Page:John Nolen--New ideals in the planning of cities.djvu/82

NEW IDEALS IN THE PLANNING OF called park systems have been developed. The public grounds of practically all of our cities have been selected and improved by isolated and desultory proceedings. The result in most cases has led to an unnecessary waste of money and opportunity. Happily, there are exceptions. With the aid of expert advice, a few of the larger cities have worked out thoughtful and consistent plans, and in the Middle West even some small cities have conceived a system, and gradually, piece by piece, this system is being patiently acquired and executed.

Park lands bought by a city may be paid for from annual taxation, by bond issues, by special assessment, or by the application of excess condemnation.

One of the greatest influences now operating toward a better provision for parks and other recreation facilities in this country is city planning. To make parks effective, other factors of the city plan must be considered. The public works of a city are dependent one upon another. For example, it is nearly always desirable to reserve for park purposes the banks of the brooks, small rivers, and other non-navigable streams of a city, and to safeguard these channels from encroachment. This should not be done primarily because they usually afford one of the best opportunities for parks and parkways, but because they enable the community to provide adequate channels for storm-water drainage. These are necessary for safety. Without such reservations, exceptional storms are almost certain to cause disastrous floods, as the history of the American cities illustrates. Another example of inter-relation is the way in which the surroundings of parks influence the character of the parks themselves. Ugly poles and wires, preventable smoke billboards, and other nuisances of this sort destroy the very values that parks are supposed to create, and should not, therefore, be permitted. Even the character of private