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Show TODAY'S EDITORIAL Demo 'Open Space1 Program Draws Interest Shortly after he was inaugurated President Kennedy directed the Housing and Home Finance Agency and the Department of the Interior to work together to develop a long-range policy and program for assisting communities in the preservation of open space. In the Housing Act of 1961 there was granted authority to make $50 million in grants to communities to help them preserve pre-serve open space for recreation and conservation. The amount of these grants normally may be 20 per cent of the cost of acquiring this land, but it may be as high as 30 per cent if the grant is made to a public body which exercises responsibility re-sponsibility for an urban area pursuant to an intergovernmental agreement. The purpose of the larger grant is to encourage planning on an area-wide basis. The law provides that any grant for the acquisition of open land must be part of the execution of a comprehensive plan for an urban area. Interest in this program has been very high. In the half-year since it was enacted into law there have been 42 letter applications from 37 cities and five states. These (Continued on Page Four) Demo 'Open Space' Program Draws Interest (Continued from Page One) applications request total grants of over $8 million and involve 28,000 acres of land. More than 200 other communities have also expressed interest in this program. |