Please note: this text may be incomplete. For more information about this OCR, view
About OCR text.
Ml
REAL ESTATE
AND
i^ BUILDERS
NEW YORK, vSEPTEMBER 4, 19L5
Blillillllllililiililiililillllill^
OPPOSITION TO THE PORT COMMISSION
Considered An Unwarranted Expense By Real Estate In¬
terests, But Advised By the Port and Terminal Committee
iiiBiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^
A REPORT of the Port and Terminal
Committee to the Board of Esti¬
mate proposing the creation of a com¬
mission of experts to study the condi¬
tions at the Port of New York, was
adoptf.d at the meeting on August 2(3,
by a vote of ten to six; four of the mem¬
bers of the board being in favor, the
Mayor and the three members of the
Port and Terminal Committee, who are
the Comptroller, the Presidents of Man¬
hattan and Brooklyn. Four inembers
voted against the adoption of the report,
the President of the Board of Aldermen
and the three Borough Presidents of the
Bronx, Queens and Richmond.
"The report not only proposes the cre¬
ation of a commission of experts,' said
Service Commission, with all of the mil¬
lions of dollars of work under its care,
has only one chief engineer. The Board
of Estimate itself has only one chief
engineer.
"It has also been pointed out that the
development ot tlie port is as mucli a
financial as an engineering problem, and
that if a commission is needed, it should
consist of one comirissioner, who should
be a layman and an executive and not
himself an engineer, and that he should
seek the advice and plans of the many
different engineers now in the city em¬
ploy and in the process of formulating
engineering plans, also formulate finan¬
cial plans for carrying them out, either
by the use of city funds or private capi¬
tal or a combination of both. It is
Also that the earnest request from the'
oppo>'ig members of the board to post¬
pone the vote for one meeting was de¬
nied, and that a further request to re¬
consider the vote was declined.
"The vote, however, was merely on the
adoption of the report of the Port and
Terminal Committee. It may be that be¬
fore the work is actually undertaken
subsequent consideration may develop a
policy in which all members of the board
can unanimously concur and which will
be less costly for the taxpayers, and at
the same time, produce in addition to
blue prints and statistics, ways and
means for the actual execution of such
plans as may be found best suited to the
practical improvement of the port from
the standpoint of manufacturers, im-
THB ACCOMPANYING ILLUSTRATION SHOWS THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE NEW PIER DEVELOPMENT AT THE FOOT OF
WEST 46TH STREET. THE WORK WILL, IN ALL PROBABILITY, BE' APPROVED BY THE PORT TERMINAL COMMISSION,
IF APPOINTED, AND WILL FORM A PART OF THE COMPREHENSIVE SCHEME FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE
WATERWAYS OF THE GREATER CITY.
W. R. Messenger, this week, "but fixes
the number, which is to be three en¬
gineers. It also fixes the salary, $15,000
per annum each for part of the engineer's
time, making $45,000 a year for tlie part
time of the three engineers in addition
to creating other pay rolls and expenses
of about $75,000 annually, making a total
which the report estimates at about $120,-
000 or $125,000 a year for a period of two
or three years. The report not only
fixes the number of engineers and their
salary, but also has the three engineers
all picked out and stipulates who they
are to be.
"Some of the city officials who voted
against incurring this expenditure at this
time and some of the taxpayers organiza¬
tions which have opposed it, feel that
the engineers at present in the city em¬
ploy are capable of making an adequate
study of the subject and that there is
already available a vast amount of data,
statistics and plans for port development,
and that the commission, as proposed,
is a useless waste of taxpayers' money.
Some feel that a special study of the sub¬
ject is required, the appointment of one
engineer would be sufficient. The Public
pointed out that the Public Service Com¬
missioners are laymen and not engineers.
"Many also feel it is unfortunate that
the report of the Port and Terminal
Committee should have rigidly fixed
the exact character of the commission,
omitting any laymen or executives and
specifying that three particular engineers
should be chosen, and stipulated their
salary in advance. If the report had ad¬
vocated the policy of the commission
or a commissioner, or a special depart¬
ment to make a special study of the sub¬
ject of port improvement, it might have
met with more support. Then the char¬
acter, personnel and compensation of
such a commission, commissioner, de¬
partment head, or engineer might have
been decided and agreed upon unani¬
mously by all of the members of the
Board of Estimate instead of by only
half of the memliers of the board.
"It is unfortunate that in a matter
embracing the entire city, the subject
sliould be so presented to the board that
three of the Borough Presidents and the
President of the Board of Aldermen,
representing the city at large, should
fee! compelled to vote in oposition to it.
porters and exporters, merchants, ship¬
pers, distributors and consumers general¬
ly, and minimize time and expense in the
handling and transfer of water borne
cargoes and railroad freights.
"It should be remembered, however,
that private enterprise and private capital
is today in the different Boroughs, doing
more to improve the port than would
probably result from the creation of half
.1 dozen so-called expert commissions,
and it is not wise to throttle capital
and brains which are doing something in
order to produce thories as a subject of
meditation for a bankrupt and expiring
administration."
Laurence M. D. McGuire, President
Real Estate Board of New York, said:
"The recent adoption by the Board of
Estimate and Apportionment, on a nar¬
row margin, of a resolution appointing a
commission of three experts to investi¬
gate port and terminal conditions in
New York City, is in my opinion an of¬
ficial act which is fairly open to criticism.
The Real Estate Board protested to the
Mayor and the Board of Estimate be¬
fore the adoption of the resolution.
"Under the terms of this resolution