delegated to it by the three states, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

More specifically, according to Barton, they saw the improvement of public transportation as the most critical need—principally rail transportation to facilitate commuting to their jobs.

And they supported the creation of tri-state transportation machinery, financed by state, federal, county or municipal support to get the job done.

In line with this, the majority of those queried, he said, favored the "clustering" of industries and businesses’ jobs in centers that could be readily served by public transportation, "rather than have them scattered over the area or strung out along the highways."

Since real estate taxes (differing from town to town) are thought to be one reason for this "scatter tendency" of industry, the majority of those surveyed indicated a willingness to reduce the effect of these local taxes on land use decisions.

Oppose Highway Building

So strong were the respondents on the need for public transportation, that 36 per cent opposed major highway construction as an alternative to public transportation. Thirty-five per cent favored some highway building and only 22 per cent strongly favored more highway building, Barton said.

"This drew into focus the most significant results of the survey, showing readiness by those exposed to all facets of the problem to accept some sort of subsidization for public rail transportation."

In the words of RPA Director Amory H. Bradford at a panel discussion on how to improve transportation:

"It seems generally agreed that the general theme is that improvement of commuter railroad service is needed... that the railroads cannot be run at operational loss. And some means must be found for local, state or federal governments to cover this deficit."

Panelist Thomas M. Goodfellow, president of the Long Island Rail Road, put it more precisely.

"The ‘only way,’" he said, is the creation of some regional group or authority that will "find out what people want in the way of service, contract for it and have the excess picked up by the authority."

Goodfellow said the crux of the problem is that people don't want to pay the full cost of their ride on the railroad. "And I don't blame them," he said, noting that roads and highways are subsidized and people, therefore, don’t pay the full cost of their rides on them.

Asked if he was recommending that highway construction be stopped, he said, "to a degree."

"I say stop building highways and start building up the railroads."

Raps Lack of Action

Goodfellow was critical of "too much talk." He called for immediate action to save public transportation. He said three years ago he was invited to a similar seminar and that to date "nothing has been done, but we’re still talking about the same things."

He cited as "a move in the right direction" would be the approval by New Jersey of a plan to make the Tri-State Traffic Committee "a commission with powers to act."

His charge of inaction drew a retort from William J. Ronan, chairman of the Tri-State Transportation Committee. Ronan said "a great deal has been done."

He referred particularly to the Park and Ride experiment in New Brunswick scheduled to go into operation soon as a "major step."

He also cited the experiment in Rockland County, New York, to run commuter buses from New York City to connect with New York-bound trains in Tarrytown, N.Y., and studies on the feasibility of paving the New York Central’s West Shore tracks for an express bus run to New York as examples of progress.

But he agreed with the need for improvement on a regional level of public transportation facilities and planning.

This echoed the luncheon appeal of Hughes for support of the bill of U.S. Sen. Harrison Williams, D-N.J., for establishment of state, metropolitan or regional planning agencies.

These agencies, said the governor, "would be required to review and make comment on applications involving federal funds falling within metropolitan areas under their jurisdiction... but would be no veto power involved."

He said the "most fruitful approach" to metropolitan problem coordination among governments of all agencies and such voluntary groups as the RPA.

Stressing the role of the state as a key motivating force, Hughes declared, "If we are to have such regional plans and programs, there must be positive and sustained state leadership."

Hughes, introduced as a "proven friend of planning" by RPA President James S. Schoff for giving legal status in New Jersey to the RPA after his predecessor, Gov. Robert Meyner, refused, called for "more team effort" in regional planning.

He cited the "long record of cooperation with other states" that New Jersey enjoys, recalling only "one dark spot."

This, he said, came when action by "our sister state of New York would have and could have resulted in the lowering of standards of control, so that a pure, natural stream (the Hudson River) would have become a completely polluted water resource."

But, he added, "I am glad to say that our protest remains under consideration by the state of New York and I hope the consideration will be favorable."

Following the luncheon, the assembly convened for seven panel discussions on the goals of the RPA which include beside transportation:

Finding resources to make cities more livable, keeping older suburbs attractive, planning the future of outer areas, the role of business in realizing the regional goals, Protestant Church planning in the region and a critical analysis of the region’s goals as revealed in the survey.

Would Accept Industry

The survey results also showed the people interviewed would:

Accept industry in their communities, though they had reservations about accepting certain types of industrial workers, would permit garden apartments but not six or seven-story apartments and want public control and spending to protect trees, control building appearance, avoid air and water pollution and provide local and regional parks.