New-York tribune., 1921-04-17
By Herbert S. Swan

Dy ElCTOCIk ~. OWdl1
Secretary Zoning Committee, Ne,o
.. . York ,5 lfh Il
We are all resigned to have Manhat-
tan built up solidly with tenements-
that Is something wo regretfully ac-
cepted as inevitable years ago. And
no doubt he would everywhere be re-
Rarded as a hopclcssly hopeful indiv-
dual who for a moment thought that
the greater part Of the Bronx, two
thirds of Brooklyn and large tracts in
Queens could be reserved for anything
else but tenements in any zoning
scheme adopted by the city.
But because we have tenements Is no
reason why all areas developed with
tenements should be improved with
buildings vyinE with one another to
upon 25-foot lot. The congestion
permitted in different localities could
be graded to the advantage of all on
25-foot lot, say, ten families here,
eight there, six in another place, and
so on down to probably one one-family
house on 50-foot lot in the suburban
areas, like Riverdale, Fiske Terrace,
Douglaston, etc. In other words, con-
gestion should be zoned exactly as the
height, use and area of buildings are
at present zoned in New York.
all others awaiting solution in New
York to-day is that of land-overcrowd-
ing.
Would Prevent Crowding
1t is strange phenomenon that de-
spite half century fight against bad
housing conditions congestion of pop
ulation should proceed at an acceler-
atcd rate. More improved and enlght-
ened housing legislation may have eff
fected higher sanitary standards in the
environment surrounding our homes,
but 1t has not checked the ever increas-
ing concentration of population. In
deed, to q degree, it. has even seemed
that this overcrowding of the land was
due to the very measures which were.
designed to improve conditions.
New bridges and tunnels, for in
stance. have only extended our con-
gested areas. The rapid transit lines
extending far out into the cornfeds
have not dispersed population. Bridges
over the rivers, tunnels under the riv-
ers and subway and elevated lines
everywhere gridironing the metropoli-
tan district have all helped each in its
turn to create new congested centers
In the purlieus of the city.
Experience shows that in the absence
OF any restriction on congestion there
lation that can and will be housed on
unit of ground. The tenements now
being erected, for instance, accommo-
GATE a larger number of persons on a
given land area than any of the old
slum houses on the East Side. The
average density of the tenements
erected in Manhattan in 1914 was 852
persons per acre. In Brooklyn it was
6a7 persons per acre. The maximum
density was over 1900 per acre. Sta
tlstics show that the maximum is rap
IDLY becoming the average. The apart
ments erected in Manhattan in 1914,
which provided accommodations for
population of 1875 persons, occupied
by actual measurement a land area of
only 22A acres. Making due allow
ance Tor the area within streets, this
is at the rate of over half million
population per square mile
There is nothing in our local zonine
ordinance which checks congestion like
this-or even worse congestion, if such
be imaginable-from spreading to
every part of the city where tenements
are permitted. The zoning law limits
the height of buildings, it restricts
their bulk and regulates the size of
e' o"u yaIus, put IL DulIdlng con-
forms to these provisions it may house
as many families as the builder can
crowd within its four walls.
What is ultimately going to be the
effect upon real estate values if land
overcrowding to the nth degree is not
only permitted, but practiced wherever
tenements are permitted in the greater
city? There are 329 square miles in the
five boroughs. Most of this area of 200
900 acres is vacant. If the tens and tens
OF thousands of acres of unimproved
land upon which the height and area
regulations of the zoning law permit
tenements to be erected are to be de-
veloped with buildings having a popu-
lation of between 500 and 1900 per-
sons to the acre when will the owners
of unimproved lots in the city be able
to get out from under their "inyestl