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pen to be the principal sponsor of it. It is not before this committee. It is before the Senate Committee on Government Operations. Mr. NICKERSON. I will, Senator.

I support in particular those provisions of title II and title VI which make it possible for local governments to ease their plight in the financing of sewers, water, and other utility systems, and section 905 which liberalizes the provisions for the building of senior citizen housing.

I believe that the new title VII, which provides encouragement for persons to engage in careers in the field of urban planning and development, is a constructive aspect of the housing legislation. And in Nassau County we have many good public and private institutions of higher learning. We are in the midst of the continuing phenomenon of suburban development.

We think we can play a vital role in providing information and continuing research.

Undoubtedly, there is a shortage, we have felt, of properly trained manpower in this field of urban planning and development.

I am happy to note too the provision which encourages the setting aside of land for future development. However, there are two aspects, in particular, which I would like this committee to consider.

The legislation addresses itself primarily to the older urban areas and to those still in the process of rapid growth. It does not consider as extensively those areas which have just gone through a period of vast expansion such as Nassau County.

Now, one of our chief local problems is the necessity to acquire as much open space, particularly for park and recreation purposes, as is commensurate with the needs of our population.

We recently had a distinguished committee in our county on recreation which suggested to us that our county needs 10,000 additional acres for recreation purposes alone.

We have lagged behind in this. This is a vast amount of very valuable land, and unless there are at least matching grants, as there are for other public purposes, our recreation, park, and conservation needs may well not be fulfilled.

While I do not basically believe that Federal aid is the answer to all of our prayers, I do recognize that the heavy tax burden on local government already in existence makes it impossible on our own to develop the kind of community which the present and future population will require.

Since many resources throughout the Nation have to be rechanneled through the Federal Government, I believe its participation in the acquisition of open space, both as a measure for creating the recreational facilities required, as well as a measure of conservation, is one which must be further developed in this matter of housing legislation. I think the rest of what I have to say is in my statement. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you and to support this bill. Senator CLARK. Thank you very much, Mr. Nickerson.

Senator Javits.

Senator JAVITS. No questions. I just wanted to hear the county executive of one of our most populous counties. This county has a tremendous problem.

Senator CLARK. Senator Tower.

Senator TOWER. No questions.

Senator CLARK. Thank you.

Perhaps you would answer this question born of ignorance. Are you, in effect, a county manager, or are you elected?

Mr. NICKERSON. No, I am elected. I have a 3-year term, which

ends this year.

Senator CLARK. Did you replace what used to be county commissioners in the old days?

Mr. NICKERSON. No. We had a county charter which became effective in January of 1938, which set up an elective chief officer similar to a mayor, and I have comparable duties.

Of course, we have many local governments, towns and villages and school districts, which do not come under my jurisdiction. But basically I think it is analogous to mayor.

Senator CLARK. Is it a partisan ballot?

Mr. NICKERSON. Very much so.

Senator CLARK. Are you a Republican or a Democrat?
Mr. NICKERSON. Democrat.

Senator CLARK. Thank you very much. I would have thought so. Senator JAVITS. This is a very unique type of approach. We have it in a number of counties. And it is optional with the counties.

Mr. NICKERSON. Yes. There is now legislation where the counties can create their own charters. They do not have to go back to the legislature. And it started originally, the charter movement, with AI Smith in the 1920's, who recognized that these great suburban counties just could not be run by a caucus of supervisors

Senator CLARK. I wish we had it in Pennsylvania.

Thank you very much.

Mr. NICKERSON. Thank you very much, Senators.

(Mr. Nickerson's prepared statement follows:)

TESTIMONY OF NASSAU COUNTY EXECUTIVE EUGENE H. NICKERSON

I am pleased to have the opportunity to appear before this distinguished committee to support S. 2468.

First, let me briefly indicate to you that I am the chief executive officer of Nassau County, which today has the largest population of any suburban county in the Nation. We have just reached 1,400,000, making us a major metropolis, and larger than many entire States. We have witnessed, since World War II, a vast expansion in population with all of the attendant problems of suburbanization, especially those which involve raising enough funds to provide municipal services and to support, in particular, education. In some segments of the county, I am unhappy to report, we have the highest local tax rates anywhere in the Nation.

We have had to learn many things the hard way. In the absence of a comprehensive development program many of our local units of government, particularly school districts, were permitted to grow without any balance in the economic base. Thus we not only have high taxes in some areas, we also have a considerable variation in local tax rates. But apart from fiscal inequities which also include inequities in assessment between speculators owning vacant land and the homeowners, there are inequities arising from inadequate representation at all levels of government. There are deficiencies relating to our physical environment which are of considerable relevance to the proposed housing legislation.

