plans, collects its own revenue, builds its own public facilities without regard to the regional aspects of each of these functions.

Such a patchwork or potpourri mixture has not achieved an economical, efficient solution to regional problems and has in some instances aggravated some of the very problems it sought to resolve. Mr. Chairman, the time has come for the Federal Government to lend a hand to urban areas by providing for coordinated, overall guidance, consultation and assistance to the States and local govern

ments.

Cities are indispensable to culture, and the generators of civilization; they must be redeveloped to update physical plants and social environments. Their development must be coordinated with the satellite suburbs. Contrary to the expressed opinion of many, the suburbs are distinctly dependent upon the central city. Note Webster's definition of the suburb as:

A region or place adjacent to a city; an outlying district of a city; a town or village so near that it may be used for residence by those who do business in the city in the plural, collectively, environs; suroundings; outskirts; hence any adjuncts of place.

For years many cities existed without suburbs, but the suburbs owe their very being to the proximity of the city as the hub of trade and industry and the seat of learning and culture. Together the city and the suburb constitute the metropolitan area, and it is only together that their urban problems can be solved.

There is a pressing need for cooperation, coordination, and direction in the areas of metropolitan development and urban redevelopment. A Cabinet-level Federal agency could effectively meet the need, and eliminate such dilemmas as:

(1) Miles of highways which may be useful to countryside, but which in many instances worsen traffic in the city.

(2) The eradication of one slum, without proper planning, at the same time that a new slum in being formed.

(3) The fragmentation and overlapping of governmental units in metropolitan areas, with each unit attempting to solve its problemsproblems which in many instances are similar and overlapping, and whose solutions could best be handled jointly and cooperatively.

(4) The movement to the suburbs of middle-income and upperincome families and many industrial establishments, taking with them needed sources of municipal revenue at the same time that the cost of municipal services are increasing because of the demands of the lower-income groups who are migrating to the central cities.

Wilfred Owen has said, "The superiority of our economic system, our methods of government and our way to life will be demonstrated in the cities." This is a concise description of the importance of the urban centers today and tomorrow. It is inconceivable that the cities and their surrounding suburban areas can function efficiently in the midst of congestion, obsolescence, and general decay and deterioration. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that the programs of highway and urban renewal cannot be handled separately, yet without a Department of Urban Affairs, the separation will continue. There is no Federal agency which compiles and disseminates research results and helpful information dealing with the tremendous urban problems as the Department of Commerce does for the businessman,

or the Department of Agriculture for the farmer. There is no Federal department to which regional organizations can look for assistance in the solution of problems which are distinctly regional in

nature.

The urban centers are here to stay. They will continue to be the centers of commerce, industry, education, and the many other pursuits of progressive citizens. The Nation's economic growth and general progress depend, emphatically, upon the efficient functioning of these urban centers. Rehabilitation and economic development of the urban areas is not a local problem; it is a national problem which must be solved within a national framework, for these areas form the very core of our economic structure, and will be responsible for our continued economic growth and social progress.

Mr. RYAN. I should like to add that I am delighted to know that James Felt, chairman of the New York City Planning Commission is with us and will present Mayor Wagner's statement.

We are fortunate in having such a dedicated individual in the city of New York and I do know he will contribute a great deal to the deliberations of this committee.

Thank you.

Senator MUSKIE. Thank you, Congressman, for your excellent statement. I do not have a copy of your bill. It is similar though to the bills that have been introduced in the Senate?

Mr. RYAN. It is similar to the Senate bill.

Senator MUSKIE. S.1633 ?

Mr. RYAN. Yes. With some modifications. me but the principle is the same.

I don't have it with

Senator MUSKIE. I would like to ask you one or two questions. What is the number of the House bill again?

Mr. RYAN. H.R. 6065.

Senator MUSKIE. There have been two changes in the Senate bill which have been suggested and I would like to get your reaction to those suggested changes, if I may.

