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REAL ESTATE
AND
NEW YORK, MARCH 20, 1915
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DOING AWAY WITH OVER-REGULATION
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The Lockwood-Ellenbogen Bill the Basis of Compromising Negotia- |
tions—As Amended It Has the Support of Seventy Allied Organizations I
I
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O INCE the Lockwood bill, to simplify
*^ building inspection in New York
City, was introduced in the State Senate
it has been considerably amended, and
has been the subject of hearings and
conferences, both in New York and at
Albany. A supplementary hearing by
the Joint Committee on the Affairs of
Cities occurred at City Hall last Satur¬
day morning, and was followed by ex¬
ecutive conferences in the afternoon and
'on Sunday. The bill is receiving the
most careful attention in committee, and
the present understanding is that it will
be the basis of whatever legislation is
enacted, rather than the Wagner-Smith
bills and others which have also been
introduced.
With general agreement that relief
should be granted, the controversy
which sprang up turned upon the nature
of the plans for reorganization. Should
there be just one central department, or
one for each borough? The Mayor's
party desired but one, and the Borough
Presidents' party want the five. Realty
interests said they would accept the plan
which promised the larger measure of
relief.
Just in what shape the bill is in at
this hour is of course known only to
the members of the committee, but as
the result of conferences between the
representatives of the Mayor, the Bor¬
ough Presidents and heads of Depart¬
ments, the Executive Committee of the
Allied Real Estate Organizations, the
Tenement House Committee of the
Charity Organization, the City Club and
others, certain changes in the bill have
been agreed to.
Board of Examiners Eliminated.
When the committee from the Legis¬
lature returned to Albany it had been
agreed that instead of a Board of Stand¬
ards and a Board of Examiners there
should be a "Board of Standards and
Appeal." to consist of nine members, to
be appointed by the Mayor and ac¬
countable to him. It would comprise
the heads of six existing departments,
besides an architect, a builder, and a
real estate man.
Whether the Tenement House Depart¬
ment should be included in the consoli¬
dation had not been settled. The chair¬
man of the committee stated that this
question would be decided later. The
controversy has become very earnest on
this point. The Tenement House Com¬
mittee of the Charity Organization has
won the supDort of the City Club, of
which Mr. Binkerd, the secretary, is
the renresentative in the negotiations.
The Tenement House champions are
exerting themselves in every diplomatic
way to avoid being drawn into the con¬
solidation or prevent the enactment of
the bill.
For the sake of harmony the Confer¬
ence Comrriittee of Real Estate and Al¬
lied Orgnnizations have assented to vari¬
ous modifications of the Lockwood-El¬
lenbogen hill, but thev adhere to the un¬
derlying principle of consolidation by
boroughs, instead of putting evervthing
into the hands of the Board of Estim^tp,
which they say would mean simply that
the three superior members would be
dictators over the "construction, altera¬
tion and use" of all buildings, including
school buildings and courthouses.
Behind the Conference Committee of
Real Estate and Allied Organizations are
no less than seventy pledged bodies, in¬
cluding the American Institute of Archi¬
tects, the Society of Architects, the
Btiilding Trades Employers' Associa¬
tion, the Real Estate Board, the Mer¬
chants' Association, the Advisory Coim-
cil of Real Estate Interests, the Federa¬
tion of Women's Clubs, the Joint Com¬
mittee on City Departments, the Brook¬
lyn, Bronx, Queens and Richmond archi¬
tects, builders and real estate men acting
through their different organizations, the
Fifth Avenue Association, the Broadway
Association, the United Real Estate
Owners—but they are too numerous for
all to be named again.
On the opposite side are the City Club,
the Tenement House Committee, the
Mayor and presumably the heads of the
municipal departments. The Mayor has
been widely quoted as saying there were
sinister influences behind the bill, an al¬
legation very much resented by the sev¬
enty organizations.
The Purpose of the Bill.
