REAL   ESTATE







AND







NEW YORK, JULY 19, 1913





|llllllllllillllllllllllBIII!lllllllllilllllilH

I  A    CONSTRUCTIVE    MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM   I





Changes in Legislation and in Administrative Methods Needed to Insure an
Efficient and Economical City Government—^A Comprehensive Survey of Non¬
partisan   Reforms   That   May   Be   Urged   by  All   Public   Spirited   Citizens.





-Article  V.-





illll





llllllllllllill





THE prime business of an administra¬
tion is to administer. The first need
of efficient administration is efficiency of
method and the elimination of waste.
Efficiency of method and elimination of
waste result from skilled and persistent
attention to the details of the business
of city government.

It is because these details have not
received continuous expert attention
that the cost of New York City's gov¬
ernment, in relation to services received,
has always been excessive. It is be¬
cause recently attention has been given
to details of administration in several
departments of the government that in
those departments the services rendered
are more nearly commensurate with ex¬
penditure of funds.

It is because New York is only now
evolving out of slatternly, loosely direct¬
ed management that the chief present
need of New York City, both from the
standpoint of taxpayers and from the
standpoint of the city generally, is com¬
petent attention to administration prob¬
lems.

Primarily, responsibility for the kind
of adrninistration that New York City
will have for the next four years will
rest upon the next Mayor and the next
Board of Estimate and Apportionment.

As a first step toward establishing
the efficiency of government that all
candidates will say they desire, it is
suggested that taxpayers, instead of
threatening, villifying or misstating facts,
obtain from all candidates for the Board
of Estimate definite pledges of definite
acts, either continuing present effort for
better administration or taking steps
which the existing government has for
one reason  or another not taken.

Pledges for the Next Administration.

The new administration should be
pledged:

1.   To regard the city as a business
corporation or.ganized to render specific
services.

2.   To appoint as heads of departments
men  experienced   in  administration.

It should be a part of the program
of the new administration to make the
Board of Estimate and Apportionment
responsible for the general policies of
the city. To bring this about, the new
administration should seek to enlarge
the powers of the board first, by ab¬
sorbing the present powers of the Board
of Aldermen; second, by establishing
such aids to the economical management
of the city as a central purchasing
agency, an efficiency bureau, and a pub¬
licity office.

A part of the work of the publicity
office should be the operation of a cen¬
tral complaint and information bureau
and the preparation of statements re¬
specting city business for the press.   It





By HENRY BRUERE, Director, Bureau of Municipal Research.

illlill'lllilllililllllllllillllllilllll.....iiMllllllllilllilllillllllilB

of





should be the aim of the new adminis¬
tration to emphasize the responsibility
of the members of the Board of Esti¬
mate and Apportionment as a group for
the successful administration of the af¬
fairs of the city, and the members of this
board should be pledged to co-operative
effort to increase the efficiency of the
city departments and to establish closer
contact between the government and the
people.

Legislative Program.

The City of New York should be au¬
thorized to frame its own Charter sub¬
ject to the approval of its electorate.
The new administration should under¬
take to obtain from the Legislature
power authorizing the Board of Esti¬
mate and Apportionment to prepare a
charter for submission to the people at
a regular or special election to be held
before January 1, 1916. Home rule in
other respects must be won by demon¬
strated capacity to govern the affairs of
the city with maximum efficiency. To
this end the new administration:

1.   Should request and insistently urge
the Legislature to grant power to the
Board of Estimate and .Apportionment
to frame a code of business procedure
for the entire city government. Such
a code would establish business prac¬
tices of uniform efficiency in all de¬
partments. It would deal with office
procedure, correspondence, com¬
plaints, filing, inspections, reports,
contracts, purchases, stores—all the
common details of departmental ad¬
ministration whose mal-performance
causes waste and inefficiency. This
code would supersede administrative
provisions in existing charters, laws
and ordinances.

2.   Should be pledged to effort to se¬
cure the basis for more direct control
of the affairs of the municipality by
the electorate. It should seek to ob¬
tain a non-partisan direct primary
law. It should seek to obtain
for the electorate the power of
initiative and the referendum in re¬
spect of local legislation involving
franchises and authorization of im¬
provements. It should seek to obtain
for the electorate the power of recall
of elective officials.

3.   Should be instructed to labor for
legislative authority to frame a com¬
prehensive city plan including the
power to segregate industrial estab¬
lishments, power to limit the height
of buildings, and to restrict the per¬
centage of lot occupyable.

4.   Should seek to obtain for the mu¬
nicipality full control over the ex¬
penditures and business methods of
county offices. Salaries and grades
other than those of elective county
officers should be fixed by the Board





Estimate and Apportionment.
County employees paid out of the city
treasury should be subject to munici¬
pal service rules. The Board of Es¬
timate and Apportionment should have
power to prescribe rules and regula¬
tions governing the administration of
county offices in conformance with
existing statutes.

5.   Should 'obtain power to centralize
under the control of the Board of Es¬
timate and Apportionment all the
city's privileges, including park con¬
cessions, newsstands, privileges grant¬
ed by the Dock Department and the
Borough Presidents' offices, and insist
on competition and publicity in mak¬
ing all grants.

6.    Should seek to have transferred to
the Board of Estimate and Appo.r-
tionnient all powers in respect of the
fixation of salaries and establishment
of grades.

7.   Should be pledged to bring about a
centralization ef the licensing agen¬
cies of the city, and in the case of
failure to obtain legislation to develop
a plan for coordinating the work of
existing license bureaus, particularly
those having to do with places of
amusement.

General Administrative  Methods.

As a first step, after election, every
department head, with the aid of ex¬
perts and skilled subordinates, should
be required to make a comprehensive
study of his department, and to submit
a report pointing out every possible
opportunity for economy. Because of
unscientific organization, unnecessary
employees and improper supervision of
work, there still abound throughout
many parts of the city government waste
of effort and funds, and consequent in¬
efficiency of service.

Reductions in operating cost with in¬
crease in service rendered effected by
the Borough Presidents of Manhattan
and The Bronx should be equally possi¬
ble in other departments if similar
methods are employed. The new ad¬
ministration should be pledged to in¬
stitute at once every known principle of
scientific management applicable to city
business. There should be no uncer¬
tainty as to the intention of the admin¬
istration to make its first business the
elimination of waste and putting the
government of the city on an efficient
basis.

From top to bottom all candidates for
the Board of Estimate should be pledged
to administrative measures such as the
following, designed to effect economy
and  improve  administration:

1. Completion of the accounting re¬
organization including the establishment
of the general ledger insuring control
over  all  city properties, assets and  lia-