First of all, it has been suggested that the word "urban" ought to be carefully defined in such a way as to indicate what everybody feels ought to be the purpose of the department, and that is to serve the needs and the problems of all communities. Would you have any objection to that change or any comment on it?

Mr. RYAN. I think it is true, as you pointed out earlier, that this proposed department would be handling the needs of the people who live in nonrural areas. It seems to me that when the proposed department absorbs the HHFA programs it also absorbs programs which are geared to smaller communities.

Now, for instance, we have before the House, and you passed recently, a program of aid to smaller communities for the development of local facilities, sewage, air and water pollution control. I think that, by virtue of the functions which this department would handle, it is perfectly clear that it is not confined merely to the big cities.

Senator MUSKIE. I have a copy of your bill, but haven't had a chance to read it carefully. My second question is: Would your bill propose the addition of any services, any community services to those which are now provided by the Federal Government?

Mr. RYAN. It does not create services. It provides for a department which would be concerned and to which could be assigned the services by the Congress if it so desired in future legislation.

Senator MUSKIE. But under this bill it would simply provide for bringing existing services or at least a great many of them under one

tent.

Mr. RYAN. Yes, sir.

Senator MUSKIE. In other words, your bill, as is the case with the Senate bill, is designed to coordinate existing services.

Mr. RYAN. The purpose is to coordinate existing services, prevent duplication and overlapping and bring under one roof, those programs which are concerned with our urban and nonrural areas.

Senator MUSKIE. Thank you very much, Congressman.

Our next witness is Commissioner James Felt, chairman of the New York City Planning Commission, representing Mayor Robert Wagner. It is a pleasure to welcome you, sir.

STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER JAMES FELT, CHAIRMAN, NEW YORK CITY PLANNING COMMISSION, SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF HON. ROBERT F. WAGNER, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY

Mr. FELT. I might say that until early this morning, Mayor Wagner intended to be here and thought he would be here. I want to express his regrets.

Senator MUSKIE. I regret not being able to see him but we are still delighted to have you.

Mr. FELT. Thank you.

The establishment of a Federal Department of Urban Affairs and Housing is a necessary and logical step in protecting the welfare and economy of our Nation. It is logical because we are dealing with the Nation's single most important natural resources-its people-concentrated in growing numbers each year in our urban areas. And it is necessary because we now recognize that the many problems confronting our cities and towns are interrelated and-in total-present a national challenge that must be met if we are to endure as world leaders.

There are 105 million Americans living in our urban areas today who no longer live off the land, so to speak, but whose very existence depends on how that land is used. The social, economic and physical fabric of our cities and towns is more and more dependent upon our programs for housing, transportation, urban renewal and the like. These pose problems that are of vital concern to all our citizens and yet cannot be wholly resolved within the context of a town, a city or even a State.

It is more than 25 years since we took our first uncertain steps in the direction of finding answers to these problems on a Federal level. We set up the Home Owners' Loan Corporation to help families threatened by unemployment with the loss of their homes. First through the Public Works Administration and then through the Federal Housing Administration, we began to provide loans and grants to communities to help them build housing projects, thus providing jobs for thousands of unemployed workers and at the same time beginning the giant task of slum clearance, as well as providing impetus which re

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activated the entire homebuilding industry and helped private enterprise build millions of homes throughout the length and breadth of our country.

As time went on, we created new agencies to meet a multitude of problems as they arose. As the agencies proliferated, there were problems of planning and coordination which had to be solved, and in time many of these agencies were brought together in the Housing and Home Finance Agency. But the problems of our towns continued to grow, not only housing but roads and highways, community facilities, transit, and recreation areas had to be provided as our urban areas went into a period of rapid population growth. In the last two decades the period including World War II and its aftermath-25 million more people were added to the Nation's urban population. The fiscal resources of the towns and cities could not keep up with the needs. New programs were set up through which the Federal Government could help programs of public health and welfare, loans and grants to help rebuild and revitalize the older parts of our cities, to build new highways, to help study and plan for the solution of the problems which the rapid development of both small towns and great metropolitan areas brought.

