Calcium Chloride as a Dust-Layer and Ice-Remover By Alfred J. Paul Street Commissioner, Ann Arbor, Mich. OR a period of six or seven years, it has been the practice in Ann Arbor, Mich., to use calcium chloride for laying the dust on dirt streets. Last season the City Council passed a resolution making it possible to lay the dust on all dirt streets in the city, there being some seventy-odd miles of this type of streets. The total expense for laying the dust on these streets is $22,326.41. The same streets are being treated this year, and the taxpayers are very well satisfied with the results. In the winter when the streets become very slippery, we have been using sand, which is spread lightly over hilly streets, sharp curves and "stop" streets. A year ago last winter we had quite a little Dowflake calcium chloride W in our storehouse, and during the winter there came a time when it was impossible for us to get sand to use on the icy streets, so we decided to try calcium chloride. Our experience was very satisfactory. It is more expensive than using sand, but it does not require so many applications. One application under certain conditions will take care of two or three snowfalls. Sand, of course, answers the purpose very well in cold weather, but on days when it thaws during the day and freezes over night, sand is not so lasting, as it will freeze over and the streets will be just as slippery as they were before the sand was applied. Calcium chloride will continue to keep the ice melted until it is washed away. Airmarking for Cities ITH air travel developing ever more rapidly than the installation of aids to navigation, the marking of cities becomes, without doubt, the most immediate important aid. Much of the country remains to be covered by air maps, and even with these it is, at times, necessary to check locations. The Department of Commerce, in a statement issued last month, urges signposting the roofs of prominent buildings everywhere in the United States in the following manner: How to Mark The roofs selected should be of tile, shingle, tin or other metal, or of slate. Gravel and pitch roofs should be avoided, if possible. A simple block letter in chrome yellow with a dull black background should be used. If the roof has a slope of over 30 degrees, the sign should be painted on both sides. The width of letters such as "M" or "W" should equal two-thirds their height-other letters in proportion. A spacing of one-fourth the height should be used between letters. Letters should be not less than 6 feet in height-preferably as large as possible. Letters less than this minimum cannot be seen at a considerable height. Where gravel or pitch roofs offer the best location, wooden letters may be elevated above the roof or the sign may be painted on a dull black back ground formed of wood raised on legs above the roof proper. The name of the city should be used, with an arrow pointing in the direction of the city's airport, thus: * WASHINGTON Where raised letters alone are used, the gravel roof beneath should be so treated as to give a darker ground than the gray of the gravel. Lighting It is of primary importance that these names be illuminated at night. Ordinary flood lights may be employed, the number depending on the area to be illuminated and type of flood-light used. Airway Bulletins Advice of such air marks, with location, should be sent Aeronautics Branch, Department of Commerce, for inclusion in its Airway Bulletins or other notices to pilots. *The lettering shown, prepared by THE AMERICAN CITY to conform with the specifications given, has been approved by Ernest Jones, Chief of the Air Information Division of the Department of Commerce. The Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, in a recent letter addressed to the governors of all the states, says: "It has been brought to my attention that painting of the city's name on the highest buildings of the respective towns in your State would be a distinct advantage to both the military and commercial air pilots. "May I urge that you bring the matter to the attention of the individual Chambers of Commerce in your State, each chamber, in turn, to take it up with the business organizations in the community." City Hall Park, New York, As It Now Is The Front Cover Illustration of This Issue Shows the Park as It May Look Some Day AIRPLANE VIEW ACROSS CITY HALL PARK, NEW YORK, LOOKING WESTERLY TOWARDS THE HUDSON RIVER I N the etching by Anton Schutz which forms the front cover illustration of this issue of THE AMERICAN CITY, the artist visualizes the appearance of City Hall Park, New York, if and when Congress shall have acted favorably on the increasingly insistent demand for the removal of the old downtown Post Office to another site. The present appearance. of City Hall Park, amidst the over-shadowing mass of bordering skyscrapers, is shown in the airplane view here reproduced. The fine old City Hall and the comparatively new Municipal Building will be recognized in and near the northern end of the park (towards the right and near the bottom of the pic ture). The Post Office occupies the southern apex of the triangle-land once part of the park and still owned by the City of New York. Northeast of the Municipal Building, but not shown in the picture, is the fine new Court House, octagon in shape. Its row of Corinthian columns has a noble dignity which is not great enough, however, to keep the eye from observing the ignoble structures and streets nearby. Ugliest of all is the antiquated building occupied by the Department of Health. Perhaps some day the greatest city in the world will house its health board in a worthy structure as part of a really adequate Civic Center! LOCAL SYNDICATE ABSORBS MILLION-DOLLAR BOND ISSUE IN A SMALL CITY It is not always that a city of 30,000 has a bank with enough money and public spirit combined to buy a million-dollar bond issue. The City of High Point, N. C., has recently sold an issue of bonds for funding purposes, amounting to $1,000,000. A syndicate headed by one of High Point's banks, the Commercial