PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE ELIZABETH CITY PLAN BY THE CITY PLAN COMMISSION Avery Architec tural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE ELIZABETH CITY PLAN BY THE CITY PLAN COMMISSION 1923 CITY PLAN COMMISSION MEMBERS (Original Appointees) Terms dated from September 15, IQ22 E. D. MULFORD Three Years AUGUSTUS S. CRANE Three Years LILIAN F. KELLEY Three Years DENNIS F. HENNESSY Two Years THOMAS E. COLLINS Two Years SHIRAS CAMPBELL One Year CHARLES H. K. HALSEY One Year Augustus S. Crane died January 9, 1923. Elwood W. Phares was appointed by His Honor, the Mayor, to fill the unexpired term. Shiras Campbell and C. H. K. Halsey were reappointed September 15, 1923, for a term of three years. (Present Commission) E. D. MULFORD, Chairman Term expires Sept. 15, 1925 DENNIS F. HENNESSY, Secretary Term expires Sept. 15, 1924 THOMAS E. COLLINS Term expires Sept. 15, 1924 LILIAN F. KELLEY Term expires Sept. 15, 1925 ELWOOD W. PHARES Term expires Sept. 15, 1925 SHIRAS CAMPBELL Term expires Sept. 15, 1926 CHARLES H. K. HALSEY Term expires Sept. 15, 1926 Consulting Engineers: TECHNICAL ADVISORY CORPORATION, NEW YORK BEFORE AFTER AN UNSIGHTLY SPOT MADE BEAUTIFUL AS A RESULT OF CITY PLANNING Preface This is a preliminary report. It is not a city plan. A comprehensive plan for the city of Elizabeth is not something which can be produced in one year. It is here attempted to discuss those major problems which the city now faces, to outline the fundamental data necessary for dealing with them, in some cases to narrow them down to lower terms, and in certain other cases to recommend policies or actions which seem sound, no matter what may develop in the other studies necessary for a comprehensive plan. The Commission's primary accomplishment of the year has been the col- lection and partial organization of a mass of physical and statistical data, the former, for the most part, having been gathered by direct observation in the field. The mere task of collecting these data was not completed until about the middle of the year. It would be interesting to exhibit some of them in organized form, but, after all, it is conclusions in which most citizens are mainly interested. While this report, in connection with many matters, stops short of final recommendations, it does, nevertheless, attempt to picture the whole situation. It is thus the basis of a program to be now elaborated. Elizabeth is, and will be, a strongly industrial and commercial city. It is and will be a good place to live in. It is administered with exceptional econ- omy, and no city in the state is better off financially. This condition must continue. Elizabeth is not a rich city, and may never be a rich city. It has large undertakings before it: the development of through and local traffic routes, the removal of the Broad Street arch, the elimination of grade cross- ings, an important school building program, the improvement of the Elizabeth river, the development of an adequate water supply and of adequate sewage disposal facilities. The magnitude of these, in the aggregate, is staggering. All of them will be necessary ; many of them will be necessary soon. Unless they are co-ordinated and planned in proper sequence, the city will struggle under heavy taxation and a load of debt. It is believed that they can be so co-ordinated as to prevent this. About 40 per cent of the city's area is waste land, and yet Elizabeth is getting to be a crowded city. The meadow lands constitute a handicap. They can be converted into an opportunity. The time for such conversion is not far distant. While Elizabeth plans for the distant future and faces these large prob- lems, some of which are not in the very distant future, the growth of the city should be directed. It is an old, historic town ; a typical American town, of the kind rarely found outside New England and New Jersey. The Elizabeth of the future should express the American spirit. November, 1923. 5 BEFORE AFTER AN EXAMPLE OF CITY PLANNING WHICH COULD WELL BE FOL- LOWED IN ELIZABETH CONTENTS The True Conception of City Planning 9 Elizabeth, the City and its People 11 Health 17 Public Equipment and Facilities Waste Disposal — Public Utilities — Fire Protection — Police 19 Elizabeth's Street System 23 Railroads 29 Education in Elizabeth 32 The Operation of the City 34 Can Elizabeth ever be a City Beautiful? 37 Waste Lands in the City of Elizabeth 40 The Next Step in City Planning for Elizabeth 46 The True Conception of City Planning Some Misconceptions Corrected — City Planning a Business Proposition City planning is one of the most practical things in the world. Not many years ago, it was understood by the layman to have to do prin- cipally with the creation of a "city beautiful." Vague talk about a "city beautiful" fails to appeal to business men and women. There are several attributes which a city should have, as well as, and perhaps, in advance of, beauty. A city should be honest and solvent. It should be healthful, its streets should be reasonably safe, its buildings should not be fire traps, its sewage should be disposed of in a modern and proper manner. Congestion and the excessive death rate resulting therefrom should be avoided. The city should be well policed and should have a dependable fire department. Vice and crime should be under control. Street car or bus transportation should be adequate, comfortable and economical. In all of the various factors which affect the cost of living to the individual a city should be efficient and enterprising. When all of these things have been taken care of, or at least, not before they are being taken care of, should the weight of emphasis be placed on the beautification of the city. When we speak of city planning, we are not proposing something