The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1906-01-27
Supervisors Tell What Has
Been Done In the Past
Year to Remedy Abus S
MORE INSPECTORS WANTED
THERE WE'RE s2S HOUSES BUILT
IN THE TWELVE MONTHS, ALL
MODELLED ON SANITARY LINES
OVER 300 COMPLAINTS RE-
CEIvED.

The second annual report of the Board
of Tenement-house Supervision. which is
now in the printers hands, embodies a
careful review of the wark of the tene-
ment-house department for the fiscal
year ending October 81, 1905.
The report shows very large amount
| of work done with decidedly limited
force and It's presentations sustain the
assertions of the board that the inspect
| ing force must be increased considerably
| if the work is to be carried on on the
lines on which the board has thus far
proceeded. This need is made so appar-
ent in the report that Governor Stokes,
in his message to the Legislature. calls
/ attention to the fact and recommends the
Increase of the inspecting force. Ac-
cording to the report of the board the
| greatest share of the attention of the de-
partment during the past year has been
given to the supervision Of the work or
| erecting new tenement-houses The ta-
bles accompanying the report wauld seem
| to offer a direct refutation of the state
| builders last year that the enforcement
of the law would put stop to the build
| ing industry in so far as it relates to ten
| ement-house construction. During the
year covered by the report the board has
approved plans for the erection of new
| buildings aggregating $1,000 coo and for
| alterations to existing tenements, $751;
00', a total of $6,476,000.
1 A record is given Of SIS tenement-
houses erected according to the tene-
ment-house act, during the year, proyid-
ing accommodations for 4, ,96S families, or
almost 25,G00 persons, in well-construct-
ed, light and airy apartments. each
| equipped with running water, suitable
toilet accommodations and safe and SER
| viceable fire escapes. Every room in
| these houses has a window of not less
| than fifteen square feet in area. opening
on street or yard or on a court of the
| size prescribed by law, thus rendering
| impossible the disease-breeding black
| rooms of the old type of tenement. The
board directs attention to the many adj
vantages of the new law tenements over
the old type provided prior to the enact
| ment Of the present law. The statement
is made that while many architects and
owners of tenement property objected at
| the outset to the provisions of the law
requiring the sacrifice of a certain pro-
portion of the ground space for courts
and light shafts and to the provisions for
guarding the apartments against fire as
well as to other restrictions imposed in
the act a better understanding of the
law and the results shown in the finished
buildings has won over many of the OBJ
Jectors. Instances are cited in which
the owners of tenementrhouses construct
ed under the law have declared emphat-
ically in favor of it and have stated that
| they would not return to former condi-
| tions even should the law be changed.
| The fact that the apartments in the new
law tenements are rented before the
| buildings are completed is cited as evi-
dence that tenants appreciate the advan-
tages of the new buildings and are eager
to take possession even at an increased
rental.
During the year the board has sue
ceeded in having fire escapes erected on
10S old tenement-houses of four stories
or more in height. while on every new
tenement-house more than three stories
high the plans must show provisions for
fire escapes of the kind required by law
before the plans can be approved. The
work OF erecting hre escapes has been
largely in the congested districts of the
larger cities where the fire danger is
greatest The report tsNs that in many
instances the owners Of tenement-houses
strenuously resisted the orders of the de-.
| partin nent for the erection of fire escapes
insisting that as the buildings had stood
for forty years or more and had never
had serious fire, there was no necessity
for expendng money for the fire escapes.
An instance is given Of attempt at or
ganized opposition in the Italian section
Of Newark. where two of the leaders of
the Italian colony refused to obey the
orders requiring the erection of FIRE es-
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