STATEMENT OF C. O. HENDERSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ORGANIZATION OF PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Mr. HENDERSON. Mr. Chairman, and members of the Subcommittee. I am not Mr. Speh. Mr. Speh was expected to be here, but for some reason he has not arrived. My name is C. O. Henderson.

Our interest is in the southwest area of Washingon, around the Department of Agriculture. We have a rather peculiar situation there and have had for several years. Three years ago, they rented space from the Redevelopment Land Agency, and there has been operated there a temporary parking lot for this period of time. There are about 800 cars on that lot. We estimate that there are about 2500 Department of Agriculture employees using it. They do not know when it is going to be taken over. It is temporary.

We are asking or suggesting support in allowing a corporation to be formed by the Organization, primarily the Welfare Board of the Department of Agriculture, to be permitted to use the tract of land that lies between the 14th Street area, D Street, Southeast, and 12th Street, to the railroad. That tract of land is limited in use in that they cannot build above the elevation of the 12th Street bridge, because it is between the Department of Agriculture, the Memorial area and the Capitol.

We are proposing that, if possible, the RLA furnish this land at a reasonable price, on a 99-year lease, and that the Organization of the Department of Agriculture, the Welfare Board, operating the cafeterias as they have been for 30, 40 years, be given the privilege of building a facility on this tract of land and operating it for the Federal employees as well as the public. It is in a desirable location from the standpoint of the public in that it is close to where they make the money and also close to the areas for those who visit the southwest development area.

Mr. Chairman, our interest is in providing permanent parking facilities for those who work in the Department of Agriculture, first, and also those who might be visiting the area. Right now, it is very, very difficult for them to find space. So that is our plea, that we hope our committee will step in or at least give us some encouragement in regard to this project.

Mr. Dowdy. Your prepared statement will be made a part of the record.

(The prepared statement of Frank Speh, President, Federal Employees for Action for Transportation, and Regional Representative, AFGE, follows:)

We are most appreciative of the opportunity to appear before your committee concerning the desperate need for parking and associated problems in the District of Columbia. We represent FEAT-Federal Employees for Action on Transportation-a coordinative organization representing Federal employees in the chapters, lodges and units of the American Federation of Government Employees; Federal Professional Association; National Federation of Professional Employees; Organization of Professional Employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and also USDA Employee Council; USDA Graduate School; USDA Welfare Association. We are speaking particularly for those employees working in the District of Columbia. FEAT was established in 1963 to represent these people for the coordinated development of rapid transit, improved bus service, improved parking for employees headquartered in an around the Department of

Agriculture buildings located in the Southwest area of the District, building dispersal and related action to resolve and forestall serious problems for government employees in getting to and from their work. I will direct my remarks to the question, "Is there a real need for parking for employees in the Southwest area?” First, let me emphasize that employees of the Department of Agriculture have never had adequate public transportation. These buildings have been "off the beaten track", so to speak. Bus service requires one or more transfers for most employees who use it. As a result, a large proportion of those working in the area are forced to use automobiles. In addition to some 2,700 employees using the 800 official parking spaces, there are more than twice that number using street parking and commercial parking lots. The razing of the buildings in the Southwest and increased restrictions on street parking have imposed additional limitation on available parking facilities.

I might emphasize that cars using official parking spaces generally are fully loaded car pools, and many more have been organized to fit demand to the limited spaces on other lots. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid hardship for many employees, especially those who are physically handicapped and those in the lower grades who cannot afford high parking costs.

Plans for the large scale building program in the Southwest area forewarned the loss of parking on commercial lots. With the support of the USDA Employee Council, the Department's Employee Welfare Association leased for a parking lot a tract of land lying between 12th Street and Maine Avenue, S.W. from the D.C. Redevelopment Land Agency.

It required more than $15,000 of the Welfare Association's reserve fund to grade and surface this tract. This lot, which has been in operation for 31⁄2 years, now accommodates 800 cars which take 2,500 employees to and from work each day. This lot has also served to stabilize parking fees at reasonable rates among the few remaining commercial parking lots.

Eighty-four percent of parking fees collected on this lot are paid to the Redevelopment Land Agency. The remaining 16 percent is used to maintain the lot and keep a full time attendant on duty.

This lot is operated under a temporary leasing arrangement which means its use for parking could be discontinued at any time. It is estimated that by 197071 the land will be sold by RLA for another commercial building. The question which concerns many of us is what will 2,500 employees do for transportation when they lose their parking spaces. Construction has started on a new building at 12th and Maine Avenue on which site a commercial lot did park some 500-600 cars. So some 1000 employees have already lost their parking space on this temporary commercial lot.

