Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-11-06
Communications
CITY PLAN FIRST.

AS the Chamber of Commerce, oil
any other body that starts to do any
thing for tho development of Perth
Amboy. gets down to work it be-
I'M plain that the very founda-
ton for all improvements is a city
plan. At the Chamber of Commerce
forum Thursday night the topic for
discussion was Perth Amboy's har-
Dor and waterways. It was found,
as soon as the matter was gone into
at all, that without a city plan little
real progress could be made.
Mr.. Dubois. president of the Rari-
tan Terminal and Waterways Asso-
citation. stated at the forum that as
far as the construction of the trans
state ship canal is concerned there is
little more hat can be done except
to keep agitating the matter at every
opportunity. With the Atlantic
Deeper Waterways Association and
the association which Mr.. Dubois
heads having this canal as their
main object. it can be said that moth
ing will be left undone to advance
that great project.
But Perth Amboy has a great work
to do right here at home. The city
must be made ready to make the
most of this great development as
soon as 1t is finished. Our harbor
must be put in shape to handle big
shipping: there must be terminals.
and warehouses with deep channels
s-and anchorages. There must be rail-
road facilities connecting direct with
the wharves to facilitate the hand
ling of freight.
Where is the best location for all
this? How are we going to connect
1t all up with the growth of the city
rs a whole? Are we to allow our en-
tire waterfront to be used for ter
minal purposes. Are the people to
ZEE shut off entirely from the de-
lightful beaches thai now border the
city on two sides? Are there to be
40 waterfront parks. no bathing fac
llities?
Where are they to be located?
surely the people must have some
part Of the waterfront reserved for
fheir use. Even crowded New York
Ras her Battery Park and Riverside
Vcive. But it is going to require the
Gritty Of an expert. giving much
t,,a.1y to the situation, to decide what
It of our waterfront shall be turn
iyover to commercial use and what
49, to recreation. This important
matter should not be decided in an
off-handed. haphazard manner A
city plan is absolutely necessary.
With a city plan every phase Of
the city's development is taken into
consideration. Harbor improve
ment is only one feature. There
cACoiQ NC q 6OAii5 Sy SLGlu whereby
a man about to build a home for
himself will be assured that within a
by factories, garages or other struc-
lures that will depreciate the value
ton must be laid out and this means
an extention of Perth Amboy's city
limits. There must be more parks.
The city must provide comfort sta
tons. Sewers must be re~arranged
and the wafer system extended so as
to provide for years to ONE
Perth Amboy needs a new rail-
road station, but when it is built it
should be a union station to be used
not only by the Central and Penn
~sylvania railroads. but by the Lehigh
Valley as well. The ideal site for
this station is in the triangle where
the Lehigh Valley freight station
and the Robins lumber yard are not
located, with a beautiful broad ap-
preach from New Brunswick avenue
We could nave a city arranged for
industrial and business development
which would be extremely attractive
as well, SO that people who came
here and those who passed through
would be impressed and would say
that Perth Amboy indeed, is no
mean city.
But all these thing ought TO be
carefully considered Is a whole.
Nothing should be left to chance.
With the harbor development the
most important. perhaps, all other
work in conjunction Herewith. 1t
all gets back to a comprehensive city
plan as the very beginning for all
things.
This reminds us that there is now
lying idle in the city treasury $4,000
which the Board of Aldermen appro-
priated last January for the start of
a city plan. Through a hitch be-
tween city officials the proposed city
plan commission has never been APP
pointed. At the end of the year. If
get behind this movement at once
and see to it that the city plan COM