Keep 'Em Out

Boys and girls together, me and Mamie O'Rourke

Tripped the light fantastic on the sidewalks of New York._

In the 65 years since James W. Blake composed his hurdy-gurdy verses, New York City's population has more than doubled. Today 7,795,471 New Yorkers and 370,000 commuters trip fantastically over one another on sidewalks and subway platforms, particularly in the morning and evening rush hours. Last week, climaxing a two-year house-by-house survey, the City Planning Commission brought forth a hardheaded proposal: the only way to save New York from death by overcrowding is to regulate the use of residential buildings so that no more than 10,940,000 people can ever live in the city--compared to the 55 million who could legally crowd in under present zoning laws. Taking aim at an antiquated zoning code, the survey recommended: P: A quick halt to the conversion of apartments to rooming houses. P:Provisions encouraging ground-level plazas around skyscrapers and apartment houses; for example, buildings with extra-sized plaza space would be allowed floor space beyond the prescribed limits. P: Reduction of commercial acreage by almost 50%, with emphasis on unsightly and inconvenient "ribbon" business districts lining block after block of arterial streets in residential neighborhoods. P: Better zoning for the needs of heavy industry to keep scattered houses out of scarce plots more suitable for large-scale, big tax-paying plants. P: An increase of off-street parking facilities for New York's 1,500,000 vehicles; new apartment houses would have to provide more garage space, new commercial buildings would have to provide off-street parking. Exceptions: in business districts in downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan, the planners hoped that lack of parking facilities would persuade some drivers to travel by public transportation.

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