which is new, but only a different method of doing something which is in part, at least, being done already. Many people think that city planning means, if not extravagance, at least accelerated expenditure of municipal funds. It means no such thing. City planning does not determine the rate of expenditure of municipal funds, or the tax rate, or the amount of indebtedness which a city should assume. It may and does furnish data from which these things can be wisely determined ; but it leaves the determination where it is now, a matter for the citizens them- selves, through their elected representatives. When they have once made the determination, then the city plan adjusts itself to the limitations imposed. The city planning method eliminates duplication of work. It is itself recognized as a great co-ordinating movement. It is always carried on with the full knowledge and co-operation of the city engineer, the public service inter- ests, commercial organizations, and all others likely to be involved in municipal problems. All of these know of the data accumulated by the planners. The city planning data must be comprehensive and complete. No city planning program is worth its salt which does not insist from the very beginning on an 9 absolutely inclusive scheme of observing, compiling and recording the physical features about the city. All departments will look upon comprehensive city planning as a final source for all the data they need. City planning implies the substitution, in one place, of correct and adequate primary data, for the existence (often unsuspected) in various places, of always inadequate and variably correct data. The city planning office is the clearing house of munici- pal, civic and utility information. It has been said that city planning does not mean more spending. It is quite certain that it means better spending. If there is any general principle underlying municipal expenditure at the moment it is that of keeping down expenses but yielding where the pressure is greatest. A proper program should pay no attention to pressure. With the aid of the fundamental physical data it is possible to determine where the need is greatest. For each undertaking on the municipal program there should be estimated the probable benefit, tangible or intangible. With sufficient estimates of cost always in mind, it is then possible to determine the relative importance of various projects to the community, and the city will not spend money for new street lights, merely because the proposal for such lights is in tangible and concrete form, when it needs sewers infinitely more than it does lights. Under the orthodox type of city administration there is in many cities no real co-ordi- nation of departmental estimates or adjustment of these estimates to the city's resources, excepting that adjustment which can be given by the Mayor or some other non-professional official or body. This is not adequate. There should be a genuinely professional reconciliation and adjustment of conflicting plans and it is just at this point that the city planning program has its maximum value. Officials and organizations may plan wisely, economically and soundly. It is now proposed to plan all along the line at once so as to produce a sym- metrical development. A monumental city hall with ramshackle schools is not a credit to a city. It invites criticism. The city should not lose sight of its other interests while concentrating on one. It should keep the variety of its needs in mind all the time and there should be a recognized order of urgency according to which its various projects will be consummated. It should look ahead, so that when large improvements are clearly desirable but are not now practicable, there may be some forecasting of the date when they will be practicable. There is a tendency, more than a tendency perhaps, in all cities, for municipal expenditure to increase, both absolutely and relatively. Some parts of the growing expenditure are due to the determination of the people to have certain things which they did not formerly have. But after all, it is not more spending that the city planner looks toward. It is better spending; getting more for a dollar ; spending when we can best afford to spend ; spending for the things we need most at the moment, and planning ahead for those things which at the moment we cannot have. in Elizabeth, the City and Its People City planning for Elizabeth has a background which is the result of forces historical, material and social. Elizabeth is an old city, as American cities go. It celebrated its first centennial some years before the battle of Bunker Hill, and fifty years before that time its citizens were complaining of high town taxes. In Elizabeth is the King's Highway — the oldest road in New Jersey. Even the railroads of the city date back to 1834, which was almost the begin- ning year of railroading in the United States. The only bridge link between New York and New Jersey starts from Elizabeth. The early land grants which included what is now the city of Elizabeth placed the western boundary of the tract at the Pacific Ocean. Land was conveyed generously in those days, and it required nearly two centuries to straighten out the question of real estate titles. Today, building lots are looked upon as normally 25 by 100 or possibly 50 by 150 feet in dimensions; but in the early days of Elizabeth, the standard house lot was four acres with two acres of meadow land thrown in. The early settlers came from Connecticut and Rhode Island. They found a fertile spot intersected by a network of brooks along the courses of which many of the present sewers find their way. The settlers probably found the climate much as it is today. Here on the Red Sandstone Plain, sheltered by the Orange