New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-10-05
ORR PARKS. AND OTHERS.

Questions Of extending trolley lines where
they are needed. of protecting from trolley IN
yasion fine roads that were not meant for such
use of preserving the water supply from pollu-
ton and others of similar public interest empha-
size the suggestion which we have often made IN
these columns of the desirability Of establishing
here some system Of general supervision ana de-
veIopment of the metropolitan district such as
that which has worked so finely in and about
Boston. and which is being applied with SINH
larlv gratifying results in Providence, Hartford
Newark, Baltimore and other cities, great and
small There may be those who will consider 1t
below the dignity of New-York to learn from
lesser cities; to which all we have TO say Is that
neither New-York nor any other city ought to De
too proud to learn from any place that has any
thing good to teach
New-York boasts now and then Of the extent
and beauty of its parks, especially of those in
Brooklyn and The Bronx. They are admirable,
so far as they go, though it is sometimes hard
work to keep them from being turned into race
tracks and other institutions for which they
were never intended But how meagre, after
all, are NETWORKS parks compared with those
of Boston! In the whole of New York City, from
Tottenviue to Wakefield and from Riverside
Park to Rockaway Beach, there are only 6,S62
acres of parks for q population Of about four
mtllion-say, one acre Of park for every $50
persons. Against this, what has Boston TO
show? That city and its suburbs, within
radius Of only eleven miles from the State
House, contain more than 5000 acres of parks
for q population of about LOO, 0O0-One acre of
park for every so persons The contrast will
be practically apparent if we imagine the en-
tire population Of each metropolitan area to
be assembled In the parks. Each New-Yorker
would have a plat less than nine feet square.
while each Bostonian would have one more than
twenty-three feet square.
We do not believe Boston has overdone the
matter; or perhaps we should say Massachu-
sets, for it is really state undertaking. in
volving many suburban communities in addi-
ton to Boston itself. It may be that there Is
little room for further park extension on Man
haitian Island. In all the other boroughs there
is room, and in some of them there is need that
| it should be taken for park purposes. But we
believe the system should include the suburbs
beyond the limits of the city. Perhaps it would
not be too much to take in the whole of West
chester County, which would not be going auy
further afeld, proporhOnately, than has been
done by the Metropolitan Parks Commission IN
Massachusetts. We cannot, Of course hone 10
transform the whole Croton watershed into n
park, though that would be an ideal arrange
ment Il it could be done, and indeed, if we ex-
tended our parks prOportionately as Boston and
her environs have theirs we should take an
area about half as large as that of the Croton
But If some body corresponding to the Metro
politan Parks Commission of Massachusetts
should take under its charge the Albany Post
Road as a parkway up to Ossining; the ex-
quisite Waccabuc lakes and the noble hills sur
rounding them; Byram Lake; the whole valley
of the Bronx, and some other OF those unsur-
passed bits Of natural beauty in which West
chester County abounds, such action would be
only prudent conservation of rural mark areas
which in the not distant future will be needed
for the welfare Of the metropolis and for the
ndornment of its environs.