Chaplin isn't nearly as important to recreation as the Bundy site in that area is. Isn't that true?

Mr. COLE. I think it would be very difficult to compare, Mr. Smith, for the simple reason there we have the Benning-Stoddard housing development, which is only a block away from the Fort Chaplin site you are speaking of, and, we have a large number of new apartments, and so forth, that are being built in that Fort Chaplin area.

Mr. SMITH. How many acres do you have in the Fort Chaplin Site? Mr. COLE. That is under the Park System and I wouldn't know the exact amount of acreage.

Mr. SMITH. Is it 80 or 100 acres?

Mr. COLE. I would like to ask Mr. Lemmon if he could give us an estimate.

Mr. LEMMON. That is parks land, and the Planning Commission is the agency that suggested when parkland was given up for any purpose it ought to be replaced in kind elsewhere. We have only 7 acres assigned to us, plus a roadway and a drainage ditch which we are enclosing. When we have that closed we hope to have about 11 acres. But we don't have Fort Chaplin to give away. It is not ours. Mr. SMITH. You have more than 32 acres out there?

Mr. LEMMON. We have 7 acres at present, and when we have closed the ditch with fill we will end up with 11 acres. There we are not cramped for space, but in the central city we are.

Mr. SMITH. So it makes more sense to try to find some land outside the central city to trade for the Kennedy playground than to try to trade the Bundy school site, does it not?

Mr. LEMMON. Of course, I think they want Shaw in central city and, of course, we have the Kennedy playground in central city where there is a dearth of acreage both for schools and for playgrounds, and that is what the critical problem is.

Mr. SMITH. If you are short on both, you don't solve it by taking away from one to give to the other, do you?

Mr. LEMMON. No. And we were given the John F. Kennedy playground; it isn't something that was requested. It was given to us a finished product.

Mr. SMITH. You mean you appropriated it.

Mr. COLE. Might I say, Mr. Smith, having come up in the field as Recreation Director myself, and specifically in the Bundy-Kennedy playground area, that we would not lose, in my judgment, if final arrangements could be made to do the very thing we were talking about, about getting the property at Fifth Street and New Jersey Avenue and closing P Street. We wouldn't lose because we would be gaining an indoor facility as well as an outdoor facility. As stated before, the public schools would have to provide enough space outside for their own physical education classes.

Mr. SMITH. You say you wouldn't lose, provided in the future budgets we are going ahead and buy new grounds to take the place of the Bundy playground. Even though the Bundy playground is fenced and all there now, you will take that and come in in future budgets and seek appropriations to buy some new playground for the school. It doesn't make very good business sense, does it?

Mr. COLE. It doesn't, from the way you put it. My statement was based on the fact if there was any purchase of this property proposed

on Fifth and New Jersey Avenue and the closing of P Street, this is going to expand that area considerably.

Mr. SMITH. I understood P Street is a very busy street, is it not? Mr. COLE. P Street is a two-way street but a very busy street.

REQUEST FOR OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF KENNEDY PLAYGROUNL

Mr. NATCHER. At this time, Mr. Cole, it probably will be well if you would tell us how much you are requesting for the operation and maintenance of the Kennedy playground for fiscal year 1967. Mr. COLE. For fiscal year 1967, Mr. Chairman, I don't think we are asking anything for Kennedy, no increase.

Mr. NATCHER. What is your base?

Mr. COLE. The base is $109,000, over-all.

Mr. NATCHER. That is the same amount you had for 1966, then? Mr. COLE. That is correct.

NUMBER OF VACANCIES

Mr. NATCHER. Before taking up "Administration," Mr. Cole, I wonder if you would give us the total number of vacancies in the Department at this time.

Mr. COLE. Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. Presently we have five vacancies in the Department?

NUMBER OF AUTHORIZED POSITIONS

Mr. NATCHER. I believe you stated the total number of authorized positions was how many?

Mr. COLE. 327 classified.

ADMINISTRATION

Mr. NATCHER. We will take up "Administration." You are requesting $288,447 and 34 positions. Here I believe you have an increase of $38,610 and five additional positions.

We shall insert pages 18-8 and 18-9. (The pages follow:)

JUSTIFICATION FOR ADDITIONAL POSITIONS

Mr. NATCHER. Justify the additional positions, Mr. Cole, and give us the grades and salaries, and tell us if any of them are necessary, please.

Mr. COLE. Mr. Chairman, the $38,610 is for five new positions and the mandatory items which appear at the bottom, on the first three lines classified pay increase, within-grade advancements, and reallocations. We are asking for five new positions.

I might state, Mr. Chairman, there are at least three of these positions that are most essential; namely, the secretary (steno), the accounting clerk, and the personnel clerk (typing).

I will start first with the justification for the GS-9 management analyst. The grade GS-9 requires $8,072 for the full amount of payment. We are requesting, in 1967, $6,056. This, of course, is based on the budgeted funding to hire the individual around the 1st of September.

Mr. NATCHER. Mr. Cole, you have no management analyst at the present time in the Department?

Mr. COLE. No, we do not, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. NATCHER. Is this something that is necessary at this time, Mr. Cole?

Mr. COLE. Mr. Chairman, I would state that it is not what I would call a major essential at this time.

Mr. NATCHER. But you do feel the secretary, the GS-6, the accounting clerk and the personnel clerk are necessary at this time?

Mr. COLE. Very necessary, Mr. Chairman. We have made a study specifically related to the personnel staffing based on certain formulas we have found in the Federal agencies, and I would like to submit for the record at this time, Mr. Chairman, the study we have made showing the relationship of, especially, the GS-4 personnel clerk (typing).

Insofar as our staff is concerned we have two classified GS positions and one full-time per diem which make up our personnel office, and because of the large number of programs that we are finding now the Recreation Department is getting itself involved in, and very much so because of the enrichment and needs of the community and the people in the community, and because of the large amount of hiring that we have through the various United Planning Organization programs, et cetera-we believe these positions are absolutely necessary.

On the GS-6 secretary position, the Director is now writing things in longhand which could be dictated to a secretary, taken in shorthand. There are numerous meetings that he is required to head up and for which a secretary is needed. I might say that presently the secretary to the assistant superintendent is used in the preparation of this very budget we have here in front of us because there is no secretary in the division for this purpose.

In accounting, we are getting into various accounting responsibilities because of United Planning Organization funding, and various other grant programs, plus we are getting more units into our system, more playgrounds into our system which will require greater accounting services. These are acute jobs, the three that I specifically pointed

out.