Mountains and close to salt water, the average frost dates are April 18th and October 24th. The prevailing wind is northwest in winter and southwest in summer. The average annual rainfall is 47.87 inches, including a snowfall (not reduced) of 38.7 inches. The average annual temperature is 52.5 degrees. Over a 40-year period, the mean maximum monthly temperature has been from 37.9 degrees to 86.2 degrees, and the mean minimum from 21.1 degrees to 64.4 degrees. In an average year, in this neighborhood, there are 247 days with less than 1/100 inch of precipitation, September having the most of these days and March the fewest. Rainfall intensities exceeding one inch occur only 38 times in an average year. About one-third of the whole area of Elizabeth is less than five feet above " tidewater datum. Less than three per cent of the area rises to an elevation exceeding 50 feet. The highest spot, 75 feet, is near the northwesterly city line. The topography is flat, particularly east of the Elizabeth River. Slopes exceeding four per cent rarely occur. The average slope of the whole length of the river below the reservoir is only eight feet per mile. Elizabeth's flat surface is favorable to business and industry. It leads to easy street grades and facilitates fire protection and safety on the streets. It simplifies the planning of street transportation and the construction of rail- 11 GROWTH OF POPULATION IN ELIZABETH. Elizabeth has grown in an orderly way up to a population just over 100,000. If a similar symmetrical growth occurs for the next 80 years the population on the present area will be about 180,000. 12 ways. On the other hand, it makes sewer construction costly and complicated and causes the elimination of grade crossings to be an expensive undertaking. Even in its present undrained and unimproved condition the meadows area is not detrimental to the health of the city. Some of the heaviest indus- tries in Elizabeth are located on the edge of this area. The upland soil of Elizabeth is glacial drift, generally suitable for any reasonable foundation loads. There are occasional occurrences of quicksand. Underground waters are well distributed. The population of Elizabeth by the census of 1920 was 95,783 ; of whom 52 per cent were males. The excess of males is localized among the foreign- born population of the older age groups. The City Plan Commission esti- mates the 1923 population at 102,500. Elizabeth is the sixth city in the state and the 73rd in the United States. A projected population curve indicates a probable population by the year 1938 of about 134,000 and an ultimate popu- lation on the present area of about 186,000. These figures are lower than some which have been advanced but they seem to be those best warranted by a study of the city's past growth and of the growth curves of other cities. Elizabeth contains just about half the people in Union County. Prac- tically the whole of the county lies between two circles described about the New York Municipal Building with radii of 10 and 20 miles respectively. The density of population in the county is 3.03 and in the city 15.6 persons per acre. The only counties in New Jersey having a denser population than Union County are Essex and Hudson, but Elizabeth and Union County are by no means congested. In fact, Fort Lee, the southern portions of Staten Island and Elizabeth, are the most sparsely populated areas within their dis- tances of the southern tip of Manhattan Island. If, however, Elizabeth's population density were taken on the basis of its occupied area, eliminating the meadows and the river marsh, a more truthful picture of the situation would result. Union County is growing rapidly. During the last census decade its population increased at a rate which was surpassed in New Jersey only by that exhibited in the case of Bergen County. No other county in the state has had such sustained and uniform rapidity of growth. Its rural population is increasing faster than that of any other county in New Jersey. Because of their relation to many features of the city planning program, it is proposed to make a detailed study of the densities of population of the various wards of Elizabeth and even of portions of such wards. Less than half of the city's area is completely developed at the present time in the sense of being supplied with all municipal and utility facilities. More than one-third of it is totally undeveloped. The sections totally unde- veloped comprise not only the meadows and the river banks but desirable prop- erties east of Magie Road, north of Alina Street and along the Linden town- ship boundary. Much building continues to occur in the fully developed sec- tions and the building of the last year, since the enactment of the zoning ordi- 13 nance* is of a definitely favorable type. Recent building permits show a preponderance of residential construction, notably in the Elmora section. There is also much activity east of Jefferson Avenue and toward the eastern end of Fairmount Avenue, where lots may still be obtained at low prices. One of the undertakings which the City Plan Commission has set for itself for 1924 is the preparation of future population distribution maps. These are almost the foundation of city planning. A distribution map of this kind has been made for the year 1921 ; but in connection with the selection of sites for future schools, fire houses, branch libraries and many other public struc- tures or facilities, maps of this sort, as conjectured for various future dates, are essential. Elizabeth is a melting pot. Although it increased from 1910 to 1920, the percentage of native whites is abnormally low for a New Jersey city. Less than 40 per cent of the people are native whites born of native parentage. This is a condition which