The rate of our population increase has slowed down. We do not anticipate more than about 20,000 to 25.000 net increase per year in the next decade-it is the nature of our growth which concerns us. For example, our age profile as a county is rapidly changing. Between 1963 and 1970, for example, we anticipate that the number of our high school students will double from about 18,000 to 37,000. This increase in young people will make it necessary for us to provide ap

propriate housing, recreation, jobs, schools, and colleges. At the same time, the parents of these children are not getting any younger. Again, in the age group above 60, we are expecting a rapid rise of persons who also require facilities which, by and large, are not in existence in the county today. I am speaking in particular of senior citizen housing of which there is a major lack and one to which I believe we must pay attention. But before I return to the aspect of facility requirements, many of which are the subject of the legislation before you, I should like to stress one vital element which affects the well-being of my constituency.

I am referring to the great need to place increasing emphasis on esthetic and conservation controls in order to vouchsafe, or shall I say, salvage, what remains of the beauties which Nature has bestowed on our country. I am appalled by the lack of sensitivity reflected in public policy-especially at the local level which controls zoning-which has failed to take into consideration adequate esthetic controls in the development of our land.

As I view the basic purpose of this legislation, I believe it is designed to provide adequate housing for all. But I would like to think that, in addition, it recognizes the vast pressures on our natural resources, that it recognizes the implications of "spread city," and that it will, therefore, supplement its basic aims by insuring that future development will be less destructive, less exploitative, less insensitive than what has transpired in recent years.

I agree with the author, Peter Blake, who recently in his "God's Own Junkyard" wrote that "it is not too late for us to learn to see again and to learn to care again about the physical aspects of our environment," and that "ours can be a reasonably civilized society if enough of us can be stirred into action."

This aspect of physical environment is of particular concern to our county where we have only a limited amount of open space remaining which can be considered scenic and attractive. We are going to need all the help we can get, and this is not a matter of financial aid alone, but also one of moral support which gives public officials a mandate to make sure that our natural attributes are preserved as much as possible.

There is another purpose in this legislation which, while not explicit, I feel will play a major role in our society. I refer to what has been called economic conversion-conversion of a certain amount of our national resources devoted to the Nation's defense effort into more peaceful purposes. While I am not competent to discuss the merits in terms of our actual defense requirements in the light of changing international developments, I do think that, to the extent that excess economic output is available, there can be no better objective than to rehabilitate our cities and our land which, over the years, have become “uglified" and offensive to our well-being.

I, therefore, support this legislation on the grounds that it will encourage construction and rehabilitation to give us better places to live and, therefore, a more wholesome community in which to raise our young. I support it because it will, at the same time, assist us in channeling our economic resources in such a way as to alleviate the economic strains which are inherent in any change in national policy.

In reviewing the recommended legislation in S. 2468, I notice that it applies more extensively both to our neighbor to the east, Suffolk County, where large tracts of land are still undeveloped, and our neighbor to the west, New York City, where the existence of dilapidated and deteriorated housing exists. But our future well-being depends in large part on the well-being of our neighbors. We are fortunate in Nassau County that only 4 percent of our housing is, at present, in a deteriorated condition. This is the least percentage of any of the counties in the New York metropolitan area. However, dilapidated housing does exist, and our housing stock is getting older. We must be prepared, therefore, to prevent erosion, such as has taken place in other parts of the country. I believe, therefore, that Nassau County could benefit from much of the existing legislation.

Parenthetically, it does seem to me appropriate to elevate the Housing and Home Finance Agency to Cabinet level. It is plain that in the postwar period most of the people of this country live in urban-suburban areas and an everincreasing proportion will do so in the foreseeable future. Already plagued by lack of adequate political representation, particularly in the suburbs, many of the problems which have developed are not capable of solution by local units of government alone. To the extent that other segments of our economy have separate representation in our national government, we have added to our national Cabinet over the years as the need arose. The Departments of Agricul

ture, Commerce, and Labor arose in response to specific needs. The need for dealing with our urban-suburban development should be obvious to anyone. I need only mention such problems as transportation, sewage, conservation, local taxes. The bulk of our Nation's domestic problems today are closely allied with the very way that we live or where we live. Thus, I believe "Cabinet level" is justified.

I support in particular those provisions of the bill, title II and title VI, which make it possible for local governments to ease their plight in the financing of sewers, water, and other utility systems, and section 905 which liberalizes the provisions for the building of senior citizen housing.

I believe the new title VII, which provides encouragement for persons to engage in careers in the field or urban planning and development is a constructive aspect of the housing legislation. In Nassau County we have many good public and private institutions of higher learning, and we are in the midst of the continuing phenomenon of suburban development. We thus can play a vital role in providing informatino and continuing research. Undoubtedly there is an acute shortage of property trained manpower in this field or urban planning and development.

