Mr. WASHINGTON. I don't know about Federal appropriations. The people here are paying 80 percent of the revenue load. Mr. SCHERLE. I have looked at some of the property taxes that they pay here in comparison with some of those in other areas. I find that they are getting pretty much of a break. Mr. WASHINGTON. I was trying to point out that the impact of business and the impact of activity in our downtown area is still very attractive. Mr. SCHERLE. Mr. Mayor, that is true. I still say that with the people who trade downtown, they are supplemented by the thousands and thousands of conventioneers and tourists who come to Washington. If you were to take out your tourists and your conventioneers, you would find a decrease downtown and an increase out in the suburbs. What I am saying about these places is that people are here for 2 or 3 days and, boom, they are gone. Mr. WASHINGTON. But it's the very character of the city. If you didn't have that, you would have industry-which we don't have. The basic industry is Government and tourists. There were 172 million tourists last year. I agree with you on that. EFFECT OF POPULATION DECREASE Mr. SCHERLE. Because of your split decrease in population, I would think the parking problem wouldn't be as great here, except for that purpose, as it would have been, let's say, since 1965. Mr. WASHINGTON. Less than 1 percent was the decrease. That would not reflect itself really in the parking figures when at the same time you have had as large an impact as you have had in trade associations coming in, which really are the element of the population that involve parking to a greater degree than any movement. In other words, the downtown area is a very strong one, and it's getting stronger. Mr. SCHERLE. That is right. Those people are here because they have to be here. They are employed in the District. But the amount of trade that they would do, I bet, would be normally out in their neighborhood shopping centers. DOWNTOWN MERCHANDISING TECHNIQUES Mr. WASHINGTON. You can't say that, because Senator Mathias and I were recently looking at the crime problem you mentioned. The crime problem is a metropolitan problem. You can't really equate it in terms of why people come in. Hecht's and Woodies tell us that they changed their merchandising techniques. This in itself caused them to begin to increase their profits. In other words, they weren't competitive with the kinds of products. In other words, if you were living out near the surburbs and you wanted a pair of socks, certainly you are not going to come downtown. There are certain merchandising techniques involving certain kinds of materials, certain kinds of clothing that you find in the city which you don't find other places. Mr. SCHERLE. You have some mighty nice shopping centers on the outskirts of the District. I imagine when they incorporate their profits they can take into consideration those out in the District as well as they do here. Mr. WASHINGTON. No. What the study intended to show was what the situation was in downtown areas. That is what the study lent itself to, because of the comment that downtown was dying. We found it to be one of the most active. Mr. SCHERLE. I would hate to see it die, certainly. Mr. WASHINGTON. I would, too. My whole comment was that was the reason we want to continue to keep our parking activity going because that is one of the things that very definitely we have been criticized for. PARKING FACILITIES FOR VISITORS Mr. SCHERLE. One of the most discouraging things I have run across for the short time I have been here is the determination we exercise in encouraging our people to visit Capitol Hill and have them run around for an hour or two while trying to find a place to park, become disillusioned and say it's not worth it and just go home. That is most unfortunate. Mr. WASHINGTON. Absolutely. Mr. SCHERLE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. NATCHER. Thank you very much, Mr. Hampton. Mr. Moore, it has been a pleasure having you appear before our committee along with Mr. Hahn and Mr. Washington. You come back and see us. Mr. MOORE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. NATCHER. The committee will adjourn until 10 o'clock in the morning. WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1971. Mr. NATCHER. The committee will come to order. COMMENTS OF CITY COUNCIL CHAIRMAN ON PARKING PROBLEMS Mr. Hahn, we will be glad to hear from you at this time. Mr. HAHN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wouldn't wish to see the hearings on parking concluded with the impression that the District government has no newer work than 1961 on the matter of parking. Quite the contrary. The Council has a survey of 1970 and the Council of Governments has a current survey going on. MAJOR PARKING PROBLEM Briefly, it would be my view that the biggest single problem affecting parking in the downtown area involves the need for all-day parking for Federal employees, probably about 4,000 in number. Could we solve this problem, it would be our view that almost all of our other problems would become manageable. EXTENSION OF BUS LANES In addition to that, the city and the City Council have been doing a series of actions that I hope will improve both the parking picture and the traffic problem downtown, one of which is our new regulation-in which the parking industry is cooperating-forbidding left turns, in and out of parking facilities, and our efforts to continue bus lanes into the city itself, instead of stopping at the 14th Street Bridge. Mr. NATCHER. Thank you, Mr. Hahn. Before we take up the Department of Human Resources, Mr. Anderson, it's a pleasure to have you back before the committee. Mr. ANDERSON. Thank you. Mr. NATCHER. Mr. Davis, do you have any questions? Mr. NATCHER. Mr. Myers? Mr. MYERS. No questions, sir. |