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REAL ESTATE
AND
NEW YORK, vSEPTEMBER 5, 1914
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THE PROBLEM OF O V ER-INS PECTI ON
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The Real Estate Board Appoints a Committee to Help the State
Commission to Cure the Evil—Various Views on the Tentative Plan.
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T^ HE plan submitted by the New York
^ State Factory Investigating Com¬
mission to remedy the evils in the pres¬
ent system of inspection of buildings
is being commended for its general prin¬
ciples. It has served to crystallize pub¬
lic opinion upon a definite proposition,
and is bringing out expressions of
opinion as to how the proposed Depart¬
ment of Buildings should be organized,
in order that it may be most efficient.
The plan of the State Commission
adopts the suggestion, often repeated
during the past three years by various
persons and organizations, for a con¬
solidation of ail the City and State De¬
partments and Bureaus having jurisdic¬
tion over the construction, alteration
and maintenance of buildings in New
York City, into one general department,
to be presided over by a Commissioner
of Buildings. The new department will
take in the Bureau of Buildings in each
borough, and also the Tenement House
Department, the Bureati of Fire Pre¬
vention, the Bureau of Boiler Inspec¬
tion, the local duties of the State Fac¬
tory Inspection Bureau, and also cer¬
tain inspection duties now performed
by the Health Department and the De¬
partment of Water Supply, Gas and
Electricity.
Real Estate Board's Committee.
The Real Estate Board of New York,
carrying out its policy of active co-ope¬
ration in desirable public measures, has
appointeu a committee of seventeen
members, -on which each of the five
boroughs is represented, to work with
the State Factory Investigating Com¬
mission in its proposed plan to simplify
building inspection in New York City.
Borough President Marcus M. Marks
has consented to act as chairman of this
committee. President Marks has been
very mucn interested in this whole sub¬
ject, and even before his election ex¬
pressed his disapproval of the existing
method. Since then he has given the
subject serious attention and has worked
to bring about a simpler method of in¬
spection. The Real Estate Board's plan
for a committee to co-operate with the
State Factory Investigating Commis¬
sion has the approval of Mr. Marks and
of Mr. Elkus. Chief Counsel for the
Commission.
Driven to Distraction.
Commenting on the proposed concert¬
ed effort to remedy existing conditions
Mr. Marks said:
"Over inspection, duplication of in¬
spections, and coniiict of inspections
have been driving good citizens to dis¬
traction. I know no more fruitful field
for the exercise of sound business sense,
and have been delighted to see the in¬
creased co-operation that has developed
recently between State, city and borough
authorities, and also at the helpful spirit
of co-operation now shown by the Real
Estate Board of New York.
"My hope is that this co-operation will
result in great improvement to the mu¬
tual interest and advantage of govern¬
ment, realty owner and tenant, to sim¬
plify inspections and remove friction.
HON. MARCUS M. MARKS,
Who will head a committee to assist the State
Factory Investigating Commission.
"T've been earnestly working to con¬
centrate public opinion in the direction
of economy of effort in this depart¬
ment.''
Generally Favorable Responses.
Abram I. Elkus. the counsel of the
New York State Factory Investigating
Commission, when inquiry was made
of him as to the tentative plan for a
consolidation of the various building
departments and of other departments
which have to do with work upon build¬
ings, said:
"Many responses have been received
from former and present city officials
favoring the plan, some in its entirety,
some generally, and there has been much
favorable newspaper comment upon it.
One newspaper, in a very strono- edito¬
rial, pointed out the fact that it was now
the province of the real estate men to
have this legislation enacted into law.
It is gratify ins: to note that the Real
Estate Board has accepted this view of
it and that its president, Mr. McGuire,
has appointed a committee of seventeen
members who reside in the different
boroughs of the city to enter upon a
campaign of active work in aid of this
proposed legislation.
"If the real estate owners and those
interested actively endorse this propo¬
sition, and present the matter to the
Legislature as the unanimous desire of
the real estate interests, it will go a
long way toward enactincr this, or a
similar, measure into law."
The Present Opportunity.
Speaking for the Real Estate Board
of New York and its interest in the
proposed plan of the State Factory In¬
vestigating Commission. W. J. \'an Pelt,
vice-president of the board, said:
"I can think of no more important
work to which the Real Estate Board
could turn its attention than this effort
to remedy the present expensive and
annoying system of building inspection
in New York City. For years real
estate owners have been victims of this
unscientific system. They have long
complained of it, but largely because it
IS a complicated subject and a difficult
thing to remedy, no relief has been ob¬
tained.
"The Real Estate Board certainly ap¬
preciates that even the proposed at¬
tempt to solve the problem means a
long step forward, and it appreciates
also the opportunity now offered by the
commission to approach this work in a
spirit of intelligent co-operation.
"No one is yet committed to any
specific plan. We must expect differ¬
ences of opinion and must all be pre¬
pared to seek and give concessions and
compromises. But while the task ahead
of us is difficult it can be accomplished.
The two objects to be secured are
economy and simplicity. The existing
system, involving waste or uncertainty,
and in many cases injustice, would not
be tolerated by any business corporation,
and the City ought in the interests of its
taxpayers to work out an intelligent
scheme to replace the one that has been
for so many years a source of merited
criticism."
The Real Estate Board's Committee
represent the various boroughs as fol¬
lows:
Manhattan—Borou'^rh President Mar¬
cus M. Marks, chairman; W. J. Van
Pelt, Charles F. Noyes, Warren Cruik¬
shank, H. H. Murdock, Alfred R. Kirkus,
R. E. Simon, George T, Mortimer.
Brooklyn — William P. Bannister,
Thomas Hovenden. Frank H. Tyler.
Bronx—Harry C. Bryan, J. Clarence
Davies, E. Osborne Smith.
Queens—Wallace J. Hardgrove, Stu¬
ard Hirschman.
Richmond—Horatio J. Sharrett, Will¬
iam G. Willcox.
Objection by an ex-Borough President.
Hon. Cyrus C. Miller, late President
of the Borough of the Bronx, who is thc
chairman of the executive committee of
the Advisory Council of Real Estate In¬
terests, expressed the opinion this week
that the control of local building opera¬
tions should remain with the immediate
Superintendent of Buildings in each
borough as at present. He said:
"In so far as the proposed plan con¬
centrates in one department control
over all matters relating to the construc¬
tion of new buildings and alterations of
existing buildings and the maintenance
of both, and does away with needless
multiplicity of inspection, it is an ex¬
cellent plan, but when it proposes to
abolish the separate building bureau in
each i^orough and to consolidate, them
into one department to cover the en¬
tire city, I think the plan is reactionary.
"Military men recognize that when an
army becomes too large to handle as a
unit, it must be divided into corps. The
framers of our Charter realized that the
city machinery was in danger of break¬
ing down by its own weight from over-
centralization, so the city was divided