New-York tribune., 1910-01-07
CITY HAD NO SHOW
LEGAL SIDE UNHEARD
asked to Pay for Making Poor
Line a High Class Road.

30 1ar as L can make out the City'S
side in this matter has so far remained
absolutely unrepresented."
Thus wrote Controller Metz to Corpora-
ton Counsel Pendleton In reference to dis
puted claims against the city for its share
of the cost of aholishlng grade crossings
along the lines of the Bay Ridge branch
Of the Long Island Railroad in the Bor-
ough of Brooklyn. Informed by his engi-
neers that this grade crossing elimination
work as being carried out involved gi-
gantic grade betterment scheme sanctioned
| by opinions from the Corporation Coun-
sells Office. Mr.. Metz refused to pay S225, 900
certified to the citys share for the work
by the Brooklyn Grade Crossing Commits
sion The railway company has applied
for mandamus order TO compel payment.
and there is good prospect of the whole
matter being thrashed out in court.
The alleged purpose underlying the siren
uous fight which the railway company has
put up on this matter is an attempt to
compel the city to share the cost of con-
verting the Bay Ridge line from prac-
tcally imperative one and two track rail-
way into low grade two and four track
trunk line This is being done, according
to the Controllers engineers, under opin-
ions given by the citys legal department
that misinterpret the meaning of an act
OF the Legislature authorizing the abolition
of grade crossings along the railway
1t appears that the Bay Ridge railway
before the work was begun could not be
used as a modern freight line because of
its limited trackage and the existence in
many places of prohibitlve grades. When
the present grade crossing Improvement is
completed this Bay Ridge branch will
emerge low grade trunk freight line ex-
tending from the Long Island terminus at
Fay Ridge across the Borough of Brooklyn
to the Queens Borough line north of At
lantic avenue. From that point it will be
continued under the name of the New York
Connecting Railway north through the
Borough of Queens and by means of a via
duct over Wards and Randalls islands
and bridges over the Harlem and East
rivers to the Morris Park freight yards OF
the New York, New Haven & Hartford
Railway, in the Borough of The Bronx.
VALUE OF THE LINE.
Over this proposed New York Connecting
Railway in Queens and the improved Bay
Ridge branch of the Long Island Railroad
in Brooklyn, the New York, New Haven &
Hartford Railway will have a direct route
for its New England freight traffic by way
o. the Bay Ridge terminal, across the Mar
rows by ferry and to all points west and
southwest by the trunk lines of the Penn
sylvania Railway.
incidentally, connection will be made at
Woodside, in the Borough of Queens with
the Sunnyside yard tracks of the Pennsyl-
vania Railway, affording direct connection
for passenger trains from Boston and other
New England points with the Pennsylvania
trunk lines to Washington, the West and
Southwest through the new tubes under the
East River, the island of Manhattan and
the North River to Jersey City.
Commenting upon the important part the
Bay Ridge branch railway is to play in
this elaborate transportation plan, the
Finance Department engineers report says
that on the Queens side of the grade cross
ing acts defining line new railway is be-
ing constructed under a franchise grant
by the city at the railways sole expense,
with recompense to the city determined
in measure by the mileage to be con-
structed.
On the Brooklyn side, on the other hand,
the city is being assessed for one-half
the cost of providing continuation OF
the same tracks that are being constructed
on the Queens side at the railways sole ex-
pense. in addition to one-half the cost of
caring for the existing railway and this is
being done under the Interpretation placed
by the Corporation Counsel upon the pro-
visions of law designed solely to abolish
grade crossings.
METZ TO PENDLETON
In forwarding the report of his en-
gineers to the Corporation Counsel with
reiteration Of former requests for a re-
view of the legal opinions under which
the city is being assessed for one-half the
cost Of betterments carried out under the
grade crossing elimination act, Controller
Metz, in a letter addressed to Corporation
Counsel Pendleton. says:
SO far as 1 can make out, the citys
side in this matter has so far remained
absolutely unrepresented. nor were the en-
gineering features inquired into by your
department as they could have been repre-
sented by some OF my representatives
whose special duties along technical lines
qualify them to foresee where important
improvements and bettermentS to the ma
terial advantage of the railways outside
the clear meaning of the law, as improper
~ charged against the city's account.
The subject of land purchase will short
ly come before me, and II is this feature
would like you TO consider In your review
of previously presented subjects, as it is
Intimately related to some OF the points
heretofore covered. The railway company,
thirty-five feet wide, while at others it is
fifty feet and upward in width. On a two
track basis, as the railway existed at the
time of the laws passage, only twenty
feet Of this property was developed or
graded into an operating roadbed the rest
as the confguratiOn of the country de-
manded, was occupied by the necessary
slopes, bitches, and, in part, by telegraph
poles.
The railway company demands that this
whole property width, irrespective of it's
previous track equipment capacity, be low
cred raised, and this is being done un-
der opinions rendered by your department
In this connection an expenditure is being
imposed upon the city for a betterment
which but for the grade crossing eimina-
ton act could not have been carried out
by the railway company without oonSidera-
BILE expenditure for additional property nee
esary for slopes. Under the legal opinion
of your department. that the grade cross
ing act calls for the conversion OF the full
width of the right of way into a graded
roadbed available for additional trackage
the city is called upon to pay one-half the
cost of the additional property required for
the necessary slopes, or to pay one-haTf the
cost of constructing retaining walls with
the necessary property easements.
SEEK TO TAKE EVERYTHING.
Moreover, in its demand for this full
width of right of way as a graded road
bed, the railway company has neglected to
reserve space for the necessary equipment
and other operating utilities or for the
transmission poles or tower supports for
possible subsequent electrical operation
that are essential to the operation of the
modern high-class railway this Is designed
to be, judging by the construction costs OF
what is being required elsewhere along the
line. With the necessity of subsequent in
stallation of these facilities apparent, and
with no property in the usual location re-,
served for their accommodation, 1t is OBJ
ViouS that property purchased for slopes
must be used for that purpose.