Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 96, no. 2483: Articles]: October 16, 1915

Text version:

REAL ESTATE NEW YORK, OCTOBER 16, 1915 CONSTITUTION APPROVED IN THE MAIN But the Real Estate Board Leaves Its Members Free to Exercise Personal Judgment on the Amendments AT a meeting of the Board of Gov¬ ernors of the Real Estate Board of New York, held on Wednesday, Octo¬ ber 13, the report of the Board's Com¬ mittee on Constitutional Amendments was adopted. In adopting this resolu¬ tion the Board of Governors leaves it to the individual judgment of each mem¬ ber as to how he shall vote on the vari¬ ous amendments. In the report special emphasis is laid upon such portions of the Constitution as relate to taxation and finance. The Board of Governors also endorsed the proposed amendment for an issue of $27,000,000 of canal bonds. The report of the Board's Committee on Constitutional Amendments follows: To the Board of Governors, Real Estate Board of New York: Your committee appointed for the purpose of considering the provisions of the proposed amendments to the Constitu¬ tion of the State of New York i^dieves that the Real Estate Board of New York should, in the interest of the State, record its approval of the prevailing provisions of the work of the conven¬ tion, and submits the following n.;',sons: Article 1, Section 7 (a) provides for the payment for properly required for city purposes prior to taking posses¬ sion; this provision alone is of great importance to the property holder and would relieve an intolerable situation, which has frequently happened. Section 7 (d) provides for excess con¬ demnation on a just basis and the pro¬ vision relating to abandoned streets is clearly in the interest of the taxpayer. Article 3, Section 21, provides in the second paragraph for a condition prece¬ dent to the appropriation of any money for public building purposes, which defi¬ nitely fixes the cost of the work so that the Legislature may not appropriate an excessive or insufircient sum to carry the project to completion. The present method of appropriation for public build¬ ing purposes is unscientific since a bur¬ den is often fixed upon the State because of entering into operations in a manner that would not be tolerated by any in¬ telligent investor. Section 23 provides for a remedy lo the evil of concealment of appropriation in what is called the "supply bill" which is really intended to carry appropria¬ tions for deficiencies existing under acts already authorized. Manufacturing in Tenements. Section 29. The Legislature is given authority to regulate the use of tenement houses as factories. Supervision over tenements is already exercised by the Labor Department. The committee points out that on the one hand prohi¬ bition of the use of tenements for fac¬ tory purposes might injure some tene¬ ments, and on the other hand, the use of tenements as factories places an unequal burden on those who have to oliey the factory laws as applied tiT factory build¬ ings. The committee wishes to call this section to the special attention of the Board of Governors. Article 5. Tliis article provides for a State Budf.ot and is in line with mod¬ ern thought on the subject of State finances. It is required, among other things, that appropriation bills be ac¬ companied b.y a statement showing the financial condition of the State for the two years preceding that for which the appropriation is requested. The com¬ mittee endorses this section. Article 6 provides for a co-ordination of the departments of the State which should appeal to every citizen as a straight forward business necessity. .'\rticle 7 provides for the appointment "of a superintendent of conservation by a board of commissioners whose term of office is so arranged that it will be a continuing board, thus practically remov¬ ing the office from political control, but placing full responsibility for the actions of the superintendent on the commis¬ sioners, and also removing from the Leg¬ islature the necessity of passing innu¬ merable bills relating to some small fish in some small pond, or stream in the State. Will Relieve the Superintendent. Article 8 provides for more prompt remedy in action by law, and within the City of New York. It provides for the extension of the Court of General Ses¬ sions throughout all counties in the city as a criminal court, and the City Court as a civil court with jurisdiction to the sum of three thousand dollars; the judges now serving as County Judges to serve their terms as judges of the Court of General Sessions; the judges to be elected in their own counties but to serve by assignment in any of the coun¬ ties within the city. This provision is clearly in the interest of the residents of our city as it will tend to relieve the Supreme Court. Section 29 of this article provides for judicial authentications of titles and with proper enabling act this section would be of the greatest value to the owners of real property. Bond Issues. Article 9 provides for the substitution of serial bonds for sinking fund bonds and for the gradual retirement of sink¬ ing fund bonds if the owners of such bonds so elect; those of our board who are familiar with the evils of the present deferment of the payment of the city debt and all the attendant evils in rela¬ tion to the sinking fund, must fully real¬ ize that the provisions as proposed for the State should be adopted for our city; an examination of the debts ac¬ quired by the city for purposes no longer useful though not yet paid for, will dem¬ onstrate the absolute necessity of estab¬ lishing some approximate relation of the period of usefulness to the period of payment of the debt. Attention is called to the fact that .Section 2 of this article removes the ex¬ isting constitutional limit of $1,000,000, the amount for which the State Treas¬ urer may issue bonds in anticipation ot the receipt of taxes and revenues. The proposed constitution does not provide for a direct tax to pay the interest on bonds. Article 10 provides for a State system of correction of assessment of taxes which in the case of a direct tax would be of great importance to the City of New York. Article IS provides that cities have the right without reference to the Legisla¬ ture to manage all their departments, and to fix the compensation and terms of office of all city employes (except judicial officers and employes), in fact, provides for a complete system of home rule in all matters other than general State laws applying to all cities equally. This measure is an advance in municipal government and should be carefully con¬ sidered by the board. The committee einphasizes the point that, in its opinion, cities of the first class cannot be ex¬ empted from the provisions of any gen¬ eral law applying to cities of the State. The Recommendations. Tlie committee wishes to call the at¬ tention of the governors to the follow¬ ing points involved in this section, viz.: I. Consolidation of building inspec¬ tion would be a local matter. II. New York City could not be ex¬ empted from the provisions of the La¬ bor Law, unless all cities in the State were e.xempted. III. The Mayor and the Board of Estimate and Apportionment would have the absolute veto of all valid acts of the Board of Aldermen in respect to changing the Charter without ap¬ peal from their veto. Finally: Your committee wishes to emphasize the fact that all of the im¬ portant amendments were approved by the convention without partisan bias, a majority of the Democratic minority having voted for the approval of such amendments. Those members of your board who were delegates to the con¬ vention testify that in this committee work there never was at any time any evidence of partisanship. Your committee recognizes that there IS always a fair difference of opinion as to the ultimate result of any change in the fundamental law, but feels that these diflferences should be carefully consid¬ ered when compared with the acknowl¬ edged benefit to the State from the adoption of the finance provisions in¬ cluding the budget and the basis of debt requirements; the improvement in the judicial system, the wise and just change in relation to the taking of property, and the other good changes which are pro¬ posed. Your committee submits herewith a letter to a member of your committee from Mr. Henry L. Stimson. chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Constitutional Convention, who has served as LTnited States District Attor¬ ney for New York, and as Secretary of War of the United States; this letter expresses in a broad way the result of the ■work of the convention. Other support¬ ing papers are attached. Your committee submits its report with a belief that you should be recorded as approving in the main the work of the Constitutional Convention of 1915. This report is signed by the following: George W. Olvany. Alfred G. Reeves, William P. Bannister, Henry R. Chit¬ tick. Theodore L. Waugh. Carlisle Nor¬ wood, William C. Breed, Samuel P. Gold¬ man.