is temporary, especially in view of the present restrictions on immigration. A school census, for example, shows that even in the most "foreign" sections of the city 90 per cent of the children are native born. In the same sections, only 15 per cent of the children have American born fathers. The composition of the foreign-born element is also changing its proportions. In numerical order the leading elements in the foreign-born popu- lation are Polish, Italian, German, Russian and Irish. In the school census, the Polish and German elements occupy a much less conspicuous rank. The matter of nationality distribution has been made the subject of a graphic map which, however, should be brought up-to-date in the near future as a part of the investigation into various phases of the city plan, only two of which need *The zoning ordinance was Elizabeth's first step in city planning. It was enacted February 7, 1922, so that the city has now had 21 months' experience with it. Those who know most about its operation and effects have gone on record as to the benefit which it has brought about. The only amendments thus far enacted are that of August 13, 1923, which, however, modifies the original ordinance in eleven of its features, and that of November 5, 1923, which re-districts the corner of North Broad Street and Pingry Place. These amendments have developed after long consideration and obser- vation of the actual working of the ordinance. They were passed unanimously by the City Council. The general effect on the appearance of the building zone map is scarcely perceptible. It may reasonably be expected, as in New York City, that with the passage of time the number of amendments toward relaxation of the ordinance will -decrease, while the number toward the further restriction will increase. There has been no litigation thus far in connection with the zoning ordinance. Much of the building activity of 1922 and 1923 has been in residence building in fully developed districts, where there are still many vacant lots. There has been no perceptible push of residence building at the edge of the meadows. Lots at reasonable prices are available in good sections near transportation lines, and the meadows, as all citizens know, have been set aside for industrial building. Only six manufacturing plants were erected in Elizabeth in 1922. None of them was of great magnitude. The objectionable combined store and dwelling building, of which Elizabeth has had so many, had only 18 examples in that year out of a total of 92+ permits. During the same year , about 40 per cent of all permits granted were for private garages, prac- tically all of which were erected concurrently with residences or on lots already occu- rred by residences. The months following the enactment of the zoning ordinance have thus not only exhibited satisfactory building activity from the standpoint of volume, but the tlass of buildings has been of a highly desirable type. 14 be mentioned here, viz., housing and illiteracy. With respect to housing, Elizabeth has 4.63 persons per family and 1.58 families per dwelling; both figures being high on any comparative basis*. A ward tabulation on this point is needed, as well as for the further consideration of illiteracy. It is somewhat surprising, although most gratifying, to find Elizabeth's illiteracy record at 6.4 against 10.6 for the urban population of the state as a whole. Good as the city's record is in this respect it can and will be improved, since the illiteracy figure for the foreign-born -white population is 16, as against the state average figure of 6.8. The very large opportunity which exists for pro- gressive Americanization work among adults is apparent. While Elizabeth is a strongly industrial city, it is not industrial to any such extent as cities like Providence and Paterson. Both Newark and Eliza- beth are (proportionately) manufacturing cities not wholly devoted to manu- facturing. Elizabeth might well have more factories, even, than it has now. The right type of factories should be encouraged to come to Elizabeth. Their value is great and direct. In another city where the subject was quantitatively analyzed, it was found that the coming of an average manufacturing plant meant to the local lumber dealers (this group being taken as an example) an increased margin (not sales, but gross profit) of $4,500 yearly for an indefinite period. Such benefits do result and the type of industry which is likely to grow is a particularly desirable one to invite. No one in Elizabeth would favor any form of direct financial subsidy to new industries. The better indus- tries do not expect it. Immaterial subsidies in the way of a friendly attitude on the part of the municipal administration and on the part of other indus- trial and commercial interests are all that are necessary. Elizabeth's Chamber of Commerce may be depended upon to manifest such a spirit of hospitality toward any proposed new industry. Elizabeth is a commercial city. Twenty-five families can support a store. The larger establishments derive their support from other sources in addition to those which are purely local. Union County has very few farms and very little farm land. A large proportion of farms are operated by those of foreign birth. Elizabeth is a junction point through which pass the farm products of Middlesex and Mon- mouth Counties, both strongly agricultural. In fact, Monmouth County pro- duces the maximum of total crops and the maximum of vegetable crops of anv county in the state. The question of a market or markets for Elizabeth should have attention. The city operates two stand markets from which it derives fees representing 12,000 stands per year. Aside from the facilities of the pack- ing company plants, there is no cold storage in the city. The Elizabeth background, then, in its broader outlines, is this: A his- torical town, bound to remain an important manufacturing and trading cen- ter, having many natural advantages and one or two sweeping handicaps ; sub- jected, until the recent past, to a large influx of alien elements, this influx •Persons per new residence building erected, during 1909-1922, 8.1 ; during 1922, 7.8. Residence building in 1922 provided for 1,235 individuals in one-family houses; 2,040 in two-family flats, and 265 in tenements or apartment houses. 