Morning journal and courier., 1889-06-04
rnE rnoPosEp PUBLIC PARK


 Important Communication So the Comnon Council From His Honor
 the MaYor-DonaId G. Mitchelps Of
 fsr-The Messrs. HubInEers' Offer.
 The following was read at the board of aldermen meeting last evening:
 To the Honorable Court of Common Council of the city of New Haven: Gentlemen-On the 17th day of April last the board of public works passed the follow ing order:
 Voted, That layout of the park be adopted in accordance with the red lines shown on a map sub mitted and numbered 75O northerly from Chapel accordance herewith and submit the same to the Court of Common Council with such suggestions and recommendations as His Honor the Mayor may offer.
 Agreeable to this order, the city engineer has prepared a layout of the proposed park, and it is herewith submitted for your favora- ble consideration.
 The mayor feels that it is his duty at this time and in this connection to invite atten- I tion to some of the facts which have bear- 1 ing on the question as to the wisdom of | establishing the proposed park; he would I therefore state:
 That for forty and more years the resi- dents of the western part of the city have un- successfully labored to secure public park ! by negotiations with those who held the de- sired land, and it was not until last year that the Court of Common Council, under the power of the city charter, secured the title to | fifty feet of land on the northerly and south'- erly sides of Martin street, from Winthrop ! avenue on the east to the river on the west, the land owners not opposing it's ! condemnation in consideration of the under | standing that the city would, within one year, make all the improvements of setting \ back the fences, grading and curbing both street and parks, the total cost of which will be about $2,500; but the city not having made provision for this expense, the im- provement must be deferred until next year. | The layout now under consideration WAS ! most admirably advocated by His Honor, ! Mayor York, in his message to this court ! last year, and I invite you to carefully con- sider his statement.
 The city engineer informs me that the pro- ! posed park contains over sixty acres-four times the size of the Green in front of this building-I have walked all over it when the ground was frozen and since the trees have budded, and I find it to be we'll suited for park purposes. The native shrubbery and trees afford ample shade. They consist principally of hickory, maple, hemlock and oak; lone of these, known as the Children's Oak, is monarch of the forest, covering an area of over ninety feet in diameter. The meadows between the bank and the river contain the old arms of West river, the one south of Martin street receiving the sewage from the almshouse has been con-
 
 menace to the health of the city and a nui- sance which the board of health has con- demned, but as this arm of the river will cease to be 8 receptacle for sewage as soon as the inmates of the old almshouse are re- moved to Springside Farm, it, with any or all the others, can with little cost be made beautiful by being dredged to the sand, which is full of springs of pure water; this dredging should 1 be so, so planned 11 connected by riverways with the main chan nel, on and through which our youth may enjoy with safety boating in summer and skating in winter.
 The meadows, since the straightenIng of the river, have become drier and harder year by year, and now that the water company are going to turn part of the river flow into their Woodbridge reservoir, there will be correspondipgly less in the main stream, and the meadows will be proportionately better drained.
 That such meadow, stream and hillside, can be made heRlthful and suitable for pub lie park purposes, is we'll illustrated by Gen. tral park in New York city, which thirty years ago was dreary region of swamps and thickets, disfgured with heaps of cinders and rubbish, but Is now beautiful in winding waterways, curved drives, and is in every way 8 promoter of health rather than breeder of disease.
 The cost of the proposed park to the city will not be large, because it is in the interest of the landowners as we'll as the city that it been improved or built upon. Your atten- tion is therefore invited to the following letter:
 uo. vou New New, Hsyen. Gem, April 2sd. 1889.
 Dear sir-Referring to the hearing by the honor able board of public works the l7th inst permit that our offer was as follows:
 If the layout Of the proposed public park between on the north and West river on the west and by a roadway as described in your annual message on give to the city of New Haven the entire amount that might be awarded to us by the board of com that the city W should spend said amount in improT ing said park within two years
 be made of the same width as talked of at our in- teryie I , on the grounds and that the map So show
 (Sgned) HUnINaER BRos.,
 per J. F. HubinRer.
 By S careful examination of the foregoing letter it will be seen that the gentlemen pro- pose to give the land to the city on condition that the city improve the same within a rea- sonabls period of time-two years.
 MT. Donald G. Mitchell is so much in favor of this proposed park that he has sent me word that he will give the city so much of his own land as is included within its bound aries.
 Mir. James N. Mason, another owner of the land, informed the board of public works that he also would give his portion of the land which is included within the proposed park.
 The road or park way alluded to by the Messrs. Hubingers is & street 80 feet wide and nearly mile long, which, beginning at the intersection of Chapel with Mott street, extending northwesterly in curves in the form of the letter S, to Martin street thelce westerly until it passes around and west of the Hamilton Park track to ba of the Messrs. Hubingers from the park. This will leave 6 frontage for the park on Whalley avenue of about 800 feet.
 As the parkway is manifestly for the pub lie as for the private good, would ask that an order be passed for the layout to be made.
 The adoption of the layout of the park does not in any way interfere with the con- struction of the boulevard sewer, although 1t is proposed to run the sewer through the park If, however, the park is first laid out and established, the city would have the right to lay the sewer without assessing bene- fits and damages, and thus save to the city fifteen to twenty thousand dollars which may be awarded by the board of compensation for the land required for the proposed boule. yard within the boundaries of the park. The city has an interest in goodly portion of the land to be taken, just south of the almshouse fence, on which no tsxes have been paid for many years. The liens and foreclosure expenses now due exceed the value of the land, and if decree of foreclosure ia ob- tained the title will not be as good as if the property was obtained by condemning it under the charter for park purposes.
 have given this matter much time and careful consideration, seeking only the good of the city as a whole, and have concluded to recommend the passage of the following orders:
 Ordered, That the layout of the proposed park in the western section of the city, described by the city engineer and shown upon map 570, be and is hereby adopted.
 Ordered, That it be referred to the board of com pensation to assess benefits and damages recom- Inended by the board of public works, and said board hereby authorized to ascertain the of taxes, liens and cost of property which would by law be deducted from the assessments they may award for the land taken, and report the net sum that the city will be called upon to pay for the land. with recommendations
 Ordered, That the board of public works cause layout of the proposed road parkway to be made and report the same to the Court of Common Council at it's next meeting.
 Ordered, That the park in the western part of the city be known -
 In view of the fact that the passage of the f. AL. ozsk