P.B.H. PLAYGROUND PLAN IS OFFICIALLY APPROVED

One step nearer solving the Allston urchin problem, Brooks House announced yesterday that its plan for keeping the huge Smith playground back of the Business School open during the winter months and staffed by Harvard volunteers has been favorably received by Boston Park Commissioner William Long.

Raymond Dennett '36, 2G, graduate secretary, and Arthur W. Page, Jr. '40, author of the proposal, will confer with Long in the near future and work out details.

Kept open and supervised by the public schools during vacations, the Smith playground is closed during the winter months, forcing hundreds of Allston children onto the streets to play. The Brooks House plan calls for one paid official to supervise the entire playground, who would be assisted by a staff of undergraduate workers.

Failed in Boston

"This plan was tried once before with a Boston playground," Dennett said yesterday, "but it failed because ther wasn't any snow for winter sports. I don't think we'll have that trouble this year.

"Of course we haven't figured out a few very small details, such as where the appropriation to pay the supervisor is coming from, but we hope to dispose of that problem when we see Commissioner Long," he explained.

The step is part of Brooks House's drive to provide adequate playgrounds for the poor children of Cambridge and vicinity.