An Indiana city can tell you what not to do if you want new industry in your town, the American Society of Planning Officials says.

The city was passed up by a large manufacturing concern looking for a site for a new plant. When officials asked the company why another Indiana city had been chosen instead, the answer was "direct and to the point," according to the Indiana Economic Council's report quoted in the society's current newsletter:

Too many houses showed lack of upkeep.

There was poor traffic control.

The business district looked as if it had not been changed since 1900.

The city's water came from one river. Raw sewage was dumped into another near the junction of the two rivers.

Hotel and restaurant accommodations were inadequate and poor.

The bridges had a decrepit appearance, and the company took this as evidencing a lack of community pride.

Schools and hospitals were inadequate.

There was a lack of zoning and planning.

The manufacturer did note that the city had improved its park and recreation facilities but indicated that the other deficiencies made the community undesirable both for the industry and for the plant executives and employees who would come to live in the city.

The by-passed community took the criticisms constructively and now has an improvement program under way. Their action has included reorganization of the local planning commission which had been inactive for five years, setting up a new commission for the county, and working on a comprehensive physical plan for the whole county.

San Antonio, Tex., has hired eight women to patrol parking meters in the downtown area and issue tickets for overtime parking, the Civil Service Assembly has learned.

In keeping with other duties which involve public relations, the new employees are called "parking hostesses." They will supply information on bus schedules and tourist attractions and give directions and information about hotels and restaurants. The women will also be hostesses at big conventions and at public events sponsored by the city and private groups.

Their training extended over four weeks and took a total of 160 hours. Among other things, they studied local geography and legal aspects of their work and were given tips on etiquette and grooming. The city furnishes them uniforms for both summer and winter.

The scream of sirens can be the most reassuring sound if your house is burning, and the sooner heard, the better. According to the experience of a number of cities, the leased telephone system, which is installed and maintained by local telephone companies is proving to be the quickest method of getting the fire engine on its way.

The International City Managers' Association describes the telephone system as differing markedly from the traditional box alarms.

The basic feature of the new system is a conventional non-dial telephone, which does not require a coin deposit. The phone is installed in a water-proofed aluminum box with a self-closing door and no lock. Each box is connected by its own line to fire headquarters. If one box goes out of order, the rest of the system is still in service, unlike the older style alarm. The traditional alarm boxes, in which a glass must be broken and a handle pulled to give a signal, are so constructed that when one is out of order, the other boxes on the same circuit won't work either.

The telephone reporting method gives the person calling the opportunity to tell the exact location of the fire, whereas the telegraph alarm can only indicate the location of the particular box, and the person who gives the alarm must wait to direct the fire apparatus. False alarms have been far more prevalent with this older type of signal, according to the association, because the temptation for some passerby, usually juvenile, to break a glass and pull a handle has frequently brought fire engines roaring out to find a deserted alarm box.

With the telephone alarm system, as soon as a person wishing to report an emergency raises the receiver, a light flashes on the switchboard at fire headquarters, giving the number and location of the call box. At the same time, an alarm bell sounds until the call is answered. Any number of calls from any number of boxes can be received at the same time.

When hurricane "Hazel" hit Syracuse, N. Y., both telephone and telegraph systems were put to a critical test. At the height of the storm, 167 of the telegraph boxes and some of the secondary circuits stopped functioning. But the police telephone boxes, which closely resemble the telephone fire alarm system later adopted by the city, were still working.

In the opinion of some, the main disadvantage of the telephone alarm system is that it is not municipally owned, and that in case of a strike, service might be disrupted. This fear did not materialize in Miami, Fla., however, where telephone company workers struck after the telephone alarm had been installed. Maintenance service on the

emergency reporting system continued during the strike.

Most emergencies today are reported by telephone. The International City Managers' Association, in analyzing the fire alarm problem, found that more than two-thirds of all fire calls in the average city are received over home and business telephones, the figure in some cities being as high as 90 per cent.

In line with this trend, some cities have installed special telephone emergency reporting systems to replace, or to supplement, the traditional red fire alarm boxes. These new alarm systems are usually leased from local telephone companies, and serviced by them.

The telephones are placed at street corners, enclosed but easily accessible to a person reporting a fire, an auto accident, a hold-up or other emergency. Exact information as to the nature of the emergency can be given directly to the operator. Syracuse, N. Y., officials report that 'phoning the location of a fire helps the fire department dispatch appartus to the scene in the shortest possible time. The experience of both Roanoke, Va., and Miami, Fla., is that the new system cuts off at least two minutes in the sending of equipment, the association says.

In London, England, the box alarm was abolished some years ago. A public telephone call-box system is now widely used for emergencies. Dialing "999" without coins gives an emergency signal in the telephone exchange and the operator immediately connects the caller to the service required, whether police, fire, or ambulance. Similarly, in this country there are dial systems in which "0" is dialed to reach the operator.

Since 1950, about 20 cities have adopted variations of the telephone emergency system that serve both police and fire departments.

In 1953, Miami installed a complete leased telephone plan. More recently, over a dozen other cities have been similarly equipped. They include Omaha, Neb.; New Orleans, La.; Sioux Falls, S. D.; Indianapolis and Muncie, Ind.; and Kingston, Ont. Two cities, Medford, Ore., and Minneapolis, Minn., have city-owned emergency telephone systems.