One only needs to watch the lines of 5, 10, and sometimes 15 cars from all parts of the nation slowly following one another on the Mall streets to realize the critical lack of street parking in the area. In fact, there is so far as we can learn no permanent provisions being made for employees parking in this area. Some of the Department's official parking spaces are being lost to other uses. Also there is an increasing need for night and weekend parking. The USDA Graduate School's rapid increase in enrollment for evening and Saturday classes and other development of the Southwest area makes night and weekend parking essential.

What is to be done to meet this need?

There is some consolation in knowing that sometime in the future this area will be served by the rapid transit system. Although bus service has improved, it by no means is adequate, nor can we see any prospect of public transportation completely taking the place of automobiles for the Federal employee.

A proposed solution:

The USDA Welfare and Recreation Association of the Department of Agriculture has for more than 40 years met many of the employee needs such as: extending financial aid to destitute employees; providing non-interest loans to new employees to carry them until they receive their first paycheck; operating the Department's cafeterias; providing a fully staffed activities office directed by a professionally trained director which provides numerous services that in many agencies are furnished at Government expense; and operating the temporary parking lot for 800 cars. The Welfare Association is incorporated as a non-profit organization under the laws of the District of Columbia. The Association presently employs some 160 full time employees to provide its many services to Agriculture personnel. Through its various activities, it handles close to 31⁄2 million dollars per year.

This experience and managerial ability which has developed over the years could be tapped in solving the parking problem in the vicinity of the Department of Agriculture.

It is proposed that:

1. A feasibility study be made of the land lying between 14th Street, S.W., Penn-Central RR tracts and the Federal buildings on D Street, S.W. to determine if it is suited as a site for a modern permanent parking facility to serve employees and the public in that area.

2. Should it be found to be suitable for this use, make it available at either the price RLA sells land to non-profit institutions, or on a 99 year lease, which would permit it to be economically used for parking and related purposes.

3. Turn the tract over to a non-profit corporation which would be formed by the above mentioned institutions and organizations to be developed and managed. Even without such a feasibility study, it can be seen that such a parking facility would be advantageous to the area.

(1) Although a subway is contemplated, in practical effect it will be some 20 or 30 years before the outlying areas are adequately serviced by the system and parking will still be a necessary supplement to the rapid transit plan.

(2) This lot has very limited commercial value since it is within a scenic right-of-way extending from the Capitol to the Jefferson Memorial with the result that no structures can be built in that right-of-way which exceed the present topography of the land. While this would allow a four or five level parking facility, it severely limits the utility of the land for other commercial uses.

(3) At present, the only entrance and exit to this lot is on 14th Street. With a multi-level parking garage, entrances and exits might be feasible onto D Street thereby avoiding undue congestion on 14th Street.

(4) Depending on the number of parking levels which can be built, the facility would be available to employees of Agriculture, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, and other agencies in the area.

(5) It would serve to eliminate an eye sore, i.e., the RR tracts on a main tourist entrance to the city.

(6) In the event the Penn-Central Railroad finds a commuter service is feasible, the facility can serve as a station for the many thousands of employees in the area.

(7) If operated by the above organizations, who would incorporate as a nonprofit type of corporation, the facilities could be made available at a minimum cost in relation to the investment.

(8) It would definitely be within the category of a community service to that area of the city.

We need your understanding and support to develop and carry out this proposal in the interests of thousands of Federal employees working in the Southwest area of the District.

Mr. Dowdy. Mr. Broyhill?

Mr. BROYHILL. Who owns that land?

Mr. HENDERSON. The RLA. Since it is limited in its use, we thought it would be ideal for a parking facility. This is an offhand estimate. We think we could get four or five levels of parking there which would park 1,000 cars on a drive-in basis. If it were parked solid, it would accommodate more. There is also a growing need for night parking and weekend parking that we have not had in the past. This would provide that facility.

Mr. BROYHILL. Thank you.

Mr. Dowdy. I think that the thing that you were talking about, the length of time to be had in connection with the Redevelopment Land Agency, my experience would indicate that you probably will have a long, long time to use that for a parking space.

Mr. HENDERSON. We have been with them two or three years already. I do not know how long it will be. That is the reason we appeal and suggest to you that you might give a little encouragement for this facility, as we see it, it probably being the only way that we will be able to provide adequate parking facilities for the people of the Department. Public transportation is not adequate; it has never been.

Mr. Dowdy. You might even have that for 99 years under the present situation, the way they operate.

Are there any questions of Mr. Henderson?

