The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Vol. XLII AUGUST, 1927 No. «
PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS
Two items reported in the dailypress
recently are responsible for this
article. It ought not to be necessary
to remind people of today of the
great necessity of providing parks
and playgrounds for the future. The
two items referred to are:
1st. The story carried in some of
the New York papers recently conconcerning
the expansion and suburban
development in the city of Paris.
These reports conveyed the information
to the effect that the city of
Paris, one of the oldest cities in
Europe, is tearing down and moving
the ancient fortifications sui'rounding
the city, thereby making room for a
wonderful suburban development for
residential purposes. Paris, unlike
seme of the older cities in the world,
instead of stagnating and declining
in population and wealth, is growing
and advancing all the time. The remarkable
feature of the report concerning
the Paris development is that
one-half of the area, said to be among
the most valuable real estate development
in the world, is to be set aside
for the use of public parks forever.
This provision is incorporated in the
statute laws and can never be repealed.
Had it not been for the
mediaeval system of fortification
making Paris practically a walled
city for so many centuries, the area
would not have been available except
through the condemnation and destruction
of residential and business
property. France is a country of
crowded population. The soil of the
farms is intensely cultivated. Its
woodlands have been conserved at a
minimum through restrictions, and
naturally property values in the
suburbs around a city like Paris are
worth many times more in money
value than property values can become
for a very long time in the
cities of North Carolina.
2nd. The other item which attracted
our attention was the fact
that the city of Greensboro, in making
provision for a new senior high
school of surpassing excellence, was
seeking a location of one hundred and
thirty acres of land for this purpose.
It seems that thirty acres had been
offered to the city school board, provided
that they buy an additional
thirty acres, making a total of sixty,
of some of the most valuable property
around Greensboro. But that board
considered sixty acres too small a
plat for the fulfillment of the vision
they have for the development of the
city school system of Greensboro and
therefore they are seriously considering,
according to this newspaper notice,
the purchase of one hundred and
thirty acres of valuable land for this
purpose. This is the most hopeful
sign of vision and progress recorded
in North Carolina in a generation,
to our way of thinking.
Some three or four years ago it
required a mighty effort on the part
of the school authorities in Raleigh
to get up courage enough to purchase
a ten-acre site for the new contemplated
senior high school in Raleigh.
Many of us argued at that time that
a hundred acres of the same land
would be none too much, regardless
of price paid for the same. All over
North Carolina today there are
springing up innumerable handsome