Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-12-07
WANT FAIR DEAL FOR THE CITY

f,ture develonment of the CITY in view. makes the problem
of eliminating the grade crossings here a very difficult one
Those who are looking after the city's interests have a very
great responsibility. What is decided now must serve Perth
Amboy for many years to come and one serious mistake may
never be remedied.
The whole matter is complicated by the crossing OF the
Central railroad and the Lehigh Valley railroad, the intersee-
lion being in the center of one of the cHy's most important
thorouehfares. According to present plans the street is to be
carried over both railroads. Even though tracks are to be
depressed the plans call for an elevation of the street that is
anything but pleasant to contemplate. All the streets are TO
< have a hump in them, but at Washington street the eleva-
fkon becomes almost impossible. 1t cannot help but be a
great detriment.
OF course, the first essential is to eliminate the grade
crossings. No matter what other inconvenience there may
he. none can be worse than the existing condition. There
fore, whatever is absolutely necessary to solve the problem,
no matter what it does to the streets, must be done for the
sake Of the CITY as a whole. That is the only way to look at
great improvements of this kind.
However, we want to be assured that everything has
been done to make such street elevations as are necessary as
low as possible. When we look at track depressions in other
cities and see the tunnel-like effect of some of the bridges
CARRYING streets over tracks, we wonder whether or not it is
essential here that there should be as much clearance for
the cars as the railroad engineers provide in their plans. 1t
may be very nice to have room enough between the cars and
the bridges for trainmen to stand upright on top of the cars,
but we Ill % see III H6CeSoIy u lCm uOlHS bIo III IhO
main track. Such practices may be necessary when drilling
in the yards, but to inconvenience a whole city and practi-
caly ruin some of the principal streets in order to enable a
few ksainmen to occasionally indulge in this practice while
passing Through the city seems hardly fair. Unless there is
q law making it mandatory for such a clearance it hardly
seems right to insist that the streets take such a rise to pass
over the tracks when there is so much room to spare for the
trains to pass under.
Another important point is the matter OF a station
Perth Amboy is not a suburban community in the sense that
such a term is generally understood. This is a city in itself
and has commuters coming here as well as furnishing COM
muters for New York. This city is growing rapidly. 1t is
going to develop even more rapidly in the future once the
present plans for port development are carried out. lnciden-
tally, this port development being directly alongside the
Central railroad, as is proposed, cannot help but be of a great
benefit to that railroad company. When the city, therefore,
is doing so much that will build up a tremendous freight
business for the railroad, it is only fair that the railroad
company should, in turn, help make Perth Amboy a great
city.
To do this there must be a railroad station in keeping
with the importance of the place. No station such as would
be built in the average suburban town will do. Perth Amboy
is not to be put in the same class with Fanwood, Dunellen
and Somerville. The ideal thing, of course, is a union station
in the triangle at New Brunswick avenue and Washington
street where it can be used by the Lehigh Valley railroad
as well as the Central and the Pennsylvania railroads. The
railroad engineers say that due to the plans for grade cross
ing elimination this is impracticable. We are not engineers
and will have to take the engineers word for it. But we
would very much like to have the opinion of an expert city
planner in the matter. These city planners, who have had
all kinds of problems of this kind put up to them to solve
from the city's point of view, could no doubt find a way to
meet the city's wishes in this regard and they would be able
10 convince the railroad engineers that, from the city's point
Of view, it is feasible and the right thing to do. Naturally,
the railroad engineers are looking at the matter entirely
from the railroads side of the question.
1t is to be regretted that the City Plan Commission has
not seen fit to use the So, 500 or what is left of the sum that
was appropriated last January for their use, to hire an expert
CITY planner to go into this matter thoroughly from the chys
side of the case and offer a plan for a union station suitable
for a city of this size so that the city would have something
to get behind and make a real fight for. Once this station is
built, it will have to do for many years to come. 1t is neces-
sary that when the station is built, therefore, that it will be
a credit to the city.
Announcement has just been made that a new station is
TO be erected next year at Asbury Park. The plans as pub
lished show a handsome structure costing about $500, 900.
While no doubt Asbury Park handles far greater crowds for
two months of the year than ever are handled at Perth
Amboy, the fact remains that the al-year traffic here and
The prospects of greater things in the future warrants just