This growing recognition of these problems has now led to the demand expressed by a wide variety of groups in our society that their importance be recognized by having in the top councils of our Government a secretary of urban affairs and housing, just as other major segments in our national life-labor, business, agriculture are represented and their special problems given high policy consideration.

As mayor of the Nation's largest city, but, more important, as a citizen deeply concerned with urban problems, I heartily endorse the creation of this new department. The portion of our population living in our urban areas and this includes not only the large metropolitan centers but also thousands of medium-sized and small towns and cities has been growing at a rapid rate. The attendant difficulties resulting from this growth and change are only too well known. This growth is continuing and will continue. It is apparent that these problems have become of age sufficiently to warrant the creation of a Cabinet level department with the status of any other department dealing with the major problems of the Nation's foreign and domestic policy.

For many years our cities and metropolitan areas have suffered from the lack of consistent focus of our national policy on urban affairs. The programs aimed at helping urban areas provide planning services, housing, community facilities, transportation, and other needed functions, have often been conceived and administered with little conscious relation to one another. The machinery to correlate them has simply not existed. As a result, the influence of these programs in helping guide the overall development of our urban areas has sometimes been ineffective. A new department will be able to coordinate all these programs so as to make the hundreds of millions of dollars now being spent on them more meaningful, more effective, more economical, and more productive.

I think it is particularly important that one Federal Department have responsibility for both the major Federal housing and urban renewal programs, and for the programs of aiding solutions to the

urban transportation problems. Our experience in New York has demonstrated that these problems cannot be solved independently. What we should do in housing vitally affects what we should do in urban transportation. Unless we find methods for coordinating our efforts to solve these problems, we run the risk of wasting millions of Federal and local taxpayers' dollars on programs which may conflict with one another or, in any event, may create more problems than they solve.

It is not only the large cities, like New York, which would benefit from the creation of such a department. Every city, every town, even the smallest, has these problems to a greater or lesser extent. If they are not solved, they fester and grow until what might have been taken care of easily today becomes a major problem for tomorrow. The creation of this new department is not a panacea for all these ills. We in the local communities will have to do our share-as we have in the past. But I am convinced, as are the many other individuals and organizations supporting this bill, that it will give our efforts to solve these problems a major shot in the arm, and will contribute enormously to our progress toward the goal expressed by the Congress in 1949, in the Taft-Ellender-Wagner bill:

A decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family, contributing to the development and redevelopment of communities and to the advancement of the growth, wealth, and security of the Nation.

Senator MUSKIE. Thank you, Mr. Felt for that statement.
In your statement there appears the following:

For many years our cities and metropolitan areas have suffered from the lack of consistent focus of our national policy on urban affairs.

There are some people outside of New York who think of New York as the wealthiest State in the country and as a State which should have ample resources to meet problems of the magnitude posed by our metropolitan areas.

I think the record would be incomplete if we did not have some response from the representative of our largest city to this reaction. on the part of so many people around the country. Why is it that New York needs to look to the Federal Government, to the Nation, for assistance in dealing with these metropolitan area problems?

Mr. FELT. The problem that confronts most large cities of the Nation, and I do not by saying large cities, exclude smaller cities and towns, requires great coordination.

In the first place thinking in terms of cities that are the core or the hub of regions, thinking in terms of regionalism, we have cities in New York State, cities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, cities down south, cities out west that not only involve them as the center of a region within the State, but so frequently involve them as regional cores embracing two or more States. Problems that relate to regions and when I say "regions" I do not confine myself to the major cities as a region alone but each of these surburban areas, each of the communities in the region requires great coordination.

For example, I will quote an occurrence last week in New York State which I think would have its counterpart throughout the States of the Union.