The evening world., 1917-02-28
A PLEA FOR A BASIC CHANGE IN
THE CONTRACT.


II has been stated In the reports OF
the Committee on Port and Terminal
Facilities ~ the Board ~ Estimate
and AppOrtionmcnt that the land
which the railroad company would
give tO the city ig estimated to
hc worth Si.9Si.AS2. and that tho
properties and easements which the
city would convey are estimated 10 be
worth s. ,09i.3Sl, and that the differ
encc, SGi0s,Sg9. is contributed by tho
city nS It's share In the Consumma-
tlon Of tho bargain such a state
ment however, has not been included
IN any OF the above mentioned docu-
mcnts. II is merely an cN-partc
statement appearing I'm the reports
~ tho committee. and II the city
should desire 20 use IL. subsequent 20
the approval OF tho contract. to cs-
inblish the basis for taxation pur-
poses. II could be rcpudiated by the
railroad company
The extreme Importance OF thia ig
clearly brought out by The New York
Evening World queries N appears
to be trWc that on the cTccufion of
the contrdct for this I'm pro orcmcnt hc
special franchise tphich the railroad
com PAM no'C has for its tangible and
Intangible property riOhtS IN fhr
streets Of the citU tCiH. erCcpt for the
negligible amount Of ground area oc-
cupicd bV the footnOS Of the columns
supporting the elevated structure on
Dhich the railroad com pdnU triH oDcr-
ate. be- Transformed into raj estate
rights. subject TO tdrdfion as real cs-
tate. and that the spcCtIi franchise
tar nOU based on rdiuntion tphich
The NetO York EUcninO World states
as fI,9se 900. but iOhiCh. as rcfcrrin1
10 the borough Of Manhattan. is some
What less and tOhich UiCidS an annual
revenue TO the CitU Of approximately
800 900, tDW BE- almost entirely lost as
such.
When the question OF land rE-
changes was considered by the Com -
mittce on Port and Terminal Facili %
tics 1 urged that the appraisals he
made by an impartial. independent
body OF three disinterosted and OK
pert persons such AZ is required
by tho Greater New York Charter
in the determination OF land values
In condemnation proceedings, and
such as Is availcd OF by nduciary
corporations. Az a result, the com o.
mittec retained the firm ~ George
r. Read a 60. | believe, par
ticulaTly in such a tremendous trans
action. that ono appraiser Is not sur
ficiont. especially one who, regardless
OF his ability and reliability. had, In
1919, given his appraisal on a large
portion Of the lands now I'm question.
when they formed n part of the plans
Of 1913, and whose opinion was,
therefore, largely known In advance
of his 1916 appraisal. Good business
Judgment would require that the fig-
urcs Of George X. Read a. Co. be
checked.
In addition 10 requesting these
three impartial. Independent apprals
crs ON tho land values, | have been
lnsistcnt upon further light on the
general features OF the plan. in order
that the city's interest might be well
protected and the evil OF monopoly
excluded. with these thoughts In
mind | presented "A resolution 10 the
Board OF Estimate ana AppOrtion-
ment asking that the Public Service
Commission OF the First District be
invited TO give MS the advantage OF
suggestions and recommendation
This resolution was defeated
The Public Service Commission has
a largo body OF trained experts who
are especially qualified TO advise us
on the engineering and franchise
problems involved New York city
pays large share OF the bills, and
fail TO see why we should not avail
ourselves of their expert Information.
This. OF course, does not waive any
OF our rights to reject the TeCommon-
dations when received, Since my
resolution was defeated, Gov whit
man has requested the Public Ser
vice Commission to report on the
land and franchise matters involved.