Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-17
BOULEVARD IN The BALANCE
Board Of Equalization Considering Fate Of
Southwss, Parkway.
PROPERTY OWNERS FIGHT The TAX
some Forty Protests THed Against
the Proposed Plnn of Asscssmeut-
Hearing Commenced Yesterday
and Continues Today.

The fate o. The southwest boulevard
scheme hangs in the balance Yesterday
afternoon the city council sitting as
Board OF Equalization. commenced the con
sideratiou uf the question whether or not 10
adopt the plan OF assessment proposed Tor
the purpose Of raising the S5O 600 needed 10
pay for The land that must be condemned
Tor the road way. u this plan should he
adopted the boulevard scheme will SO
through unless the courts intervene. IL 1t
is not adopted, IL is the general impression
that the scheme Is killed, Tor the present.
at least.
For three days the Board Of Equalization
has been receiving protests against the pro-
posed assessment Yesterday afternoon
some forty Of these protests had been fled.
The hearing upon them was begun and was
continued for Il couple Of hours The end
Of the matter was not reached. however,
and therefore an adjournment was taken
to 10 o'clock this morning
A majority Of the protests come from
small property owners, who possess hut one
or few lots that are located some dis
tance from the proposed boulevard. Some
Of the prutestants, however. have much
heavier holdings Among the latter are
.
which represents the bigger part Of Summit
Hill addition; Harry 4. Reed, who repre-
sents Hazel Terrace addition Charles W.
Lyman. James c. MeEeath and the Omaha
q Southwestern Railway company.
A majority Of these complaints charged
that the proposed taxes were excessive H.
legal and unequal, and that the taxed prop
erty is too far away to be benefited but a
good many other reasons We're given. among
I them The following: THAT the city does
not need the boulevard any more than a
wagon needs q fifth wheel" that no benefit
viii be derived, that the tax should be as
I sessed against the whole city that the
city has already more park and boulevard
land that it can afford TO improve and that
the boulevard would be OF no value until
Sl5O,OOO or 100000 is spent upon it" that
the southsiders 40 not need nor want the
boulevard, That the property TO be as
sessed is already taxed more than IL can
stand that it would give some taxed
property owners no pleasure because they
have no carriages that the proposed tax
would be equivalent to conhscation.
Park Commissioner Cornish appeared in
support Of the assessment and he pleadCA
8rdenty that il be adopted He declared
that the people who are ohjecting TO il and
4
! objecttng to their best interests he asserted
that within five years after the boulevard is
constructed, the property assessed would bs
benefited many more times than the tax il
must now bear. In support Of this he as
serted that since Hanscom park was estab-
hshed IN 1914 the property about il has in
creased eiEhty-twu times in valuation. while
the property in other parts Of the city has
increased in value but four and eight tenths
times in the same length Of time The reve-
nue. coming from this Hanscom park prop
erty has increased twenty times more in
size than the revenue from the average
city lot As n general rule he maintained
that in any city property located On parks
and bOulevards increases from 800 to 400
per cent in value over property in Other
parts Of the city.
Park Commissioner Cornish asserted that
/ with the boulevard built all the territory
| between Aanscom park and Riverview park
| which is now worth comparatively little as
| residence property, would be greatly in
creased in value The boulevard will also
/ connect two sections Of the city but q mile
and h half apart, between which people can
not al present pass without covering five
miles Of ground. He also pointed out that
/ the boulevard would give an opportunity 10
/ Omahans to show something TO visitors and
]
revival in the road horse market in this city
Years ago he asserted Omaha was quite
noted for its road horses, nut it has lost
! that prestige, its people having lost inter
est in road horses because they had no
| drivewavs
Finally the park commissioner insisted
that the objection TO the boulevard is made
only by Z small proportion OF The property
| owners. He said that the boulevard has been
advocated by big meetings Of taxpayers in
/ the First Second and Seventh wards who
knew al the time they would have to be
assessed 10 pay its costs. As TO the plan Of
assessment, he stated that ii was the most
equitable that could he employed il was
ridiculous to assert thuI $4,000 bonds should
be issued 10 pay for the boulevard because
the north end Of the city would never vote
for them.
John l. Kennedy was the main spokesman
. Of the prOtestants. He declared that many
( q the statements made by Mr. Cornish We're
/ withou. foundation For example he in
sisted that the property on west Farnam
street has increased in valuation as much If
not more than the property about Hanscom
park and vet if not located near 3 park-his
conclusion being that not park but beau
tful houses and other improvements mad the
| uCst 10 do with increased valuations. He
asserted. too. tina, the reason the people OF
. Omaha did not drive horses now it not that
they have no roadwBys but because the
people are so nearly taxed TO death that
they cuunot afford horses Mr. Kennedy
also declared that the city has been out