426 NATIONAL CIVIC REVIEW [September

Citizen Action . . . Kim Taylor, Editor

N. Y. Want

Citizens Less Noise ‘Project Quiet City’ Gets Positive Results

N E W York City Citizens for a Quieter City began two years ago to fight

noise pollution in their neighborhood, the Lincoln Square section of Manhattan’s west side. With a Ford Foundation grant they began to explore attitudes about noise, and ways to decrease apathy to noise problems and develop awareness and guidelines to alleviate them.

The volunteers and small staff had neither guidelines nor precedents to draw on. During the two-year pilot program they sponsored conferences with Fordham University, established a storefront cen- ter, published a newsletter, distributed educational material, convinced construc- tion firms and public facilities to use quieter equipment, and increased police cooperation in answering complaints.

One of their major efforts was Project Quiet City, officially proclaimed by Mayor John V. Lindsay for May 7-13. I t was a week of special events to inform the city of activities in the target area. Exhibits were shown in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and in the Noise Abatement Store- front, educational material was distrib- uted, groups asked drivers to eliminate unnecessary horn blowing, and tests showing hearing and blood pressure re- actions to high noise levels were given by hospitals and medical units.

To maintain the momentum that Proj- ect Quiet City initiated, a community noise complaint review board has been established. The 30-member staff will convene panels to respond to complaints and will lead community efforts to reduce

U. S. Chamber Urges Federal Spending Control

The Chamber of Commerce of the United States has recommended five re- forms to control federal spending. How To Gain Control of the Federal Budget (1615 H Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. 20006) was published after careful study by several national committees dealing with tax and fiscal matters, and a 63- member board of directors.

The committees’ concern started as the result of huge increases in the cost of government. For instance they found that in 1970 Americans spent more for gov- ernment than food, shelter, clothing and new cars combined. Because uncontrolled federal spending is a real threat to the economy, they recommended strict spend- ing guidelines for the President and Con- gress.

The group contends that the 1973 budget contains some relatively uncon- trollable outlays with no expenditure con- trol provisions. The five points proposed to control the budget are: project all major spending over a five-year period, evaluate spending programs once every three years, pilot test every major proposed program, designate a joint congressional committee to evaluate the budget in terms of prior- ities, and discipline programs such as Social Security to the same controlled spending as other tax supported pro- grams.

Toledo Citizen Group Studies City Government

In the summer of 1971 the mayor of Toledo appointed 25 business and com- munity leaders to a Citizens Committee for Effective Government. The group is studying the operations and management

noise levels in the neighborhood. of each major city government division

19721 NEWS IN REVIEW 42 7

for long- and short-term recommenda- tions and implementation programs. The recommendations ideally would include methods to increase revenue, improve services, reduce expenses, better utilize equipment and improve management con- trol, according to the Toledo Area Gov- ernment Research Association.

The committee employed an experi- enced consuitant to help divide the op- erations of the city into study areas. Committee members head the study teams which interview city employees and test recommendations before submitting them to the executive committee for release. More than 80 Toledo residents are in- volved. Reports on improvements in ref- use collection and safety divisions have already been released.

Campaign Finance Initiative on Washington Ballot

The Municipal League of Seattle and King County reports that an initiative measure to require full disclosure of campaign financing and expenditures will be on the November ballot. The league was one of many organizations that united to form the Coalition for Open Government which during the last legis- lative session worked for laws requiring disclosure of political campaign contribu- tions and expenditures by and for lobby- ists and public officials (see the REVIEW, February 1972, page 97). The legislature also approved two referendum questions for the November ballot which are now considered ineffective and are being pub- licly opposed.

The signature drive for the initiative floundered in the last weeks before the deadline but finished with more than the number needed to guarantee a ballot posi- tion.

Revenue Sharing Initiative Under Way in Arizona

The Arizona League of Cities and Towns is spearheading an initiative peti-

tion drive to place a proposed state rev- enue sharing act on the November ballot. Committees have been formed in several cities to secure the required 41,000 sig- natures. The league decided to organize the drive when the revenue sharing plan was defeated in the last legislative session by two votes.

Under provisions of the act the state would share 15 percent of its annual in- come tax collection with cities and towns, distributed on the basis of population ; municipalities would agree that the state collect one uniform income and luxury tax; and the state would collect local sales taxes while collecting the state tax if municipalities wanted it.

Ontario Group Promotes Public Aff air8 Education

The Ontario Conference on Local Gov- ernment, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group of provincial bodies, municipal associa- lions, private enterprise and individuals is increasing citizen understanding of local government through a basic course on municipal issues and administration. As reported in Public Managentent the objectives are to interest citizens in local government, provide current education to elected and appointed officials, and en- courage citizen participation.

When a local group wishes to sponsor a public affairs education course the con- ference organizes the 12 sessions. A speakers’ bureau has been established so that all aspects of local government are covered.

New Committee Formed on Illinois Court6

Illinois civic groups have organized a Committee on Courts and Justice to im- prove court procedures and select judges on a merit system. The new committee has elected officers and will begin work shortly, according to the Union League Club of Chicago.

Efforts to institute merit selection of

428 NATIONAL CIVIC REVIEW [September

judges were undertaken in 1970 as an alternative with the adoption of the new state constitution. Then the groups were primarily concerned with the constitu- tional issue, so that the court proposition received secondary attention and lost.

TAXATION AND FINANCE (Continued from page 425)

The estimate now is that $4.8 billion will be claimed by the states this year while only $1.2 billion was budgeted.

Almost all social programs except public school education qualify under the law, including day-care centers, family planning centers, mental health facilities, rehabilitation and training programs for welfare recipients and services to persons near the poverty level. In 1969 only $370 million was spent under the program.

President Nixon has asked that a ceil- ing be placed on allowable program grants each year since 1970. The unexpected $3.6 billion in grant applications will be fi- nanced through supplemental appropria- tions and added to the expected federal government deficit. The Senate this year passed a $2.5-billion ceiling but after lobbying efforts by states the conference committee deleted it. A major problem is that any cutoff would favor the states already using the windfall. The estimated spending this year is about equal to the amount proposed in revenue-sharing fegis- lation.

Study Links Unions to Higher Government Pay

A study by the Tax Foundation, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Sta- tistics, links the growing membership and militancy of government employee unions

to an 88 percent rise in government pay- rolls during the 1960s. Salary costs totaled 53.3 percent of spending by federal, state and local governments in 1970, slightly lower than the 53.6 percent of 1960. The study, Unions and Government Employees, credits the increase in the total number of employees and a rise of 64 percent in the average annual salary per worker to the change in attitude toward unionization and the ineffectiveness of anti-strike laws enacted in 33 states. Approximately 4 million government employees out of a total force of 14.4 million belonged to unions in 1970, but the movement is accelerating, particularly at the municipal level. In New York, Los Angeles, Phila- delphia and Detroit 93 percent of the municipal employees belong to unions. The study suggests that “unions do exert a measureable upward pressure on wages,” and appear to have negotiated higher wages for members than those received by unorganized civil servants performing equivalent jobs, and that in many cities public employees are paid more than their counterparts in private industry.

Union spokesmen contacted by the New York Times discounted the findings. While one spokesman estimated that his union was getting new members a t the rate of about 10,000 a week, he attributed the growing cost of government to the demand for more services while payroll costs have remained stable. Another public employee union member reported that pay scales lagged behind private industry and that government workers were paid the same amount for the same job whether union members or not. The report noted the rise in frequency and duration of public employee strikes, particularly of teacher groups, which averaged 500 a year, from I967 to 1970.