For some time, Regional Plan Association has been actively seeking reactions to tentative ideas that may help shape its forthcoming Second Regional Plan for the future growth of the New York Metropolitan area.
Reactions it got, and then some, at the 20th Annual Regional Plan Conference held November 10 in New York, a lively and provocative session attended by more than 850 planners, civic and business leaders. The turnout was all the more remarkable coming as it did the morning after the massive power failure that crippled the Northeast, a day when a New York Times survey showed only half of the employees of surveyed firms at work.
The issues discussed at the Conference, though less dramatic than the huge blackout, were no less important to the future of the 22-county Region. They included discussions of transportation policy for the Region, the creation of major new centers for the suburbs, the problems of locating high-rise apartments, the role of planning, and the meaning of beauty in the cities, among others.
These were some of the questions: Should bridge tolls be raised to keep down the number of motorists in central Manhattan? Should subway fares be increased to improve its service? Do people really want strong city centers or are they just as happy living in sprawling suburbs? Can the cities commission good architecture, or must the contracts remain a matter of political patronage? Is metropolitan government really necessary? And must the apartment dweller forever remain the leper of the suburbs?