Tn a statement given out yesterday by
the Conference Committee it is said:
"It was not and is not the purpose of
the Conference Committee to remove
any of the safeguards which the Tene¬
ment House Law places about tenement
dwellers, but simply to give to the Build¬
ing Bureaus, which now pass upon all
tenement house plans, exclusive jurisdic¬
tion over the construction, alteration and
structural changes in buildings; so as to
save needless inspection, duplication and
expense. The committee has at all times
been willing and anxious to have the bill
amended, if there was any question in
this respect. And the good faith of the
committee has been known to the Mayor
and to persons interested in tenement
house work.
"More than that, the proposed amend¬
ments make it plain that the mandatory
provisions of the Tenement House Law
remain absolutely intact, and those who
represented the Mayor at a conference
held last Sunday were aware of this.
Should not the Mayor have been aware
of it when he made his statement last
Monday about the 'sinister' attack upon
the Tenement House Department and
other departments?
"The only opposition to this bill has
emanated from the Mayor's office, two
or three of his department heads, private
charity interests and the City Club,
which the Mayor now says is the 'un¬
official arm of the City Government.'
"The matter of consolidation of build¬
ing inspection functions in New York
City has been publicly discussed many
times during the past six months, and on
each occasion it has been the consensus
of opinion that it should be along bor¬
oueh lines; that is to say, that the juris¬
diction now exercised by the various de¬
partments over building construction
shoulcl be transferred to the existing
Building Bureaus and that they should
have sole control of building construc¬
tion. Could jurisdiction over building
construction in New York City be more
logically placed? A transfer of all build¬
ing functions to the existing Building
Bureaus would result in an enormous
saving to the city.
A New Building Department Proposed.
"At a conference held on Monday last
those who claimed to represent the
Mayor were willing to compromise if
the Tenement House Department were
excluded and a clause inserted in the bill
giving that department entire jurisdic¬
tion over tenements, including that now
exercised by the Bureau of Buildings.
That was,^ iri effect, to establish an addi¬
tional Building Bureau in each borough.
The representatives of the Conference
Committee declined to make any such
compromise at the expense of the tax¬
payers.
"The provision of the bill in reference
to the Board of Examiners has been
severely criticised. This body was
created by Charter provision in 1871.
Many of the critics seem to have discov¬
ered it for the first time in the Lock¬
wood-Ellenbogen Bill. In the bill the
Board of Examiners was retained and
the same bodies were mentioned, with
one exception; that is to say, the Real
Estate Board of New York and the
United Real Estate Owners' Association
were substituted for the Real Estate
Owners and Builders' Association. In
other respects Charter language was
closely followed, with one or two excep¬
tions. But in this case, too, the Confer¬
ence Committee has been perfectly will¬
ing to show its good faith by accepting
suggestions.
"One of the changes discussed is a
Board of Standards and Appeals, which
will include several of the Mayor's Com¬
missioners and three civilian members,
to be appointed by the Board of Esti¬
mate.
"The Conference Committee welcomes
fair and honest criticisms and sugges¬
tions. It desires that the best possible
bill may be presented to the Legislature
to secure relief. But it has no intention
of abandoning its bill merely because
the measure has been misrepresented.
The bill is now in the hands of a com¬
mittee of the Legislature, and it rests
with this committee as to iust what
changes will finally be made in the in¬
terest of the citizens of New York.
"The opponents of the bill are trying
to block anv legislation which will se¬
cure consolidation."
The Flamman Bill.
The Cities Committee has also under
consideration the Flamman bill Clnt.
1107). to amend the Greater New York
Charter, creating a Board of Building
Standards and defining its duties. This
bill proposed to make a board consist¬
ing of the Fire Commissioner, Health
Commissioner, Tenement House Com¬
missioner. Commissioner of Buildings
and Commissioner of Water Supply, Gas
and Electricity. This board is to have
power to make rules taking precedence