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Vol. LXXXVIII SEPTEMBER 2, 1911 No. 2268 A VALUABLE SERVICE TO PROPERTY OWNERS. The Bureau of Information Established by Borough President Miller in the Bronx—Has Answered 250 Questions a Month During Its First Year. THE McClellan administration was marked by an extraordinary number of ofliicial inciuiries into the conduct of city departments. T'he political situation was of a sort to encourage investigation arid exposure. The State administration wbs Republican; that of the city. Demo¬ cratic. Besides, the community was alarmed by the rising tide of municipal expenditures, and was insisting upon economy in puibltc office. The prevalence of graft and inefficiency, exposed notably by the Charter Revision Commis.^ion of 1907. was, indeed, an inheritance of long standing, but in its changed temper the electorate was not disposed to tolerate practices which had theretofore been con¬ doned. During the campaign toy whicli -the present administration was ushered into designed merely to furnish employment for voting place-huntera. The,Fusion candidates who were elected were pledged to correct the abuse dis¬ closed by the late investigations. The work of correction fell mostly to the share of the Borough Presidents. These officials exercise extensive powers under the char¬ ter. They have charge of the local street improvements and other public worlt in their respective boroughs, and the expen¬ ditures which they recommend is of tho largest importance to real estate owners. The flrst of the newly elected Borough Presidents to work out an effective scheme of publicity with respect lo pub¬ lic works was Mr. Miller pf the Bronx. In May of last year he estLiiblished a Bureau of Information, the object of which is to furnish information to the Jaidaut) "V^V* ^[[iitjr, ^iB.Sfd-zges Pl nrcd .0 Locil Bai.d of CROTONA. V.i. DISTRICT. ■ □■■f i^^Tp-'ssJ .^"s.^^i Jmhy^fa/^'^./..&Jui,i^. Report-of ftsgiBOiX , Re^olutLoiL jdnprrd by Local Board CoslSj^ac,- As,K!td VilucofRtil Em:.^ iJ^J/ii - Lm. rr. }, Board of Ealimacc and flpporEiHjnmcnt \ Prcl. AinfiornaiinjnAPR 8_ ISjO'i^s.^J^, .^y^/ JUL 1- 1910 e^.(X^ 7f3' Concract Lcl CanciacE Coat \6!fff.3.r Date of Rjymcnl or, Actrpiintr ^foC .
ccu[td^^y. ^^/^/o '% if^f.-l 'L.^Ai^tji.j^r.^ j^i*^f-^iM Advtrii^cd in Cily Record Enured y^/ tf'.^'/Jl// ET.g'.. \ Jnapccl'r ?>■ ./^jy A.^{,.A^i Ti-f/sz CARD USED FOR STREET OPENING AND TITLE PROCEEDINGS. Office, telling use was made of the recent exposures. Perhaps the most effective of these related to oft'ices which come into direct contact with real estate owners. The Fusion candidates -brought forward as convincing evidence of mismanagement the fact that, although the city is the custodian of a vast bulk of documents affecting real estate interests, the index¬ ing of these instruments of record, pre¬ served in innumerable departments, was so imperfect as to be of no practical ser¬ vice. Even the city itself, Avhen in quest of reliable information concerning the liens on property which it contemplated acquiring for public use, was obliged to purchase the information from private title companies. The companies were making a commer¬ cial enterprise of furnishing a service which the city neglected. They were in¬ dexing for quick reference documents in the custody of city departments. If, for example, a taxpayer wished to know what assessments T\'ere outstanding or falling due on his property, he could not be sure of obtaining a complete list without re¬ sort to a private corporation. Because of the inability of taxpayers to keep themselves informed about public works bearing on their real estate interests, there was no effective publicity to deter dis¬ honest officials from wasteful contracts, padded wage rolls and "improvements" public respecting local improve nients and matters which have been acted upon by the various Local Boards. The informa¬ tion given embraces every phase of public improvements, from their inception to their conclusion, that come under the jurisdiction of the Borough President, as well as other matters of a public char¬ acter. The bureau is in charge of Henry L. Bridges. Since it was opened, the in¬ quiries received have averaged 250 a month. They have, according to Mr. Bridges, related to petitions for the laying out of streets, titles to streets and the dates of vesting of title; confirmation of titles; dates when title proceedings were initiated in the Board of Estimate; the appointment of Commissioners of Esti¬ mate and Assessnient; the status of the proceedings of such commissioners; the progress of various proceedings in the Board of Estimate and Apportionment; the widening, regulating, grading and paving of streets; the conslruction of sewers; advertised public let tings; execution of contracts; the dates when assessment lists were forwarded to the Board of Assess¬ ors; the dates when assessments were confirmed; the ceding of land for street purposes; outstanding taxes and assess¬ ments; prospective assessments; corporate stock issues for public schols, and so on. Formerly, citizens were expected to ap¬ ply to numberless departments, of the existence of most of which the ordinary person was unaware, for information that is now centralized in one bureau. It would Ibe difficult to overestimate the value of the service which the new^ bureau renders. Its estimates of coming assess¬ ments are especially helpful to real estate owners. A partial enumeration of the assessments to which the owner of a 25- foot lot is liable will be sufficient to show how essential it is for him to know ap¬ proximately what his charges wiil be and when they will fall due. He may be called t^pon to pay .^50 to !?250 for acquiring title bv the citv to a 60-foot street, and $250 to :f750 in the case of wider streets, while his expenditure in connection with a street-widening pro¬ ceeding, where ibuildings and property are taken, may amount to .'jil.OOO or $1,200. as was the case in Walker avenue. Only when a street is to be 100 feet or more wide is he relieved of part of the cost, the city assuming 13'/( per cent, of the ex¬ pense on a 100-foot street. For regnlating and grading (including the laying of side¬ walks, flagging, crosswalks and curbs, and fencing) his average assessmenls are $75 to $150 on 60-foot streets, and from the latter figure up to $400 on wider streets. Sewers may cost him from $100 to $400; and first-class paving, from $150 to $250. In this connection, it should be per¬ tinent to note that two classes of pave¬ ments are in use, officially designated Class A and Class B. The latter com¬ prises certain comparatively cheap, tem¬ porary pavements, especially bituminous pavement, consisting of 1^4 inches of wearing surface and 4 inches of concrete foundation. These are intended for use in outlying sections, where traffic is not heavy, and are expected to last some ten years. They cost about $(10 for each 25- foot lot. When the permanent pavement of Class A is eventually laid, the city de- iB-t«-c4iBr nrm .19 Deputy Collector of Assessments inJ Arteat:, Boroagfi of The Bronx, 177ik Srrfft aad -Third Av*nus, Barortgh ol -Ric BraQf. Detc Sit: The und'i^-gncd hcr?1»y rrqucili ihal ihr Eolluwii^g ddcribcd pBneU of l«nd in lh« Barau^li ut Tlia Broiu be rcgt4«/«d in [te Dlviiioa at Noii&ciiiori ol AHCLKDcnu. Bureau lof lhc Co]!cctJan nf Amcuhicuu And ArTc^n. De;ilr[inen[ el FiQADCe. Cil/ of New VoA, tn ike oainc ot Pou Offiii Addieii, AppJKhTLl'i inlerrit in property \oor\ Irulj, QE5CFCIPTI0N LOCATION DESCFIIPrrON LOCATION DESCRIPTION LOCATION SDCIlDn Wpid eioek Ul BlAltll Ul Bl«h til A CARD THAT PROPERTY OWNERS SHOULD PILL OUT.