15 now strongly checked and Americanization going on vigorously, with oppor- tunities for completing and perfecting such Americanization so as, in the near future, to place Elizabeth in this respect in the very first rank among cities of the state. New Jersey is not in the habit of gloating over its monuments as do some of the New England states; but Elizabeth is a monument. It is an impressive city. It has been and will continue to be a characteristic American city. 16 Health Elizabeth is a healthy city, and it is quite steadily growing healthier. The 1922 death rate was 9.97, the lowest on record except that of 1921 (9.13), when Elizabeth was the healthiest city of its class in the state. The distribution of deaths, in proportion to population, should be care- fully scrutinized. In a large New England city, it was discovered that the difference between the city average death rate and that in the best ward amounted to four deaths per thousand population yearly. On this basis, there would be four hundred preventable deaths annually in Elizabeth. There is no subject in the whole field of city planning that can compare in importance with this. It involves housing, zoning, street conditions, health department organ- ization, the sanitary code and many other city activities or institutions. Elizabeth's birth rate increased over the period from 1911 to 1917, and has since been swinging downward to 23.12 in 1922. The excess of births over deaths accounts for about two-thirds of the present annual increase in population. Hence, there is still a considerable amount of influx. Elizabeth's infant mortality rate, a figure that is almost an index to civilization, has been very steadily declining. In twelve years, it has been reduced about 70 per cent. The child welfare activities and the milk inspection program of the health department are worth a great deal to the city. For two years, Elizabeth has held the state record for attendance at "baby-keep- well" stations, and seventeen mothers have received state prizes. Elizabeth's tuberculosis rate is somewhat less gratifying, and it is believed that an investigation by individual wards should be made early next year, with a view to drawing possible conclusions with respect to new housing. A tuberculosis spot map could be prepared to show the correlation of this disease with congestion. Such a map might well startle many of the citizens of Elizabeth. For five years past, Elizabeth has had the lowest typhoid fever rate among the six New Jersey cities with which it is compared. The City Health Department maintains doctors and nurses for the medi- • cal inspection of parochial schools. The medical service of the public schools is under the control of the Board of Education. The sanitary code was adopted in 1913. Its provisions with respect to plumbing and drainage seem more or less incidental. Some expansion and modernization of the code is desirable. Elizabeth has three hospitals (Elizabeth General, St. Elizabeth's and Alexian Brothers'), besides the isolation hospital, and a maternity nursing home. Nearly two-thirds of all patients are free patients. The hospitals, in general, are scarcely adequate for the population of the city on a modern, 17 liberal basis, particularly in view of the fact that certain neighboring com- munities must depend on Elizabeth for hospital facilities. Intimately related to the subject of health is that of charities activities. Probably few people in Elizabeth realize the multifarious ways in which needy citizens are served by the Department of Charities. These include not alone the actual spending of municipal funds for relief, but the management of private funds, as in cases of non-support. Like most industrial cities, Elizabeth suffers at times and in places from smoke and fume pollution in the atmosphere. With all possible consideration for the manufacturing plants and with full recognition of recent conditions of coal supply, the mitigation of this evil should be kept prominently in view for early attention. Such mitigation must apply to the railroads as well as the factories. 18 Public Equipment and Facilities Municipal Waste Disposal The street cleaning and snow removal work of the city have been satis- factory. The garbage collection contract expires in May, 1924. More atten- tion should be given to the contract requirements that dumps be kept level and graded. The new contract should arrange for the covering of garbage at the dumps and should completely specify routes and collecting schedules. Such contract should not exceed two or three years' duration because, by the expira- tion of such time, it may probably be necessary to require the complete separa- tion of garbage from ashes and refuse. Sewage disposal is going to be increasingly expensive. The program no-w being carried out will give the city complete sewage facilities and will require a considerable appropriation of funds for several years to come, but it neces- sarily involves syphons, more pumping and, ultimately, treatment; the last probably within 20 years. Expense will be minimized by the gradual develop- ment of separate sewers in many parts of the city for sanitary sewage and storm water. Storm water discharge to the Elizabeth River