The horrors of zoning: circa 1965

I like pawing through stacks of old Life, Look, Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, and similar old national magazines dating from the 1920s to the 1970s when I get a chance, for articles on urban and transportation issues, among others, plus the ads.  I came across this issue of Look Magazine recently, and bought it because a call out on the cover mentions zoning.

Given the trials and tribulations of zoning rewrites in DC, Montgomery County, Miami, and elsewhere, I thought it was somewhat ironic that almost 50 years later, things haven't changed.

Some people are calling for a moratorium on the zoning rewrite in DC, which has been going on now for seven years, because the planning director is moving on.  That's an excuse.  For a long time now, the rewrite process has been moving forward under the Development Review section of the agency and nothing has changed even though the planning director has.  (Rosalynn Hughey, longtime Deputy Director for neighborhood planning and revitalization, is serving as Interim Director.)