Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 87, no. 2248: April 15, 1911

Text version:

April 15, igir. RECORD AND GUIDE 681 ESTABLISHED-^ fAMtPH Sl^."^ less Dd/oteD p Rea,lEstate.BulLDI^b ApofiTECTURE.HouseholdDEGORATiorf. Bi1s[i/e:ss AttoThemes of GEfta^L IKterest,, PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS Communications should be addressed to C. -W. SWEET Published EVeri; Saturday By THE RECORD AND GUIDE CO. President, CLINTON W, SWEET Treasurer, P. W. DODGE Vloe-Prea. & Genl, Mgr., H. W. DESMOND Secretary, F- T, MILLER Nos. 11 to 15 East S4th Street, New Tork City (Telephone, Madison Square. 4430 to 4433,) "Entered ai the Posr Off. ice at Ncio York, N. Y.. as SfCOlI d-clii ,ss matter." Copy righted. 1911, . hy Tho Record & Guide Co, Vol, LXXXVI APRIL 15 , 1911.' No. 224S MADISON SQUARE GARDEN. IF the Madiaon Square Garden lias been actually turnt?d over, as reported, to a real estate operator, it will i)rob- ably be fouud that the man is acting as agent for other in¬ terests. The improvement of a whole block witli a series of ioft ■bLiildings would reciuire an amount of capital and would involve a degree of risk which not even a very resourceful and daring operator could venture. It would he necessary to improve the whole block at once or within a very short period, because after a part of the building were torn down the rest of it would be useless. But if it were improved all at once, such an enormous addition to the supply of new lofts in a single district could only be very slowly rented, and the operation would have to be financed on a basis which provided for a long period of semi-vacancy. In all probabil¬ ity, consequently, either the operator is acting as agent for the existing owners or else lie is the agent of outside inter¬ ests, who know how they can use a certain fraction of the new building, but who do not wish their names as yet to appear. In any event some arrangement may yet be made to save the building. Unprofitable as it has been it is certainly needed, and the people who need it may yet be able to work out some plan of preserving it. On the other hand if it is pulled down something must be done to replace it. New York needs a large amphitheatre and one situated in a better location and more economically planned could be made to pay. It is very much to be hoped that arrangements can be made to save the existing Garden, both, because of its archilectural interest and because its destruction would really leave New York City for a while without a large Hall of any sufficient size in any really advantageous location. DISTRESSING SUBWAY OUTLOOK. ONE of the most depressing aspects of the Subway sit¬ uation is that whatever the outcome of the negotiations with the Interborough Company now under way, any new Subway construction will not serve the purpose of even tem¬ porarily relieving the existing congestion. If an arrange¬ ment is reached with the Interborough Company, the upper East Side and the lower West Side extensions will develop a large amount of wholly new traffic, which wili be suffi¬ cient to crowd the new tunnels; and when the normal in¬ crease in travel during the four years required for their construction is also added, the inference is obvious that a year or two after the new tunnels are in operation, the city will be in precisely the same condition as it is at present, On the other hand, the construction of the Broadway-Lex¬ ington Avenue routes, while it might temporarily relieve the congestion in the existing Subway between Forty-second street and the Brooklyn Bridge would be equally or more in¬ capable of providing anything but a momentary relief. In either event the question of additional Subways would im¬ mediately become critical- The only other serious propo¬ sition before the city is that of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company for a line up Broadway and Seventh avenue, con¬ necting with the Queensboro' Bridge. This route has much to recommend it, for the purpose of improving the service between Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens; and it would have a certain value for local Manhattan traffic. But the local Manhattan traffic developed thereby would either be new or would be drawn from the Sixth avenue elevated, and the amount of money which the city would have to provide would seriously diminish the capital which it can use for more important transit purposes. Whatever plan or combi¬ nation of plans is adopted the city's borrowing capacity will be exhausted by the new construction which will be under¬ taken; and the construction of any other lines will have to be postponed until the new Subways are being operated. The outlook for any kind of rapid transit which will permit fhe citizens 'of New York to travel with some degree of com¬ fort and decency is uUerly discouraging; and about the last interest which the majority of the Board of Estimate ever think of considering is that of the travelling public. They will stew for months over minor points in the contract with the Interborough Company, which make no essential difference, and in the meantime ignore the fact that the city is losing far more from the delay than it will ever gain— even if the Interborougli Company eventually complies with their demands. GOVERNMENT BY COMMISSION. MR, S, S. ^McCLURE, who is an ardent advocate of the commission form of city government, which is becom¬ ing so popular all over the country, recently declared in a speech that the adoption of some such system was neces¬ sary to the economical and effieient government of New York. Still more recently he was severely critic'ged by the Bureau of Municipal Research for this assertion. Iu the opinion of the Bureau the present Charter is well de¬ signed to secure economy and efficiency; and if economy and efficiency are lacking, the fault is due to the men, and not to the system. Such an assertion gives one a very poor idea of political intelligence of the directors of the Bureau, No doubt the Mayor has complete technical administrative re¬ sponsibility and can discharge and appoint the heads of de¬ partments as he pleases; but his heads of departments have no similai' responsibility, for their subordinates, who are protected by the Civil Service laws, and are substantially independent of the commissioners. It is notorious that In the Police Department, for instance, the courts always re¬ instate a policeman unless be can be convicted of law- breaking. Furthermore, while technical administrative re¬ sponsibility is concentrated in the Mayor, the Mayor is only one member of the Board of Estimate; and it is the B'oard of Estimate that determines the city's economic and finan¬ cial policy. Wlioever heard of a private corporation that made its President independent of its Board of Directors. The technical administrative chief and the governing Board are separated in responsibility, and in organization; and the peculiar advantage of the commission form of government, advocated by Mr, McCiure, that it does away with this fun¬ damental division of responsibility. The commission is abso¬ lutely and exclusively responsible for the good government of the city. The men who appropriate the city's money are the men who spend it; and the individual commissioners in making their demands for departmental appropriations are always checked by the consideration that they must assume the I'esponsibility for tiie whole Budget, as well as for the work of their own office. In New York, on the other hand, the only idea of a Departmental head, is to secure just as much money as he can for his department. In view "oi this division of responsibility between the men representing the fundamental aspects of municipal government, it is absurd to claim that the New York Charter makes for any effective concenti'ation of power. The old baleful theory of the sep¬ aration of executive and legislative functions is just as ac¬ tive in the existing political organization of New York as it was in the days of a powerful Board of Aldermen. The only difference is that the executive head has a seat in the gov¬ erning board. SAN FRANCISCO'S BOOM. SAN FRANCISCO, now that it has succeeded in getting the Panama-Pacific Exposition, is tackling the difficult problem of selecting a site for its World's Fair; and the rest of the country will watch the outcome of the existing dis¬ cussion with lively interest- If San Francisco expects to induce many thousands of people to cross the continent in the summer of 19113, the city must be prepared to offer an unusually seductive entertainment, and such an entertain¬ ment can hardly be provided by any of the ordinary attrac¬ tions of a world's fair. The Panama-Pacific Exposition must, if possible, be given a peculiarly novel character, so that people whose appetite for this kind of entertainment has been diminished by satiety can be tempted to make the journey. Moreover, San Francisco has a perfectly obvious opportunity of giving its exposition precisely this unique character. Alone among all the cities which has proposed