I am happy to note the provision which encourages the setting aside of land for future development. However, there are two aspects, in particular, which I would like this committee to consider.

As I indicated before, the legislation addresses itself primarily (1) to older urban areas and (2) to those that are still in the process of rapid growth. It does not consider as extensively those areas which have just gone through a period of vast expansion, such as Nassau County. One of our chief local problems is the necessity to acquire as much open space, particularly for park and recreation purposes, as is commensurate with the needs of our population size. A committee, which I recently appointed, on recreation, for example, suggested that our county needs 10,000 acres for recreation purposes alone. This is a vast amount of valuable land, and unless there are at least matching grants (not merely loans), as there are for other public purposes, our recreation, park, and conservation needs may well not be fulfilled. I do not basically believe that Federal aid is the answer to all prayers, but I also recognize that the heavy tax burdens on local government already in existence make it impossible on our own to develop the type of community which the present and future population will require. Since many resources throughout the Nation have to be rechanneled through the Federal Government, I believe its participation in the acquisition of open space, both as a measure for creating the recreational facilities required, as well as a measure of conservation, is one which must be further developed in this matter of housing legislation. For housing is not merely a question of putting a roof over a family's head, but it is a question of total living and cannot be considered as a separate activity.

In this connection I also wish to point out that the present law, whereby the Federal Housing Agency guarantees mortgage loans, does not encourage a sufficient amount of landscaping and conservation in the building of homes. I do feel that, for whatever remains to be built in our county, the appraised value of housing consider attractive landscaping, trees, and shrubbery so that developers are discouraged, as much as possible, from the removal of the natural landscape. Thus FHA appraisals, in connection with loans for homes, should be adjusted accordingly.

I would like to go on record to support Senate bill No. 2468 and its companion in the House, for I am fully aware of the needs, not only of our county, but of the Nation, which have to be met and which this imaginative bill helps to fulfill.

I have already expressed my views with respect to Senate bill S. 6, which was passed last year, concerned with assistance to mass transportation. I hope that as part of the total housing package this bill will also shortly become reality.

Senator JAVITS. Mr. Chairman, may I just state that at my request Mr. Nickerson displaced Mr. Alves only because I have to go to the floor to take care of business in which I think he is also deeply interested.

I thank you very much, and I will read his statement. I am very much interested.

Senator CLARK. Our next witness is Paget L. Alves, associate director of the National Urban League.

Mr. Alves, we are very happy to have you with us.

I will ask that your testimony be printed in full in the record. I see it is 13 rather closely typed pages. In the interest of time I would you if you could possibly do so to summarize it for us.

ask

STATEMENT OF PAGET L. ALVES, JR., ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

Mr. ALVES. I certainly will.

Senator CLARK. Thank you.

Senator CLARK. Go right ahead.

Mr. ALVES. Well, the first three pages really deal with identifying the Urban League.

Senator CLARK. We all know about it.

Mr. ALVES. So all I would say is we are grateful for this opportunity to be invited to testify.

From here on I will read excerpts from various pages.

Senator CLARK. Thank you.

Mr. ALVES. Over the past 30 years, housing has become accepted as one of our Nation's most pressing problems from an economic as well as social point of view.

In 1934, a group of businessmen conducted a survey under the aegis of the Department of Commerce and reported that 50 percent of the occupied dwellings were, in essence, dilapidated.

Senator CLARK. I think we can agree, Mr. Alves, not to hurry you along that is the last thing I want to do there has been established by other witnesses, and this is reinforced by the very excellent statement which you have submitted, that there is a very substantial gap between the need for safe and sanitary housing of American families and that which is presently available.

Mr. ALVES. All right, Senator. Then we will go to page 6.

The National Urban League commends the administration for proposing a housing act:

1. That would increase the number of public housing units by utilizing some 100,000 vacant units in the existing supply;

2. That combines ingenuity and imagination in meeting some of the problems that have cropped up in the public housing and urban renewal programs;

3. That would substantially ease the burden of many elderly per sons in urban renewal areas;

4. That would extend service and protection to purchasers of FHA and VA insured homes.

Now I would like to talk a little bit about low-rent housing if I might.

Senator CLARK. Before you do, have you or has the Urban League had a look at S. 2031, which is my bill?

Mr. ALVES. I really have not. I will, though.

Senator CLARK. I should not use the words "more generous" in terms of taxpayers' money, but it does call for a larger program than the administration recommended. I think it has some things in it which you will find the Urban League would approve.

I would ask you if you would be willing to submit a statement to the subcommittee giving us your viewpoints on S. 2031. Mr. ALVES. I would be happy to, Senator.

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