Mr. ABERNETHY. I just want to apologize for my tardiness. I was detained at another meeting. The witness is from my part of the country, one of my constituents. I can assure you that he is a very reputable person. I am glad to have you here, Mr. Henderson.

Mr. HENDERSON. I am glad to see you, and I thank you.

Mr. Dowdy. Thank you, Mr. Henderson.

We have next the Federal City Council, Mr. Stephen Ailes.
Your complete statement will be made a part of the record.

STATEMENT OF STEPHEN AILES, PRESIDENT, FEDERAL CITY
COUNCIL; ACCOMPANIED BY YATES COOK, EXECUTIVE VICE
PRESIDENT

Mr. AILES. Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, I have with me Mr. Yates Cook who is the Executive Vice President of the organization.

My name is Stephen Ailes. I am a partner in the law firm of Steptoe and Johnson. I am also President of the Federal City Council and am testifying in that capacity.

The Federal City Council is a non-profit organization composed of business and professional people as well as clergymen and educators, who favor public and private programs which contribute to the civic development of the Nation's Capital.

I appreciate the opportunity to be heard by your subcommittee on the subject of parking which can play such an important role in making Washington a better city in which to live and do business.

Other witnesses whose business is directly affected will make clear just how serious the parking problem is in Washington. I will address myself to how the situation can be remedied.

The Council's support of a parking authority for the District of Columbia is based on this conviction: that a solution to this parking problem is a prerequisite to a balanced transportation system for the District, which, in turn, is a prerequisite to an economically healthy downtown business section. Without legislation to provide parking facilities in convenient locations, the other objectives will be stymied. It stands to reason that parking is a basic and vital component of a balanced transportation system. The people who use highways or streets must have a place at their destination to store their vehicles. Even if people choose to make use of public transportation, it is often necessary for them to drive to a bus or subway terminal where they will leave their automobiles, particularly if they are coming from some distance.

Certainly freeways are not built without extensive prior planning and neither are subways. But, at this point, parking facilities are not planned in advance according to where there is the greatest need but are developed on the basis of availability. Parking on lots comes and goes as buildings are torn down and constructed and no one has the authority to plan or the responsibility of doing so. Sites in the central business district, where parking is badly needed, are so expensive that economics dictate they be put to uses which yield a higher return on space used than do parking garages.

A parking board with the power of eminent domain would base its deliberations primarily on need for parking in a specific area, taking financial considerations into account, but not governed solely by the economics of the situation. Such a board could base its planning mainly on considerations of vehicle storage to vehicle movement and the relationship of both to other forms of transportation. Several of the bills being considered by this subcommittee spell out in detail the powers that such a parking board would have. Safeguards against arbitrary or unnecessary acquisition of property for parking have been built into these bills, in an effort to see to it that a need for such facilities has been established and that the proposed facilities will be economically feasible.

Of course, such careful planning as is contemplated in the proposed legislation would be to no avail if the parking authority does not have the necessary powers to bring its proposals to fruition. In addition to the need for arming the board with the discretionary function of eminent domain, it must also have the power to issue obligations or revenue bonds, backed by available revenues which include what is collected from parking meters in the District, and the proceeds from lease or sale agreements with private parking operators.

The Council has repeatedly taken the position that private enterprise should receive every encouragement to do as much of the total job possible, including the operation of whatever public facilities might be constructed in accordance with a planned program.

Some private parking operators testified before the Senate that they were doing better financially since the inception of a municipal parking authority which leased the operation to them than they had been in that city before. I know of other examples where that has been true.

In the District of Columbia, there are particularly strong reasons why private operators would benefit. Land which was not previously available for parking space can be made available through the power of the parking board.

There is every reason to believe that such a public-private cooperative effort at solving the severe parking problem in the District would be self-supporting. It would not need to be subsidized by the District taxpayer if the method of issuing revenue bonds is adopted. Furthermore, the Council recommends that payment in lieu of taxes to the District government should be provided in connection with any public facilities built upon what were formerly tax-producing properties. This payment would be equivalent to the real estate taxes formerly paid the District be whatever structure was supplanted by the parking garage (rather than on the business generated by the new structure) since the parking board would not be required to pay any taxes or assessments on its facilities or upon the income thereof.

Mr. Chairman, without planning, it seems apparent, there will never be a sufficient number of parking spaces where they are needed. Without a central agency, such as a parking authority, there is no body which can make such plans and expedite them. The current situation leads to traffic being impeded and the flow of traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, being dangerously interfered with, in those areas where the demand for parking space is greatest, during the hours when most employees are coming to work.