will do little harm but sanitary sewage should be entirely excluded. The resewering and repaving programs will continue to require careful co-ordination. The recommended sites for the erection of treating plants in the report of Mr. Fuertes, consulting engineer on sewage disposal, are approved : namely, Seventh Street and Humboldt Avenue and the south side of Trenton Avenue, west of the river. The Amboy Avenue site is disapproved on account of its proximity to a probable approach to the new bridge from First Street. The Humboldt Avenue site will take care of sanitary drainage from the meadows when the latter are developed. Storm water should be drained there- from separately, probably through ditches with tide gates. By the time these facilities are needed, all sanitary discharges to the Great Ditch or to other parts of the meadows area should be discontinued. A portion of the city's sewerage will always be handled by combined sewers. Complete separate systems would involve too much tearing up of good paving to be contemplated. Where the sewage is combined it will have to be discharged elsewhere than to the Elizabeth River and the cost of treatment will naturallv be greater than where sanitarv sewage onlv is treated. In view of the magnitude of the sewage problem in Elizabeth as forecasted for the indefinite future, no sewage from outside of the city should be allowed to come into the city's sewers. Public Utilities Reference is elsewhere made to the inadequacy of Elizabeth's water sup- ply. Since this question is being thoroughly studied by a special committee 10 appointed by the City Council and a final report is soon to be submitted, the City Plan Commission merely remarks that whatever plan is agreed upon should look ahead many years. The problem is essentially a regional one but individual cities must conserve their own interests while co-operating and participating in the regional point of view. The progressive installation of water meters should continue until all services in Elizabeth are fully metered. The per capita daily consumption of water is high. Cement lined pipe should be completely replaced by cast iron pipe as rapidly as possible in co-ordination with paving and repaving. Four- inch mains should be replaced by larger pipes as rapidly as practicable. Eight- inch should be the minimum size of pipe except occasionally for the closure of loops where six-inch is permissible. It is believed that the question of water supply is perhaps the most vital of all of those confronting the city. This is true from many standpoints. Eliz- abeth is inviting new industries. Industries cannot get along without water. Elizabeth frequently has no water to spare. The electrical supply of Elizabeth is furnished by the Public Service Cor- poration of New Jersey which has three lines coming in from the Essex plant and two from its Perth Amboy plant carrying 13,000-26,000 volts. There are sub-stations at West Jersey Street and Bayway having 11,000 kw. capacity besides railway equipment. These send out primary current which at present is 2,400 volt, two phase, and is available over the entire city except on the meadows. The company is now altering its system to 4,150 volt, three phase. With the completion of the new 200,000 kw. station Elizabeth's power require- ments, as in fact those of the whole district, will be safeguarded for a consid- erable future time. The power equipment of the district will have stepped ahead of its population growth and industrial development. Electric current for house lighting sells on a nine-cent basis. For retail power, block consumption rates are based on consumption in relation to maxi- mum demand, which latter, in turn, unless by agreement otherwise, is based on the capacity of the connected load. There is a minimum charge based on the amount of the bill in proportion to the connected load. Wholesale power rates are made up of a block demand charge which is a flat monthly rate vary- ing with the maximum demand, plus a block consumption rate, the amount of which is based on the amount of current used in the month. All power rates have been subject to a sliding scale differential varying with the cost of coal. There are about 900 power meters in the Elizabeth district. Those few indus- tries which can take primary current receive a five per cent, discount from the above rates. The cheapest industrial power sold in Elizabeth costs about one and three-quarter cents per unit. Elizabeth's street lighting system is partly gas and partly electric, all operating on an all-night schedule. There should be no extension of gas light- ing into any new areas. Electric street lighting is infinitely to be preferred from almost any standpoint. When the Elmora-Bayway route is developed for through traffic, especially if it be limited to pleasure traffic, a modern orna- mental system of lighting along that route would give Elizabeth increased attractiveness in the minds of the many people who would use the route. 