MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT
To the Congress of the United States:
In the past few years Congress and the President have pledged to make the Nation's Capital a model of excellence for America: in government, in housing, in city planning, in law enforcement, in transportation.
But the equality of any city is not just a matter of efficiency and public order. If it is to be truly great, the city must be lively and inviting--a place of beauty and pleasure.
The city's life is lived not only in its buildings, but in its pools, playgrounds and recreation centers, in the places where the young gather to find excitement and delight, where the old come to find relaxation, fresh air, companionship.
In Washington, recreation is a vital element of the city's school enrichment activities, its model city project and its summer programs.
But the D.C. Recreation Department is not an integral part of the District Government. With its six-member independent board, the autonomy of the Department prevents the D.C. Commissioner from providing policy supervision to the city's recreation activities and from relating them to other community service programs--in health, education, child care, and conservation.
There is no reason to distinguish between recreation and other community service programs now vested in the Commissioner.
Accordingly, I am today submitting to the Congress Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1968. This plan brings recreation programs under the authority of the D.C. Commissioner. It enables the new City Government to make recreation an integral part of its strategy to bring more and better community services to the people who live in the city.
The Plan achieves these objectives by abolishing the present Recreation Board and the Office of the Superintendent of Recreation. It transfers their functions to the D.C. Commissioner.
The accompanying reorganization plan has been prepared in accordance with chapter 9 of title 5 of the United States Code. I have found, after investigation, that each reorganization included in the plan is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes set forth in section 901(a) of title 5 of the United States Code.
Closer coordination of recreation with other municipal improvement programs of the District Government and the improved efficiency of recreation management will produce a higher return on the taxpayer's investment in recreation programs, though the amount of savings cannot be estimated at this time.
I urge the Congress to permit this reorganization plan to take effect.
Lyndon B. Johnson.
The White House, March 13, 1968.
