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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 82, no. 2114: September 19, 1908

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September 19, 1908 RECORD AND GUIDE 547 ES7ABUSHED^MAR,CK£1^^1868. Dev&teD to Rem Estate . BulLDI^''G AfvcKnzeruKE ,t{oiJSEriOLD DEsaRATKnf, Bt/sitlESs Alto Themes OF GejIeraI Ii^ierest. PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET Published Every Saturday By THE KECOKD ^VND GUIDE CO. President, CLINTON W. SWEET ■ Treasurer, F. W. DODGB Vice-Pres. & Genl. Mgr.. H. W. DESMOND Secretary, F. T. MILLER Nos. 11 to 15 East 24tli Street, Kcir York City (Telephone, Madison Square, 4430 to 4433.) '■Entered at the Post Office at New Tork. N. Y., as second-class matter." Copyrighted. 1908, by Tbe Record & Guide Co. Voi. LXXXII. SEPTEMBER 19, 1908. No. 2114 THERE has been a disposition in certain quarters to crit¬ icize the Record and Guide for the attitude it has as¬ sumed in reference to the efforts now being made by the Taxpayers' Association to obtain a reduction in the Budget. But such criticisms have totally misunderstood the point of view adopted iu these columns. The Record and Guide has every sympathy with the object sought by the association, and it appreciates fully the valuable work performed by the Bureau of Municipal Research in assisting the attainment of that object. For years this paper has insisted on the neces¬ sity of an efficient and authoritative organization of New York real estate interests, for the purpose of more effectually protecting the interests of the property-owner, both at the City Hall and at Albany, and it has nothing but approval and good wishes for the policy announced of a careful, rigid and public scrutiny of every detail aud every aspect of the Mu¬ nicipal Budget. There can he no doubt that the pressure which such an association can exert will help to secure econo¬ mies and will strengthen the hands of those municipal offl¬ cials, like Mayor McClellan aud Controller Metz, who are sincerely desirous of keeping tbe appropriations down to the lowest point consistent with efficiency. It is peculiarly neces¬ sary that a Taxpayers' Association should act persistently and aggressively on behalf of a reduction in the municipal expenses, because this is a matter in which the ordinary voter unfortunately takes little interest. The taxes are paid directly out of the pockets of only a few thousand property- owners, and the several hundred thousand voters who are not taxpayers do not, so far as they are aware, suffer from the eftects of municipal extravagance. IE local taxes were paid by the tenants, as in England and l^'rance, instead of the property-owners, municipal accounts would be scrutinized more closely. But just because property-owners, in their protest against the constantly increasing municipal Budget, cannot depend upon the effects which increased tax bills wilt have upon the minds of the majority of the voters, it is all the more necessary that they begin a vigorous campaign for the protection of their own interests. The fact that they have done so is a promising innovation, and may well con¬ stitute the first step in the direction of the eventual adoption of a more economical system of municipal finance. A CORDIAL approval, however, of the objects and the methods of the Taxpayers' Association does not imply that other measures should not be taken to secure a more economical flnancial system. The Record and Guide, in sug¬ gesting that additional measures are necessary in order lo ob¬ tain a really efficient municipal flnancial organization had not the slightest intention of criticizing the work of the Associa¬ tion or its objects. The purjiose they propose to achieve is admirable and necessary; but the point is that no such in¬ terference should be necessary, and obviously it cannot be sufficient. Taxpayers should not be obliged to associate for the purpose of securing a more economical municipal admin¬ istration; and when they are, as a matter of fact, obliged to do so, they should consider carefully how far this necessity is due to extravagant administrations and how far to defec¬ tive municipal organization. The point of the Record and Guide simply is that the extravagance is more due to ineffi¬ cient organization than to any other single cause, and that a reorganization of the municipal government is necessary be¬ fore permanently economical administration can be secured. Moreover, it is particularly appropriate to suggest and dis¬ cuss plans of reorganization at the present time, because a Charter Revision Commission is now sitting, and this Com¬ mission is contemplating radical alterations in the flnancial organization of New York. ' The property-owners are far more interested in the success of this reorganization than is any other class of the city's iuhabitauts, and now that they are threatened with a considerable increase in their tax bills, they should consider not merely whether this threat cannot be temporarily alleviated by public agitation, but whether it cannot be permanently removed hy more efflcient flnancial and budgitary machinery. In the opinion of the Record and Guide much can be accomplished in the'way of municipal economy by a reconstruction of the Board of Estimate. That Board has little hy little become responsible for the good government of New York. It has been granted almost all the essential functions formerly enjoyed by the Board of Aldermen; and it has, on the whole, performed those func¬ tions well. But if the responsibility of the Board is to be complete, it must be able to exercise a more effective control over the details of expenditure as well as over the general policy of appropriation. It should become Hke the English cabinet and the Galveston Commission, a body of active ad¬ ministrators, jointly responsible in al! matters of general pol¬ icy, and individually responsible for economic departmental administration. Such is the method of organization which has proved to be most efflcient for other similar bodies, and the Record and Guide believes that its adoption in New York would effectively promote the object for the fulfilment of which the Taxpayers' Association has been formed. ■jyTO thoroughfare in Manhattan has been more radically ■*-^ transformed during the last six years than upper Broadway. During the earlier period of West-Side develop¬ ment, Broadway proved to he a great disappointment to the owners of property thereon. The most expensive improve¬ ments from 1S85 to 1900 were almost all erected on Cen¬ tral Park West, West End Avenue, and some of the cross- town streets. Columbus Avenue obtained the cream of the business and Broadway, which was intended to be the central line of business and population, was unoccupied except for a few old brownstone flats. A certain amount of huilding had indeed heen undertaken about 1898 north of 90th Street, a number of seven-story elevator apartment houses were erected iu that neighborhood, and the remoteness of this lo¬ cality from the elevated road and Columbus Avenue had en¬ couraged the building of a few taxpayers with stores; but for the most part the thoroughfare remained undeveloped. Since 1900, however, Broadway and the Riverside Drive, but Broadway particularly, have received the greatest attention from West Side builders, and the value of property has very largely increased. Beginning with the Ansonia a large num¬ ber of flreproof apartment houses and hotels were erected on this thoroughfare, until now that portion of Broadway west of the Ceutral Park contains as large a proportion of fireproof buildings as tbe portion further south. One of these apartment houses covers a whole block, while another of even larger dimensions is now being erected. The great in¬ crease of population brought by these fireproof residential buildings made the avenue still more available for business purposes, and it so happened that in the automobile business an industry was found to which locations on upper Broadway were peculiarly useful. The consequence is that Broadway has become the line of densest business on the West Side. Its vacant places liave been rapidly fllled up, and the value of property bas become very high. The rapidity of this develop¬ ment has doubtless been much assisted by the opening of the subway, hut it was in any event bound to have occurred. The peculiar lay-out of Broadway necesarily gives it an advan¬ tage over avenues that pursue a course parallel to other ave¬ nues. It is not likely for a couple of generations to become exclusively a business thoroughfare, as it is further south, but as soon as the automobile business revives, its expansion will make the demand for space on Broadway still more ac¬ tive. It will gradually become as interesting in a different way as it is further south, and as precious to its owners. IN connection with Broadway, it is interesting to observe that on Washington Heights, that thoroughfare is the flrst to receive any considerable development. Of course the cable line on Amsterdam Avenue had encouraged buildiug further east before the subway was opened; but when the real development of Washington Heights began after the opening of the suhway, Broadway immediately assumed relatively the same position which it had only slowly acquired on the West