Investigating theCHPC archives

Citizens Housing &Planning Council

Founded in 1937, CHPC is a non- proft policy research organizationdedicated to improving housing andneighborhood conditions throughcooperative eorts o the public and private sectors.

he ABC of City Planning: Not Just For Children

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“J is for Jumblecaused only by ManWho recklessly builtwithout a good plan.”- ABC of City Planning

Citizens Housing &Planning Council

Founded in 1937, CHPC is anon-proft policy researchorganization dedicated to im-proving housing and neighbor-hood conditions through coop-erative eorts o the public andprivate sectors.

In 1937, Mayor La Guardia’s Committee on City Planning produced a small book or children,titled The ABC o City Planning, intended to instill understanding and enthusiasm in childrenor the city’s built environment. CHPC has preserved a copy o this adorable text, which ormodern audiences is more than just an amusing diversion: it oers a unique insight into aNew York City o a dierent era. Below, a ew highlights, then a ull reproduction o the text. The Elevated in the E stanza reers to NewYork’s frst orm o rapid transit, frst oper-ated in 1868. Its demise in Manhattanwas ushered in by cleaner, quieter, asterunderground subways - the most notabledestroyed line being the Third Avenue El,torn down in 1955 and replaced only by thealready existing Lexington Avenue line andbus routes.Omnibus, meaning “or all” in Latin, is thelinguistic predecessor to what we knowsimply as a bus; it was originally the term ora horse-drawn stagecoach that ran along afxed route, holding around 15 passengers. The ABC praises the modernity o the motor-ized omnibus!In the 1930s, Mayor La Guardia cham-pioned a WPA-built system o retail andwholesale ood markets in an attempt toeradicate 15,000 ood pushcarts, whichwere considered unsanitary nuisances andsold everything rom peaches to “dam-aged” eggs. Vestiges o the municipalmarkets can be seen in the Essex Streetretail market on the Lower East Side, LaMarqueta in East Harlem, and the GatewayCenter, a new retail development at theold wholesale Bronx Terminal Market in theSouth Bronx.By Steanie Marazzi