Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 98, no. 2537: Articles]: October 28, 1916

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REAL ESTATE AND NEW YORK, OCTOBER 2i, 1916 TRADE WASTE AND ASH REMOVAL SITUATION Some Steps Which Have Been Taken—Rates Are Sufficient Only to Reimburse City for Cost of Service By HON. WILLIAM A. PRENDERGAST THE terni "trade waste" has been defined as "material resulting from the prosecution of any business, trade or industry conducted for profit." Whether the city should collect and dis¬ pose of this "trade waste" at the expense of the taxpayers or whether this shouUl be done at the expense of those pro¬ ducing it, has been much discussed. In many of its forms it can be disposed of at a profit to the factories and other sources from which it emanates. In some office buildings the janitor service for the entire year is paid from the sale of waste paper. The waste must be graded and baled before it can be sold, but there is a regular market value for it after this sorting has been done. Committee Appointed. Early in 1912 a committee was ap¬ pointed to study the final disposition of garbage, ashes and city refuse. This committee consisted of George IMcAn- cny, President of Manhattan; John Pur¬ roy Mitchel, President of the Board of Aldermen ; and George Cromwell, Presi¬ dent of the Borough of Richmond. In January, 1913, after a preliminary report was presented by this committee, $5,000 was appropriated for the purpose of engaging experts and for other neces¬ sary expenditures in connection with this work, of which $3,937.52 was used. This latter amount included Commis¬ sioner Fetherston's trip to Europe to investigate conditions and systems there. As a result of these investigations, in July, 1913, contracts were approved for the final disposal of ashes and rubbish in Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn for a term of three years; and this year new bids were advertised as the City had found that the old contracts were too liigh. Injunction Applied For. In 1915, the company that had con¬ tracted for the final disposition in the Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, of aslies, street sweepings and rubbish, applied to the courts for an injunction restraining the authorities of the city from dumping upon the scows what the company designated as "trade waste" as distinguished from household rubbish. The decision in the lower courts in favor of the contractors was modified in the Appellate Division to read that the City of New York, etc, "is hereby enjoined and restrained . . . from delivering, dumping or depositing upon the scows or other transporting conveyances of the plaintiffs, material (other than ashes, street sweepings and rubbish as those words are specifically defined in the said contract . . . ) which is collected froiTi the department stores, factories, business establishments and buildings, no portions of which are used as dwell¬ ings or residences by other than care¬ takers . . ." Terms of Contract. In the contract the terms "ashes," "street sweepings" and "rubbish" re¬ ferred to by the court are defined as follows : en Wherever the term "ashes" is used in this contract it shall be taken H0.\. WILLIAM A. PRENDERGAST. to mean: Steam ash, cinders, coal and wood ashes, sawdust, floor sweepings, broken glass, broken crockery, oyster and clam shells, tin cans and discarded paving and build¬ ing material from the various city departments and bureaus. (2) Wherever the term "street sweepings" is used in this contract^ it shall be taken to mean the accuinu- lation of dirt and litter collected from the pavements in the process oT cleaning, the sweepings from side¬ walks and areas, and the materials removed from the sewer catch basins. Definition of "Rubbish." (3) Wherever the term "rubbish" is used in this contract it shall be taken to mean the general house¬ hold rubbish other than ashes and garbage, including bottles, paper, pasteboard, rags, mattresses, worn- out furniture, old clothes, old shoes, leather and rubber scrap, carpets, tobacco stems, straw and excelsior, plants, shrubs, evergreens and grass. The Street Cleaning Commissioner in his report of April 25, 1916. states that "the materials from distinctly business buildings which cannot be delivered on the contractors' scows will consist main¬ ly of boxes, barrels, packing cases, crates, wood, etc. Private business hotises have, therefore, been required to deliver such classes of materials to other dumps or disoose of them by some other means than delivery at the dumps owned or operated by the city. Practically this will mean that the city will be called unon to appropriate ftmds necessary for tlie disposal of other classes of trade waste for which a reduction was made in the 1916 budget approximating $200,000 following the order then in force is.^ued bv Justice Whitaker of the Supreme Court. July 23. 1915." On June 30, 1916 a resolution was pass¬ ed by the Board of Estimate, adopting recommendation "A" of the report of the .Department of Street Cleaning—"That the city discontinue the collection of such trade waste as may now be re¬ moved by city vehicles from distinctively business buildings." Very recently an application was made for a mandamus to compel the Street Cleaning Commis¬ sioner to remove "steam ashes" from the Temple Bar Building in Brooklyn. This was denied by Judge Blackmar on the ground that it had not been shown that the city is compelled to remove steam ashes from public office buildings (Peo¬ ple ex rel Leggett vs. Fetherston). Suit by Department Store. hi a suit brought in 1903 by a large department store to compel the Com¬ missioner of Street Cleaning to remove materials falling under the definition of "trade waste," it was decided that he is not bound to remove trade waste, whether in the form of ashes, garbage or any other kind of refuse matter. Some¬ what later an investigation was made by the Merchants' Association of this city relative to the practice of other towns, which developed the fact that the cities of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chi¬ cago, St. Louis, St. Paul, Cleveland and Buffalo do not remove ashes and refuse from factories, and in some cases limit the amount of domestic ashes carted away at the public expense. New Plan Opposed. Despite the evident injustice to the general taxpayers, and that the usual practice of the large cities is to charge for the collection and disposition of "trade waste," the new plan is bitterly opposed by commercial interests. Con¬ tentions are made that all businesses are not affected alike, as for a time at least It is proposed to continue to remove the waste from businesses conducted in tene¬ ment houses, etc. However, as the bill which makes pos¬ sible the charges contemplated was ap¬ proved by the Board of Estimate prior to its presentation to the Legislature early in 1915, it is presumed that the ad¬ vantages and disadvantages of the new plan were thoroughly considered. The rates proposed are sufficient only to re¬ imburse the city for the cost of the serv¬ ice it is to render, so it appears there can be no reasonable objection on that score. What the Commissioner Said. For the purposes of defining the issues in the matter of general policv, Com¬ missioner Fetherston recommends: "B"—That the city charge private cartmen the cost of receiving at the dnmns and disposing of trade waste (excluding that kind of materials affected by the injunction) from dis¬ tinctively business buildings, the fol¬ lowing rates during 1916: Cents per cubic yard (Trunk Capacity Basis) Borough Ashes' Rubbish Manhattan .............23 .05 The Bronx..............25 .05 Brooklyn ...............47 02 This the citv has power to do under Chapter 500 of the Laws of 1915. amend¬ ing section 542 of the Citv Charter.