Museum of junk High contrast abounds among kilns, scattered refuse and a lone sign behind the
Visual Arts Building.
FEC bill
releases
campaign
money
WASHINGTON (UPI) Despite
"serious reservations," President Ford
yesterday signed into law a bill reviving
the Federal Election Commission and
opening the way to freeing $2.14 million
for, the shrunken campaign funds of
presidential candidates.
"Further delay would undermine , the
fair and proper conduct of elections this
year," not only for the Presidency but
also for House and Senate seats, Ford
said in' a statement before signing the
bill.
Before the money is ' actually
available, Ford will have to nominate
and Congress approve six new members
of the commission, and the revised FEC
will have to order disbursement of the
matching campaign funds, a process
which will take some days at best.
While the Republican President was
making his announcement, at least one
presidential candidate, Rep. Morris
Udall, D-Ariz., charged Ford delayed
signing the bill so Ronald Reagan would
be short of money for next Tuesday's
GOP primary in Michigan, Ford's home
state.
- -.
Udall said in Detroit the delay also
probably hurt his own last-ditch attempt
Borough sidewalk plan right up your Calder Alley
By PAUL GLUCKMAN
•
Collegian Staff Writer
•
A young woman walks in Calder Alley near Allen Street, just
behind Moyer Jewelers. It's 4 p.m. Just then a Coca=Cola
truck approaches from behind, forcing her to hug the wall of
Peoples National Bank. The truck squeezes by her, crosses
Allen Street and parks in the alley: Although the driver parks
as far over to one side of the alley as he can, passing for most
cars remains a chore. And if another Coke truck should come
along, the best advice says forget the alley and avoid the wait.
The young woman .embracing the bank wall isn't the only
pedestrian in Calder Alley, and the coke truck isn't the only
vehicle. But together they syMbolize what planners call
"pedestrian-vehicular conflict" there.
To help resolve it,' the Centre Regional Planning Com
mission ( CRPC) has proposed sidewalks stretching from
Garner to Fraser Streets along the alley's south side, splitting
the core of the central business district ( CBD). Sidewalks are
just one part of plans based on alley studies made in 1969,
which saw the alley serving as a commercial delivery and
garbage removal route, a location for public utility lines, and
a thoroughfare for pedestrians.
The 1969 report, prepared by the consulting firm of Bech
man, Swenson and Associates for the State College Planning
Commission, recommended that "all public and private
improvements, including, utilities and lighting, shall be im
proved in order to enhance the alley's usefulness as a business
and pedestrian thoroughfare." The report suggested that
vehicles other than service and delivery trucks be banned
from the alley.
But the Bechman report says nothing about alley sidewalks.
Although it says pedestrians should be accommodated in the
alley, it suggests banning vehicles.
But "Calder Alley sidewalks" have become dirty words in a
struggle involving State College merchants and municipal
officials. It's developed into a handy lesson in local politics,
more worthwhile than any found in the textbooks.
CRPC Director Ron Short has become the sidewalks' best
friend. Short believes that sidewalks should connect the
downtown parking lots to provide pedestrian safety. They
would create new commercial development in the CBD.
"This has very exciting possibilities," Short told the State
College Traffic Commission in February, when the issue was
the
daily
Analysis
Collegian
against Democratic front-runner Jimmy
Carter in Michigan.
"I know Jerry Ford from Congress
and he is not a shabby person. But this is
a shabby thing that he has done," Udall
said in a broadcast interview. "If I
received the money this afternoon, I'm
not sure I could put it to use in time for
Michigan. _
"I think Jerry Ford planned it exactly
that way, so that Ronald Reagan
especially and Mo Udall would not have
time to utilize the money in Michigan."
However, Udall, whose primary
campaign has been severely crippled by
lack of funds, added "it appears this
action will enable us to continue our
campaign through to the convention and
to make a major effort in the last round
of primaries."
While Ford signed the bill, he said he
ordered Attorney General Edward Levi
to"go to court to challenge its provison
giving Congress a veto over FEC
regulations. He said that after this
year's elections he will propose to.