20 Elizabeth's gas supply is carburetted water gas. The plant has been over- loaded and the pressure maintained at times only with difficulty. The present gas-making capacity with four generating sets is 6,000,000 cubic feet daily. The Elizabeth plant supplies many other municipalities including Perth Amboy. A neAv generating set is to be installed this year. This is expected to increase the daily capacity to 10,000,000 cubic feet. The holder capacity by the end of 1923 is expected to be 5,000,000 cubic feet. With these extensions the continued service of gas by a private corporation promises to be satisfactory. The maximum net price of gas of a legal standard of 525 B. t. u. remains $1.25. Elizabeth's telephone service compares favorably with that of other cities. The delay in new installations, which began in war times, is still noticeable. Street transportation is in most sections of the city fairly adequate. Exist- ing trolley and bus lines cover the developed portion of the city quite com- pletely excepting the sector lying between Westfield and Morris Avenues and extending out to the city line. Here at certain points the distance to a trans- portation line is too great. The adequacy of service is geographical rather than operative. There is too much crowding of both trolley cars and buses during the busy hours, although the 36-passenger, one-man cars used in the off hours are supplemented by 65-passenger converted cars during the rush hours. As elsewhere indicated, the possibility of re-routing trolley cars away from the immediate vicinity of the Broad Street arch should have early and careful study. Unused tracks should be removed from the street and surplus trackage eliminated. Fifth Street is a notable example of the condition referred to. The track on Orchard Street is elsewhere mentioned as an objectionable incident in the development of one of the circumferential traffic routes. New bus routes should preferably be on streets not occupied by trolley tracks provided the paving is suitable. This is not merely because the Board of Public Works has power to establish routes not paralleling street railways without the assent of the Public Utilities Commission, but also because the city will be better served by avoiding the duplication of facilities which results from paralleling. It is believed that the program of bus and traffic inspection should be expanded and that more comprehensive attention should be given to the main- tenance of equipment and schedules. More detailed and comprehensive speci- fications for bus construction and equipment should be gradually evolved. The costs of all of these undertakings may properly be covered by license fees. Fire Protection Conspicuous even among the good annual reports prepared by other municipal departments is that of the Fire Department. It is informative and accurate. The fire limits of the city should be revised to correspond with the zoning ordinance. The location of fire engine houses as an important part of city planning should be given considerable further study. 21 Fire protection in Elizabeth was subjected to a critical review by the Underwriters in the year 1916. Many recommendations are made in the Underwriters' report. Some of them are gradually being carried out. There are now two pipe lines connecting with the Newark water supply system, one of them of 12-inch size. Still more adequate interconnection is recommended, particularly as an emergency measure, pending a more adequate water supply for Elizabeth. The inadequate water supply is the one big handicap to proper fire pro- tection in the city. The Elmora section is supplied from the Plainfield Union Water Company. Under normal conditions proper pressures are realized there but, throughout the rest of the city, the pressure is inadequate, the quantity often inadequate and the underground mains many of them old, leaky and otherwise inferior. The Underwriters are now penalizing Elizabeth for the defects of supply in the rates charged for insurance. A better water supply will save money by reducing the cost of insurance. Further appropriations for hydrants of the proper type and for fire alarm boxes should be provided until the occupied part of the city is fully protected. Police The Police Department's annual reports, issued in typewritten form, are equally commendable. The street accident records, the statistics of juve- nile delinquency and the study of traffic accidents are all in form for consulta- tion. Maps of police call box locations are now available. The problem of traffic control is one of steadily increasing difficulty, and the police department is accomplishing all that can reasonably be expected of it until more funda- mental methods are developed for handling street traffic. The Junior Patrol is now organized under this department and is doing efficient work in and near the street crossings adjacent to public school buildings. 22 Elizabeth's Street System The City now has under preparation a new base map, i. e., a general map showing all streets and roads. It is believed that in preparing this map there should be omitted the large number of "paper" streets which appear on the existing map but do not appear on the ground and do not fit in properly with such things as can now be foreseen. This recommendation does not apply to the so-called "Commissioners' streets," which are used as references in many deeds. Naturally it is to be expected that the new base map will properly indi- cate existing streets not shown on the present base map. It may also be expected to correct certain errors in street delineation. It is believed that in connection with the preparation of the base map, or soon thereafter, an accurate and up-to-date record should be made of streets vacated. This suggests the further recommendation that there should be a uniform procedure with respect to vacations and that matters of this sort might appropriately be referred to the City Plan Commission which could be expected, ultimately, to evolve a general and logical policy. In its details Elizabeth's street system is characterized by too many long blocks and too many large blocks. The former in business districts increase congestion and decrease ratables. The latter have no place except in industrial districts and lead to disorderly and objectionable rear yard conditions, besides making valuations low on an area basis. Some of the largest and longest blocks are close to the center of town. Two of them may be mentioned : One of the most notable of the large blocks is that which is bounded by Broad, East Grand and