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JuJy 31, 1909
RECORD AND GUIDE
207
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BlTsil/ESSAl^THELlESOFGHI^Rtl If/TERESl.,
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
Communications should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET
Published EVery Saturday â–
By THE RECORD AJVD GUIDE CO.
President, CLINTON W. SWEET Treasurer, F- W- DODGE
Vice-Pres. fi; Genl- Mgr., H. W. DESMOND Secretary, P. T. MILLER
Noa. 11 to 15 Eaat 24fli Street, Ne-tv York City
(Telephone, Madison Square, 4430 to 4433.)
"Entered at tiie Post Office at J/cip York, N. Y., as secomJ-cJass matter."
Copyrighted, lilO'J, by The Record & Guide Co.
Vol. LXXXIV-
JULY 31, 1909-
No. 2159.
THE TAX RATE in Manhattaii for the coming year will
he 1-67, an increase of six points over the preceding
year, and the hest that can be said about the figure is that
it might have been worse. At one time it looked as if the
increase would amount to more than ten points. Heroic
endeavors have been made to keep it down, because of the
possible effect of a larger increase on the municipal election
next Fall, but the success may be more illusory than real.
The result may be only a postponement of the higher rate.
It has been confidently anticipated that the tax rate for the
coming year would at least remain' stationary, but there is
no assurance that such will actually be the case- The in¬
crease in the assessed valuation of real estate will be lar¬
ger than it was for the current year, but it will not be so
large as it was in immediately preceding years. "While an
enormous amouut of new construction is now under way,
it consists largely of fireproof buildings that will uot ap¬
pear in the valuation for the coming year. Neither will there
be any very considerable opportunity for r'lising the valua¬
tions of unimproved property. There have not been any
marked or extensive increases in ground value during the
past twelve months. A fair guess as to the probable in¬
crease in assessed valuation would place it somewhere be¬
tween $200,000,000 and $250,000,000, which would yield
on the basis of a tax rate of $1.07, about $4,000,000 of
additional income, and it remains to be seen whether the
increase of the Budget can be kept down to that figure, and
iu respect to this essential element in the calculation one
man's guess is as good as another's. Of course the most
assiduous and determined effort will be made by the prop¬
erty-owners' association to prevent the increase of appro¬
priations, but the mandatory increase will not be far from
the figure named- They may succeed in keeping the in¬
crease in the Budget down to the estimated increase in in¬
come, but it is doubtful. No provision has as yet been
made for really substantial economies, and the Record and
Guide doubts whether such economies will ever be effected
until some such reorganisation as that embodied in the new
charter has been successfully consummated.
TN VETOING the proposed new Building Code, Mayor
-â– â– McClellan did only what his character and record would
lead his constituents to expect, and the reasons he gave for
his action were unimpeachable. Rather no revision at all
than such an entirely unsatisfactory revision as that which
the Board of Aldermen adopted, "What the ultimate effect
of the mayor's action will be remaius to be seen, but it is
wholly improbable that a substantially better code will ever
he passed by such a body as the Board of Aldermen. The
only point of view from which the average alderman ever
thinks of consideriu-g an alteration in the building regula¬
tion is the effect of such an alteration on the interest of his
acquaintances or friends. In certain general respects he
simply accepts the advice of experts, but whenever experts
disagree and whenever a propose:! regulation either threat¬
ens or benefits important building interests, his vote one
way or another is merely a matter of political or persona!
influence. The majority of the hoard will not consequently
pay the least attention to the Mayor's veto message. Their
attention will be directed to the all-important task of trying
to overcome its consequences. If the matter comes up
again in the Fall it is wholly improbable that the board
will pass any code that will meet the Mayor's ohjections
to the one he has just vetoed. The whole business will
in ail probability be postponed until after the election, and
the kind of code which the city will ultimately get will de¬
pend upon the results of the Fall campaign. If a Mayor is
elected who is willing to obey the orders of the machine,
an attempt will be made to enact the code approved by
the majority of the Board- On the other hand, in case
some independent candidate is elected, or in case the vic¬
torious candidate proves to be, like Mayor McClellan, a man
of independent disposition, some compromise will have to be
arranged. The strength of the political and business in¬
terests that are contending over this matter are so con¬
siderable and' are so nearly equal that in any event the ulti¬
mate result wili probably be in the nature of a compromise.
THE very general opposition of the real estate and build¬
ing interests to the code approved by the majority of
the Board of Aldermen had much to do with its temporary or
final rejection, and the organizations which participated in
this successful protest should not let the matter rest as it
is. They should not confine their efforts merely to pro¬
testing against a vicious and over-stringent set of building
regulations. They should use their influence on behalf of
a code designed particularly for the purpose of improving
the general standard of building at the smallest practicable
cost to the builder and to the comiuunity; and they should
have a code prepared that would meet these two essential
needs. The general nature of such a code has already been
indicated by Mr. Ernest Flagg. who deserves the thanks of
the whole real estate and building interests for the energy
and ability with whicii he has insisted upon the necessity
of keeping down the cost of fireproof structures and of so
encouraging their erection. Upon the desirability' of the
specific proposals made by Mr. Flagg in his add ress and
published in the last issue of the Record and Guide there is
no need of commenting. The best method of giving effect
in detail to Mr. Flagg's general idea must of course be ex¬
haustively considered by experts; but there is absolutely no
doubt as to the validity of the idea itself, and of the interest
which real estate men and builders have in supporting it.
What New York needs is a code which will encourage the
largest possible amount of fireproof building and the highest
practicable standard of fireproof construction. The existing
code and both of its proposed revisions, establish standards
of flreproof construction which unnecessarily increase the
cost of sound building methods, the consequence being that
necessarily the great majority of the buildings erected are
inflammable and the city is constantly threatened by the aw¬
ful loss that would result from a widespread conflagration.
Little is being done to lessen this danger. Nothing would
he done by the proposed new code. Its consequence would
be to increase still further the cost of fireproof construc¬
tion, and to afford builders an additional inducement to
avoid it- Ou tlie other hand tlie increasing cost of wood
and the diminishing cost of certain fireproof materials have
made it possible to increase the general standard of build¬
ing without imposing any additional burdens on the builder.
A sensible code should take advantage of this fact, but such
a sensible code will never be either framed or adopted unless
the real estate and building interests actively and assid¬
uously insist on its adoptipn.
-^HE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION has, we believe.
^ made a mistake iu drawing up the list of express
stations for the Broadway-Lexington route. It has not
provided for any points at which express trains will stop
between Canal street and 4 2nd street, and between 42nd
street and SGth street. Such a distribution of express sta¬
tions would result in a great deal of inconvenience to the
traveling public. The aim of the commission should be
to provide every important crosstown street with at least
one express station. The existing subway gives one each
to 14th and 42nd streets, A Seventh avenue subway,
whenever it is built, must have an express station at the
Pennsylvania Terminal, thereby satisfying at least in part
the claim which 34th street and Greeley Square can make
for this essential convenience. There remains 2 3d and
59th streets, and the Record and Guide believes that these
streets should be provided witli express stations on the
Broadway-Lexington route. Twenty-third street and Madi¬
son Square are becoming a mucli more important business
center than 14th street ever was—one of the most i.nportant
in the whole of Manhattan; and it is not fair to the huge
business population of this neighborhood to deprive it of
the advantage of an express service. The enormous future