National Bank, bid this in at five per cent plus a bonus of $20,770, which is a better price than any out of town competitor offered. This is a very creditable achievement for a bank in a city of this size. Also, it is worth mentioning that this same bank has bought other bonds issued by the city in past years. P. P. PILCHER, City Manager. C Budgeting the City Plan by a Long- NITIES are confronted with two distinct conflicting popular demands: one, for more and better services and physicial facilities; and the other, for relief from taxation and the costs of government. These opposing attitudes constitute a problem which, in some way, must be solved. Pointing out this need, C. E. Rightor, Chief Accountant of the Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research, and Secretary of the Mayor's Committee on Finances, City of Detroit, offers in a 28page monograph to be published this month by the Municipal Administration Service (261 Broadway, New York), the most comprehensive guide to procedure in the formulation of longterm financial programs which has yet appeared. The experiences in finance planning of such cities as Minneapolis, Newark, Kalamazoo, St. Louis, San Francisco City, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Los Angeles and Detroit, are outlined. These suggest the need of preliminary decision upon number of phases of long-term improvement planning, and the author continues: a dictate. Yet there are certain general principles suggesting a desirable organization unless local conditions may prove them impracticable. "Initially, the organization should be established by the mayor or, in the case of manager cities, by the city manager. This is in accordance with the recognized principle of the executive budget, as in general the procedure is comparable to that of Stabilizing a City's Economic In the forthcoming monograph by C. "During recent years the budget features of planning and financial control have been extended to capital expenditures. It has been found that the development of public improvements giving consideration to both the physical and economic well-being of the city requires long-term financing. A city plan, to be most effective, requires a sound economic basis for its execution. Such long-term planning will require that every improvement be considered, and that each be acquired in the order of its relative necessity to the community. With such complete plan, the general welfare of the city is assured of receiving primary consideration, while the pet schemes of influential individuals or groups, presented at an unguarded moment, are subordinated to the general plan. "Furthermore, the carrying out of a broad general plan of improvements has a tendency to stabilize the economic situation. With a definite program for completing public improvements, as to the time both of acquiring and of financing them, the tax burden may be fairly well equalized over the period. This result is of substantial advantage to industry, merchants and home-owners. Leases, which are of growing importance in real estate transactions in our cities, may be more safely entered into by both parties to the transaction, as the tax demands may be more definitely anticipated." Organization for Preparation of Program "Some action must be taken to determine the agency by whom the program shall be prepared. Shall it be an official or non-official agency? If official, shall it be selected by the executive or by the legislative body? Shall it be an individual or a group? Shall it be a temporary or permanent organization? And shall it be salaried or nonsalaried? These are questions to be answered, it may be assumed, largely as the local circumstances budget making. In some instances, of course, the compiling agency might be selected by the city commission, as in a straight commission type of city, or by a board of estimate, or other specially created budget authority, such as is found in Minneapolis or Multnomah County (Portland), Oregon. "Presumably the agency would be an official one, in order to assure the cooperation of the public officials and serious attention to the final report. In the absence of proper initiative by those in public office, however, it is conceivable that a private organization, such as a planning association, chamber of commerce, bureau of research, or citizens' committee, might formulate its ideas of the desirable trend of civic improvements. "The program, preferably, should be outlined by a representative and responsible group of citizens, rather than by any one person. Owing to the importance of the financial phases of the program, citizens having bank connections should predominate, although it is desirable to have also representatives of the retail and wholesale business, manufactories, and real estate interests. Possibly a group of from five to twelve members is the most practical size for a committee. The members would, of course, serve without stipend, although it may be necessary to employ a salaried secretary. "As will be indicated later, such committee pref-erably should be a continuing body, in order that the program may be revised, as conditions are sub stantially altered." Scope of the Program The importance of defining, at the beginning of the committee's work, the scope of the program is emphasized by Mr. Rightor. This will include such questions as: Shall it be limited to the city government? Shall it include quasiindependent boards, such as the publicly owned utilities, parks, forests, etc? Shall it include the board of education and library board, either or both of which may have jurisdiction beyond the city limits? What shall be its relation to the county government? Several paragraphs are devoted to the importance of determining the classes of improvements to be considered, the possible means of financing them and the period to be included in the program. Official Cooperation Necessary The author recognize the fact that no longterm program can be successful without the wholehearted cooperation of the public officials concerned. On this subject and on