Congress legislation to "correct
problems" in the current law and to
make more election reforms.
The FEC fell into limbo March 22 after
the Supreme Court ruled it was un
constitutional because Congress had
chosen four of its six members.
Weather
It's, nice to see the sun again even if
temperatures are a bit cooler. A blend of
sunshine and cloudiness today and
breezy. High 65. Crystal clear tonight
and quite chilly, with scattered frost in
the outlying areas. Low 38 in town and
near freezing in suburban areas. Mostly
sunny tomorrow, with temperatures
quite chilly in the morning but warming
up to 70 by late afternoon.
Comprehensive plan called unique
Editor's note: This is the second of a three-part series
studying the Centre Region Comprehensive Plan.
At the turn of the century, some city planners of the
booming industrial metropolises saw the need for
beautification work on a large scale within their cities.
The planners hired landscape architects to humanize
the cities.
Thus, the idea of community physical planning was
fostered, according to Centre Region Planning Director
Ron Short. The spirit of planned communities
developed to the point where today community planners
espouse the benefits of comprehensive plans.
Comprehensive plans are detailed guidelines to a
community's physical development . beautification.
Comprehensive plans consider development of transit
systems, public facilities, land use policies and so on.
The Centre Region municiplaities of State College
Borough and Ferguson, College, Harris, Halfmoon, and
Patton townships this summer may approve "one of the
most unique and innovative" comprehensive plans in
the state, Short said.
If the Centre Region Comprehensive Plan becomes
reality, the years of work by the Centre Region Plan
ning Commission will not have been in vain. "It has
been a lot of work," Short said. "And it hasn't been
easy."
The Centre Regi6n experienced rapid growth during
the 60's due to enrollment expansion at the University,
Carol Herrmann, Centre Region Planning Commission
chairman, said. The planning commission expected
continued University expansion and • subsequent
population growth in the Centre Region.
In 1965, the commission hired the Philadelphia
consulting firm of Keridree-Shepherd who proposed
expanison plans for the Centre not implemented
because they were general, not exact, recom
mendations.
boiling. "Calder Alley could be the most outstanding and most
unique alley concept in the state of Pennsylvania."
Later in February, Short told the State College Planning
Commission that "the majority of trips in Calder Alley are
pedestrian." He concluded, "Calder Alley's principal function
at present is to serve pedestrian movements."
Between Garner and Pugh Streets, according to the CRPC
proposal, sidewalks would be built on the south side on private
property. Here, Sidney Friedman, State College developer,
plans to construct a building between McAllister Alley and
McAllister Street which would include an eight-foot sidewalk
in the parking lot between Heister and Garner Streets.
(Friedman's property on the Calder Alley side of the Pugh
Street parking garage already has a sidewalk.) •
a 1,
Tough squeeze Pedestrians would face a tough squeeze in this situation on Calder Alley, but it may
improve if new sidewalks are put in.
By JEFF HAWKES
Collegian Staff Writer
In 1966, the commission applied for and received
funds from the state planning assistance program. The
region received $23,000 dispersed over 18 months to go
L. 1.
Ford overtakes Reagan;
Carter inches past Udall
United Press International
President Ford, cracking Ronald
Reagan's winning streak in the pres
idential primaries, broke through for
victory in West Virginia yesterday but
appeared on the verge of losing
Nebraska.
And Idaho's Frank Church, making
his debut as a late-starting candidate for
the Democratic presidential nomination,
theatened to hand front-runner Jimmy
Carter a stunning setback in Nebraska.
After losing to Reagan, the 65-year-old
conservative crusader from Claifornia,
in four consecutive primaries, Ford
finally rebounded to win the West
Virginia primary with a solid margin.
But he was trailing by a narrow but ever
growing margin in Nebraska, the first
farm belt state to hold a primary this
year.
Carter, winner of 12 of the first 15
primaries, made Connecticut number 13
with a narrow victory over Morris Udall
but trailed Church, 52, a four-term
senator, from the start of the Nebraska
vote.
And despite a pledge to enter every
state, Carter did not challenge Sen.
Robert Byrd the state's most
toward hiring a fulltime planning commission director.
