Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-12-15
FIRST-THE CITY PLAN

When the Board Of Aldermen sat in committee session Wed
nesday night to hear the requests of the different municipal boards
Tor the money deemed necessary for carrying on the work OF
their respective departments for the coming year there was no
appeal made to them that means more for the future of Perth
Amboy than that of the City Plan Commission. Even if it should
be necessary to hold every other board down to what it received
last year, the City Plan Commission should receive liberal con-
sderation.
Perth Amboy has grown rapidly in recent years. 1t seems
TO have struck a slump just at present due, apparently, to a lack
of civic spirit and Indifference on the part of many of its citizens,
but there is no denying that Perth Amboy has a great future and
h is up to the city now to make plans for that future.
The days when municipalities grew in a haphazard, shipshod
manner have passed. This is an age of system and organization;
everything is carefully planned and step by step the general
scheme is carried out, each separate achievement working for the
success of the whole.
Cities grow according to a definite plan now as well as all
kinds of private institutions. 1t is only by having a comprehen-
sve plan that the officials know what to do when facing a crisis
and a decision has to be made on short notice. When experts have
outlined the whole scheme long before, giving careful consideration
to every phase of the situation the city is ready for any emergency.
Perth Amboy is to face many big problems in the immediate
future. There are great projects and extensive developments
going on all about us, in which we are vitality interested. These
things are going to go on whether we show any interest or not
The question is, are we to be in a position to derive full advan-
tage of the opportunity afforded usi Are we to be ever on the
alert to see that the chys interests are fully protected, or are
we to drift along, taking what the others choose to give us, with
out any idea as to what is to our advantage and what is not?
The City Plan Commission is the one body that can make the
city prepared for all this great development. 1t is too late to do
anything regarding the elimination Of the grade crossings, but
there is the state highway bridge and approaches to be considered;
there is the development Of an adequate park system that must,
be planned for even if it is not carried out all at once. Then
there is the Port of New York, of which we are a part, that has
elaborate plans under way of making it the greatest port in the
world. Perth Amboy is wonderfully located at the head of Raritan
bay, at the month of the Raritan river and at the point where
Staten Island sound connects with the bay and river. If Perth
Amboy is to take full advantage of her matchless location and is to
play her rightful part in the port development scheme, plans
must be made now for waterfront development, whether such
developments are carried out at once or not.
If the aldermen are wise and have the progress of the city at
heart they will, in making up their budget for the coming year
start off with an appropriation of the full amount asked for by the
City Plan Commission, which is little enough considering what it
win mean for Perth Amboy ten or fifteen years hence, not to men
ton the immediate future.
Whatever else may be accomplished during the coming year,
by all means let it be a year of decided progress toward securing
q definite city plan.