We have received the following letter from one of our member municipalities:

"We have a problem—and so do many other small communities where they have no paid fire department, and where the police officers are not on active duty twenty-four hours a day.

"The problem is this: We are having a new dial telephone exchange installed, and there will be no operators on duty. The problem is: Just how will the people call for the police or fire department?

"We wish you would publicize this in the Municipal Review, so that other communities such as Genoa may advise us as to how they handle this situation.

"There are several solutions offered. One would be to have someone on duty twenty-four hours a day to receive calls. That would increase our payroll from $6,000 to $9,000 per year, which in a small community is prohibitive.

"It is really a serious problem, and we would like to hear from other communities in Illinois, or even throughout the United States, as to how they have solved their problem.

"Will you please give us a priority on this, so that we may get information from other communities?"

If you have an ideas or if you have contended with this situation in your municipality, please write to us, telling us how you handled the problem.

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The National Committee on Urban Transportation will conduct test studies in seven cities as part of its program of gathering information to help cities and urban areas solve their growing traffic and transportation problems.

Pilot studies will be under way by May 15 in Albuquerque, N. M.; Crawfordsville, Ind.; Detroit, Mich.; Oak Park, Ill.; Phoenix, Ariz.; San Diego, Calif.; and Syracuse, N. Y. When completed about July 1, 1957, the studies will form the basis of a manual written to show officials in all cities how to carry out fact-gathering programs in an economic and efficient way.

In all, the committee has a staff of 160 experts in the transportation field, working to test the fact-finding procedures that the manual will incorporate. The national committee is to furnish an advisory staff to help each city and participating transit company in these test studies. But the cities and the companies will provide at their expense all personnel, materials, and equipment for each study. Total cost of the program is expected to be $350,000.

The nine subjects for study and the cities cooperating on each phase are: 1. Administration: Each city except Detroit. 2. Laws and ordinances: San Diego, Phoenix, Oak Park, Syracuse, and Crawfordsville. 3. Financial records and reports: San Diego, Phoenix, Oak Park, Syracuse, and Crawfordsville. 4. Travel desires: San Diego, Phoenix, and Albuquerque. 5. Measurement of existing street services: All seven cities. 6. Inventory of existing street facilities: All seven cities. 7. Measurement of existing transit services: San Diego and Phoenix. 8. Recommended standards for street services and facilities: All except Detroit. And 9. Recommended standards and objectives for transit service and facilities: San Diego and Phoenix.

The National Committee on Urban Transportation was formed two years ago by six organizations whose interests lie in the urban field: The American Municipal Association, the American Public Works Association, the American Society of Planning Officials, the International City Managers' Association, the Municipal Finance Officers Association, and the National Institute of Municipal Law Officers. The U. S. Bureau of Public Roads joined the committee later.

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New housing for older citizens is a need that is being recognized not only by the federal government but increasingly by localities.

The current Journal of Housing, monthly magazine of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, reports on six varied approaches to the problem of financing special low-cost living quarters for the elderly.

Located at Waltham, Mass.; Akron, O.; Victoria, B. C.; Rochester, N. Y.; Santa Barbara, Calif.: and Youngstown, Ariz., these projects range from being municipally subsidized to having private financing, from functioning communities to one still in the planning stage.

They indicate that the trend toward aiding the growing population of old people is beginning to include the basic need of housing, the association says.

Operated by the local housing authority, the Waltham project is the nation's first government-aided low-rent housing designed and built specifically for low-income aging citizens. The 24-dwelling center is the first result of Massachusetts' $15 million housing fund for the aged.

At Akron, the Metropolitan Housing Authority project will go into construction this year. Plans give special attention to such safety and health features as slip-proof floors, radiant heat from both floor and ceiling, and no stairs. There will be hobby shops and recreational facilities. Initial financing will be handled with revenue from other local housing projects. Credit established by the authority will be used to get construction money on loan.

Kiwanis Club sponsorship, a city land grant, and provincial aid, plus funds, materials, and services from private citizens have combined to make low-rent housing for the aged a going concern in Victoria, B. C.

One-time prisoner-of-war barracks have been converted into Rochester's Cobbs Hill Homes through the efforts of a private group called Senior Citizens Homes, Inc. This group leased the barracks from the city for $1 a year, converted them into apartments, and rented them to selected persons over 65.

In Santa Barbara, the American Women's Voluntary Services, starting with a recreation center, has provided through its own resources a group of 26 cottages which rent for $33.50 a month including utilities.

Near Phoenix, the community of Youngstown is being built through straight capital investment. It is strictly for those who have retired and will eventually require an investment of $10 million. Over 130 homes have been built, and are occupied by retired persons from all over the country and from all walks of life.