A WELL-RUN CITY

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20511, 30 May 1938, Page 18

A WELL-RUN CITY

HOW TO IDENTIFY IT NINE ESSENTIAL POINTS Can you tell an efficient city government when you see one—or Its opposite? asks a contributor to the Christian Science Monitor. For the people who aren’t sure they can, the Chicago City Manager Committee offer nine tests simple enough to be applied with ease by the layman. No tools or measuring instruments are needed. Just a bit of sense. The tests are—1. How do the corridors of the public buildings look? Whatever the age or condition, if the city hall and the police stations and, other structures are not kept as neat and clean as reasonable effort can make them, the city government needs attention, says a booklet on the City Manager Plan just published by the committee. Courtesy and Competence i 2. What is the attitude of minor administrative officials in their deal-

tags with the public?—lf the employees of three or four unrelated branches of city government are discourteous, impatient, incompetent, or pe'rhaps merely careless, it Is clear enough that improvement is needed. 3. What is the attitude of members of the City Council towards citizens who seek information or assistance from them?—There are said to be some Illinois cities in which it is common practice for some of the members of the City Council to require a donation before they can be persuaded promptly to dispose of a legitimate request. If so, the government needs renovating. 4. What is the condition of the alleys? If alleys are dirty and garbage picked up irregularly or not at all, the city administration is either corrtjpt or incompetent.

5. What is the condition of the streets? —Modern engineering can build a smooth, durable pavement. When long stretches of new pavement are rough and wavy, when pavement only two or three years old begins to

break up the citizen can b: certain that he is getting seriously in ferior service.

6. What is the city’s traffic safety record? —In the larger city, the annual fatality rate from traffic accidents is an effective indication of the work of the Police Department, in this- field Tf it is high compared with other large cities, look out.

7. Does the city have an adequate system of public transportation?—lf the city administration cannot deal with this problem successfully it is time that a fresh approach be made through a governmental structure that can. Publicity Plans 8. Is full information on public afTairs made available to the public?— Is the public given ample opportunity to study and discuss the annual budget before it is passed? Is the public permitted to know the names and the bids of those who have bid for contracts for public works?. If the answer is “no” to such questions the citizen may well expect the worst. 9. What is the character of the reports published by the city?—T? the Mayor or manager publishes an annual report which is prompt, informative, and understandable, the city is j?robablv well governed.

Tim human ear. in some instances, can hear sounds ranging from 16 to 40,000 vibrations a second. The alpha rays shot out by radium travel 18,750 miles a second.