1378 LAWS OF MARYLAND [CH. 491

follow immediately after Section 24, and to be known as
Section 24(a), empowering the Mayor and Aldermen of the
City of Annapolis to acquire land and property by purchase,
lease, gift, condemnation or any other means, for the purpose
of providing off-street parking, and to empower said City to
construct, maintain and operate thereon off-street parking
facilities for the storage and parking of vehicles, and to
make, fix and collect charges for the use of said facilities.

WHEREAS, by reason of the growth of the City of Annapolis
and the increase in the number of activities carried on in
said City in connection with the United States Naval Academy,
the establishment of many State offices, and otherwise, there
has been a very great increase in the amount of vehicular
traffic in said City, rendering inadequate for the accommoda-
tion thereof the narrow streets of the City and creating con-
gestion and slowing down the movement of such traffic, and

WHEREAS, it is necessary, in the public interest, to empower
the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Annapolis to remedy
such conditions by providing off-street parking, thereby clear-
ing the streets for the movement of traffic; now, therefore:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That Article II of the Code of Public Local Laws of
Maryland (1930 Edition), title "Anne Arundel County", sub-
title: "Annapolis", be and the same is hereby amended by add-
ing thereto a new section to follow immediately after Section
24 of said Article, to be known as Section 24 (a) and to read as
follows:

24. (a) The Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Annapolis, in
addition to the corporate powers heretofore granted, is hereby
authorized and empowered to acquire land and property of
every kind, including property used or held for public or
quasi-public purposes, by purchase, lease, gift, devise, condem-
nation, or any other legal means, for use and operation by the
City as single or multiple deck off-street parking facilities for
the storage and parking of vehicles, and in connection there-
with to raze existing buildings on any property so acquired,
and to improve, maintain and operate any such property and
construct facilities thereon for the parking of automobiles or
other vehicles by the general public, and to install meters
thereon, and to make such rules and regulations governing such
parking and the conduct of such parking lots, including the
making, fixing and collecting of charges for the use of the
same, as said Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Annapolis
may, by ordinance, decide. For the purpose of exercising the
powers herein conferred, the Mayor and Aldermen of the City