Short said the state money proved extremely helpful
in defraying the commission's research costs. "We
couldn't have done it without state aid," he said.
The contractual agreement with the state mandated
an updated comprehensive plan with work to begin in
1969. Herrmann said the planning commission wanted
the goals for the plan to be proposed by the public rather
than dictated to the region by professionals.
Therefore, the commission created a Regional
Consciousness group assigned to formulate specific
goals and objectives for the Comprehensive Plan. The
group was composed of nine citizens interested in the
community and having some expertise with planning.
The group now is an ongoing arm of the planning
,commission which annually recognizes area developers
who have demonstrated proficient planning. - "
The Consciousness group developed goals in ac
cordance with the Pennsylvania Municipalities Plan
ning Code. The code states "comprehensive plans
should include but need not be limited to five basic
elements" including: a statement of objectives, a plan
for land use, a plan for movement of people and goods, a
plan for community utilities and facilities, and a map
indicating the relationship of municipalities to adjacent
municipalities,
The Consciousness group went beyond areas specified
by the state planning code. The group also proposed
goals and objectives for a natural features and a
governmental operations planning.
In 1972, the Consciousness group presented their goals
and objectives to the planning commission after more
than a year's work. It proposed 10 broad goals and 38
more specific objectives to meet approval by all six
municipalities of the Centre Region.
The goals and objectives are to provide unanimity
within the region but each municipality decides on its
own policies to pursue in order to obtain the goals and
objectives.
The Centre Region Planning Commission then began
work documenting relevant information needed by
individual municipalities to develop rational com
The section between Humes Alley and Fraser Street is the
focal point of the controversy. There, the proposal calls for a
six-foot sidewalk to be built along the south side on public
property. Because this would reduce the alley's width for
vehicles to 14 feet, some businessmen fear deliveries to many
stores would be halted or impeded.
When the State College Planning Commission met March 18,
Short was confident a vote would finally take place on the
sidewalk proposal. He was wrong.
"I was surprised," Short said later. "I pretty much ex
pected a vote. I saw no need for it to drag on much longer."
Why did the planning commission balk? Friedman's pur
chase of the Cathaum Theatre helps provide one answer. The
Centre Daily Times reported the day of the commission
Ten cents per copy
Wednesday, May 12,1978
Vol. 76, No. 171 14 pages University Park, Pennsylvania
Published by Students of The Pennsylvania State University
powereful vote-getter in West
Virginia. Byrd crushed Alabama's
three-term Gov. George Wallace, his
only opponent.
The elections in Nebraska, West
Virginia, and Connecticut marked the
half way point this year primaries. The
races shaped likes this:
West Virginia Ford and Byrd won
the primaries. With 29 of the precincts
reporting, Ford held a commanding 56 to
44 per cent lead over Reagan. Byrd was
crushing Wallace by a 9-1 margin.
Republicans were electing 28 delegates
and the Democrats 33, sure to be con
trolled by Byrd.
Nebraska Reagan, after trailing in
the first returns, surged ahead of Ford
and with 47 of the precincts reporting
was leading Ford 51-29. Church, holding
to a steady lead, was ahead of Carter 40
to 35 with 40 of the precincts reporting.
Carter was leading for 15 delegates and
Church for 8. Reagan was leading for 14
delegates out of 25 and Ford for 8.
Connecticut Carter won with 33 per
cent of the vote. He was trailed by Udall
with 31 per cent, Henry Jackson, 18 per
cent, an uncommitted slate with 13 per
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W 202 PAT EE
prehensive plan policies. Two years later the planning
commission staff of Ron Short, Herb Kauhi and Dennis
Elpern presented five separate reports totaling more
than 700 pages.
The five reports documented the Centre Region's
history, natural features, socio-economic composition,
government finance and structure; and analyzed every
neighborhood in the region.
The planning commission's work was delayed when
some local officials decided revision of the goals and
objectives be made. The planning staff re-organized the
plan to make it a "more concise document," Herrmann
said.
Early this spring Centre Region municipalities began
reviewing draft two of the plan. Several municipal
planning commissions already have approved the plan.