the procedure of formulating the program, he says: "It is obvious that, in preparing a program having to do with the several administrative departments of the city, the cooperation of the public officials is essential. The departments are ultimately to expend the funds and to assume responsibility for services made possible by the improvements. Each official idealizes the service which his department might render were the facilities to be made available. He should be authorized to state his ideals as a help in formulating the program. The extent to which this cooperation may be assured depends upon the organization of the city government. It is assumed here that the mayor or manager may obtain such departmental estimates merely by a formal request addresed to each department head, and that even such independent agencies as the board of education and other elected officials will voluntarily comply, since the results will benefit all. "In general, the formulation of a long-term improvement program involves the following procedure: "1. Enumeration of improvement projects, by departments and projects, and the estimated cost of each "2 Determination of means for financing each project, and total required revenues from each source "3. Determination of the legal and practical limitations upon each means of financing, during the period "4. Correlation of total available revenues from all sources with the estimates of expenditures, in total, and by projects "5. Recommendation of a definite program of improvements by departments and projects, and means of financing them." The principles recently suggested for Cinnati's long-term financial program are outlined, and the step-by-step procedure recommended. for other cities is discussed in some detail. Disposition of Program After submission of the program to the mayor, manager or other official or body which appointed the committee, the importance of due publicity, and of consideration and action by the legislative body of the city, are pointed out. The author questions the advisability of putting the program to a vote of the people. On this subject he says: "It is doubtful whether such program should be put to a vote of the people, but this is a matter for determination not by the committee but by the executive and the legislative body. It is questionable whether the public at large could get a complete understanding of the program without giving it the same or comparable consideration as the members of the committee have given. The amount involved might appear excessive, unless a carefully pursued educational campaign were to precede the referendum. This is regardless of the proposed means of financing. Several cities have submitted programs to the voters, and the result was not uniformly favorable. "It may be, however, that a vote of the people upon certain phases of the program would be desirable if local budget, tax or bond limitations might be overcome by popular approval. For example, in Detroit, a charter limit of two per cent upon the annual budget (exclusive of schools and library) includes bonds authorized by the council. When the voters approve a bond issue, the budget does not include the item or purpose of such authorization, whether for operation or an improvement. Thus, popular approval of bond issues releases such additional amounts for the purposes included in the budget. The voters of Detroit, accordingly, have approved during recent years bond issues totaling nearly $100,000,000. It is obvious that, with such a budget limitation, it might be desirable to have popular approval of a bond issue for an extensive public necessity, the cost of which when included in the budget would unduly restrict the funds required for ordinary operating purposes." Conclusions In conclusion Mr. Rightor expressed the belief that cities will more and more turn to such long-term finance and planning programs for at least a partial solution of their difficulties He predicts that the average business man serving upon a committee to draft a forwardlooking program of improvements for his city will find that the city has many difficult prob lems, which require careful decision upon the part of the public officials in behalf of the tax payers; and that the continuing cooperation and conclusions of bankers, realtors, lawyers, industrialists, etc., as representative leaders in the community upon these pressing problems, will prove of invaluable assistance to, and will be welcomed by, the governing officials. D Present Status of the Science of Water Softening By Charles P. Hoover Water Softening and Purification Works, Columbus, Ohio EVELOPMENTS in water softening will be described in the following order: (1) Handling of Chemicals; (2) Mixing Devices; (3) Dorr Clarifiers; (4) Methods for Further Reducing Hardness; (5) Substitution of Zeolite for Soda-Ash to Remove NonCarbonate Hardness; and (6) Recarbonation. which they are subsequently fed into the water by gravity. Figure 1 shows a penumatic conveying installation to be installed at the new Marion water-softening plant. It is similar to the one installed at the new Springfield, Ill., watersoftening plant. The installation consists principally of: vacuum pump, conveying line with Unloading and Elevating Chemicals to Storage intake nozzle, receiving station, and air filters. Bins Methods for handling, storing and applying large quantities of chemicals were crude in the past. Large quantities of chemicals can now be economically handled by unloading them from the cars by means of power shovels or by means of pneumatic conveying devices, and they are cheaply elevated into bins, from The pump produces a vacuum through the filters, receiver and conveying line. The nozzle of the conveying line is inserted into the lime or soda ash to be unloaded and elevated. The high velocity of air carries the material to the receiving station. On entering the receiver the velocity of flow is reduced by the sudden increase in volume in the chamber, and the mate FIGURE 1. PNEUMATIC CONVEYING EQUIPMENT FOR UNLOADING CHEMICALS FROM CARS AND |