Planners' Peanuts

Local politicians sling mud with such obvious disregard for the validity of their charges, that the interested citizen can usually gain only a dramatic diversion by following their activities. The latest explosion at City Hall, however, reaches much deeper than the usual headline-grabbing maneuver. In effect, it is a public announcement that all efforts at either implementing Urban Renewal or continuing planning work have for the moment ground to a halt.

The Planning Director has resigned, along with a large part of the Planning Board. The Assistant Planner's position has long been vacant, and the other positions in the planning office are filled only temporarily, with men working sporadically and usually on items in no way related to planning.

Urban Renewal has gotten no farther. The city had promised the Federal Government to hire an Urban Renewal Coordinator, appoint an Urban Renewal Authority, and set up an agency to enforce the Housing code, all by October 1955. It has thus far done nothing except put a token item in the budget for a Coodinator, and delay action. The city manager, like Diogenes, is looking for a man. The trouble is that he wants a good man to take a bad job, and like Diogenes, the problem is insoluble.

The situation turns in a vicious circle. The planners quit because the city does not pay them enough. The salary scale runs $500-1500 below that for comparable Massachusetts cities. The city does not pay the planners enough because it feels that the planners don't do anything, and the reason they don't 'do' anything is that the city has not implemented their suggestions.

Sooner or later, the city must, come out of the political smoke and make a choice, for or against Urban Renewal. If it wants Renewal, it will have to appropriate enough money to hire planners, coordinators, and inspectors. Such a move will pay for itself, since a planned city is a more taxable city, and the planning office total about two tenths of one percent of the total tax income. If the city does not want Renewal, it should stop wasting its time, energy, and money in half way measures.