Criticism, however, has been directed at some phases.
For instance, the Harris Township Planning Com
mission revised the phrase "the orderly, safe, and
attractive development of compatible industries" to
read "the orderly, safe and attractive development of
mutually compatible industries." The commission said
the change, and others similar to it, made the goals and
objectives more succinct.
At an April Council of Governments meeting, coun
cilmen deferred action on the plan until receiving a
report from its solicitor on the legal status of the plan.
COG questioned whether adoption of the goals and
objectives would legally bind local governments. At a
meeting, Herrmann said it was her understanding that
passing the goals and objectives by resolution made
them an "expression of will."
COG will'ineet Monday and Herrmann said she ex
pects it to recommend adoption of the plan to the in
dividual municipalities. Public hearings of the plan will
occur through the summer. If municipalities continue to
find only minor criticism with the plan, by August the
Centre Region should have a detailed guide for physical
development through the year 2000.
Tomorrow: State College 25 years from now.
meeting that Friedman "plans to completely renovate the
rear of the building to provide entrances from Calder Alley"
and that "a sidewalk will be built on private property at the
rear of the building "
This placed the CRPC proposal in a new light. A sidewalk
would now be placed on private property between Humes and
Fraser. Merchants have had no objections to sidewalks on
private property. But this portion would be built on the alley's
north side. If the CRPC's original plan were to be im
plemented, pedestrians would have to criss-cross through
alley traffic in using sidewalks on both sides. This would
create new pedestrian-vehicular conflict, and Short says the
plan will have to be looked at again.
Many officials see Calder improvement leading to a better
CBD. "We should think about an alternative to those huge
shopping malls," says James McClure, municipal coun
cilman. He is hopeful: "A lot of people could come to State
College for a different kind of - thing, a university town life, a
kind of appeal."
"Right now our mainstay is students," says Short. He thinks
a better CBD would attract new customers. Sidewalks are just
a first step and he can't understand why business would op
pose them. But much of the local business community
remains opposed.
"We consider the present 20 feet to be an irreducible
minimum to properly service the business establishments in
the area," Paul W. Bierly, Peoples National Bank president,
wrote Short on Feb. 4. _ _
"The construction of his walkway would effectively choke
off the use of our most valuable facility," John Madore,
Federal Savings and Loan president, wrote Jan. 14.
And the list goes on.
For example, Tom Egolf, Egolf's Fashions in Fabrics, says,
"There'd be no way for our trucks to get through. Even now,
deliveries sometimes just pass us by rather than wait for the
alley to clear." .
David P. Stetson, State College Area Chamber of Commerce
executive secretary, claims he doesn't speak for all mer
chants when he says he's against sidewalks. (He doesn't.
Some store managers, like those of Earth Shoe, Alley Cat, and
Kalin's Men's Store, say they favor them.)
Short tells merchants they need not fear that sidewalks
would choke the CBD: curbs could be rolled, or made only
three inches high, allowing delivery trucks to climb them to
pass parked vehicles.
Meantime, the Calder Alley controversy drags on. And it
looks like pedestrian-vehicular conflict will continue in the
alley, even if sidewalks are constructed.
3 COPIES
cent and antibortion candidate Ellen
McCormack, 5 per cent.
The three primaries marked the
halfway point in the campaigns for the
presidential nominations. Ford and
Reagan were locked in a bitter, bruising
match for the Republican nomination
and Carter was a heavy favorite to
capture the Democratic prize. •
Carter was leading the Democratic
candidates with 572 pledged delegates,
slightly more than the 1,505 needed for
nomination.
Going into the primaries, Reagan was
leading with in the number of pledged
delegates 408-318, although Ford had'a
backup in a large number of un
committed delegates in New York and
Pennsylvania.
Church, the 52-year-old senator now in
his fourth term, was kept from begin
ning his campaign earlier because of his
chairmanship of the Senate Intelligence
Committee.
But Church, once underway, waged an
active and intensive campaign in
Nebraska, hoping to make the Corn
husker state the spark for a western
states bid to stop a Carter surge for the
nomination.