New-York tribune., 1903-07-24
if the demand compels the national government
TO go ahead more rapidly.
TIE F4FTY-NINTH STREET PROBLEM.

THE FIFTH-NINTH STREET PhObLbH'
Fifty -ninth-st. is one of the chief crosstown
thoroughfares of the city, and is destined to be-
come more important when the BlackWelfs
Island Bridge over the East River is COM
peted. In order to meet the trathc demands
it has been generally agreed that the street
must be widened, and business men and prop
erty owners have devoted much time and at
tention to making and examining plans having
that end in view. The partsans of the north
side showed to their own satisfaction, il not to
that of their south side neighbors, that their
side of the street should be left intact; and the
south side owners demonstrated by drawings
figures and oratory that to slice away any part
of their side of the street would be to spoil It,
The Board of Estimate considered the various
plans and heard the arguments with which
they were fortified and finally submitted
scheme which, if carried out, would add forty
feet to the width of the street and make 1t as
wide between Fifth and Second aves. as it is
now along the south end of the park west of
Fifth-ave
To the citizen who knows the limitations of
the thoroughfare in its present form, and to
some of the property owners along its line, the
scheme appealed strongly, and there was
large delegation present at the meeting OF the
board prepared to indorse it and hopeful to
was, in the opinion of Mayor Low, an objec-
tion, and his firm and emphatic opposition to
the plan, which he thought might involve
expenditure of possibly $12,000000, defeated
the measure for the time being. Looking upon
the matter from a purely business point of
view, the Mayor was right, and the citizens
of NewYork will agree with him that the
sum mentioned is too large to pay for the
improvement. The fact remains, nevertheless
that something must be done to meet the
growing demands on the popular street. Mayor
Low knows this and he showed that he had
given the subject consideration and study by
suggesting a plaza at Second-ave and other
changes which would cost less than the
scheme which he threatened to veto if it were
adopted.
In the discussions which have taken place on
the subject the arcade, a practical and COM
paTatively inexpensive means of relief, has been
overlooked The arcade was suggested early
in the campaign for wider Fifty -ninth-st., but
in the battle between the parties representing
the two sides of the street the suggestion has
been ignored. With the fact established that
Fifty -nnth-St. in its present condition will not
be adequate to accommodate the growing traffic.
and that the improvements suggested by
the people who have studied the situation will
cost too much, it seems only just TO the taxpay-
ers of the city that the arcade scheme should
have serious consideration. The expense would
be small in comparison with that of the other
plans and an architectural feature would be
added to our city which has increased the
beauty of Paris, Brussels, Bologna and other
European cities. Architects of ability have pro-
nounced the arcade scheme for Fifty-ninth-st
feasible and inexpensive. IF their plans are
carefully studied before any more elaborate
ones are considered the arcade may become the
solution of the difficult Fifty-ninth-st problem