University of Virginia Library

Hahn Urges Counties To Plan Future

By CHIP WOODWARD

"Virginia can yet determine the kind
of future it seeks, by adopting carefully
considered and farsighted public policies
designed to control its future
development, rather than simply letting
things happen," T. Marshall Hahn said
yesterday in a speech prepared for the
annual meeting of the Virginia
Association of Counties.

According to the Associated Press, Mr.
Hahn urged Virginia's leaders to "take a good
hard look at the future before the difficult
decisions are made" on such matters as public
education and other public policy matters.

Mr. Hahn is chairman of the "Hahn
Commission"-the Virginia Metropolitan Areas
Study Commission.

In 1967, Mr. Hahn warned that "delay in
meeting the growing problems of urban and
metropolitan Virginia will exact an
immeasurable cost in money, in the well-being
of many citizens and in the economic and
social development of the commonwealth."

He urged the county leaders in the audience
to "view with cold reality" the economic and
social costs involved in failure to find the
courage to plan effectively, and to "commit the
necessary resources of the commonwealth to do
what needs to be done." Mr. Hahn said there is
"general apprehension and alarm" over the
increasing costs of governmental services
generally and of public education in particular.

Mr. Hahn cited some population statistics to
help bring home his points. The population rise
in the state, which in 1970 was at 4.6 million
people, was nearly double the population of
1950. There was a per capita income increase of
110 per cent in the 1960's alone.

The population of the state is expected to
reach 5.6 million by 1980.