East Jersey Streets and Jefferson Avenue. The Broad Street frontage is valuable business property and there are important struc- tures, also of high value, on East Grand and East Jersey Streets; but a large part of the interior of this immense block is occupied by unimportant build- ings, or entirely vacant. The block is penetrated from East Grand Street by Drake Alley and this alley could be extended by sacrificing certain improve- ments, so as to come out at 1149-1151 East Jersey Street; but no large accre- tion of values would result. An effort has been made to develop part of the interior of the block for automobile parking use; but the price (25 cents) for the parking privilege seems to be too high. Yet the city needs outdoor parking space off the streets. A possible treatment of this block is to cut a new street through from 1202 East Grand Street to 1163-65 East Jersey Street and to connect this new street by a wide arcade with Broad Street. Conservatively estimated, it is believed the assessed valuations along the frontage thus created would reach a sum not less than $200,000. Values on East Jersey and East Grand Streets would also increase. The length of the street would be about 500 feet. Fur- 23 A PRELIMINARY SCHEME FOR MEADOWS DEVELOPMENT This map shows how a ship channel with piers, factory sites and rail connections might develop on what is now waste land. Elizabeth's one opportunity for a larRc park of its own also occurs in this section. ther attention should be given this subject in connection with the examination of this and other sites for automobile parking and with the possibility of remov- ing trolley tracks from Broad Street in the vicinity of the arch. A long block which has been especially investigated for the purposes of this report exists on Pennsylvania Avenue, from Fairmount Avenue to North Avenue. It was, at one time, proposed to open Clinton Place from Newark Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue. This would involve the loss of improvement valuations and would not split the long block equally. A better division line would be from 662 Pennsylvania Avenue to 675 Newark Avenue, which would involve no improvement except a one-car private garage. The proposed street would not be directly opposite Waverly Place. This is believed to be an advantage. There would be little occasion for through traffic across Newark Avenue, and, if any such through traffic did occur, it would be safer to break it at Newark Avenue than to shoot it directly across the heavy flow of traffic on the latter street. There are many other examples of these kinds which might be examined. A map has been made showing the locations of all excessively large or long blocks and it is proposed to consider each of these in detail at a later date. Elizabeth's streets are generally of fair width. A few near the center of the city are narrow, but some of these are so short that they will never be important traffic streets. The widening of Jefferson Street, which is a logical extension of Jefferson Avenue, has been recommended ; and the widening of the roadway of Union Street, which is now completed, has intimate associa- tions with this proposed improvement, as will presently appear. Elizabeth's primary street system resembles a complicated cobweb. There is an irregular focus near the Broad Street arch and another at the intersection of Elizabeth Avenue and New Point Road. Radial streets from these two foci are well developed, but direct connections between sections like Elmora, Eliza- bethport, North Elizabeth and Bayway are lacking. The City is so fully built-up that these connections must be provided by circumferential routes. The connecting streets for the three State highway routes all come close to the first of the foci and would actually involve it if it were not for the partial circumferential route which has been developed. Route No. 1 to Rahway carries the heaviest traffic of any route in the three States just outside the metropolitan nucleus. The three State highway radials split into eleven branches within about five miles of the City limits. A tremendous volume of traffic goes out of its way to contribute to the congestion at Elizabeth's busi- ness center. Relief from traffic congestion necessitates the early provision of one or more adequate circumferential routes. A possible first step is an outer belt utilizing North Avenue, Humboldt Avenue, Fifth Street, Summer Street, Bayway and Elmora Avenue. Most of this route already exists and the greater part of the distance is now paved. A short stretch will lie outside the city limits. An inner belt is also possible. By utilizing the improved Union Street, very little will remain to be done in order to complete an internal circle formed 26 by East Jersey, Union and Prince Streets, Magnolia Avenue and Jefferson Avenue. While more costly than either of the foregoing, a third or intermediate belt may be developed if the program of street improvement fixed upon from year to year is appropriately shaped. Briefly, it involves Division Street; High Street, with a new bridge at the foot of High Street; Grove Street, with a new undercrossing at the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks; Orchard Street, if possible with the removal of the car tracks, and perhaps a widening east of Chilton Street; Prince Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, Fairmount Avenue and Port Avenue. Local traffic would find these routes highly advantageous and through traffic could soon be taught to use them. Perhaps not related to any circumferential system but necessary as a sub- stitute for the present marginal street, First Street is now being improved and straightened at the bridge over the Elizabeth river. This street will connect the Bayway industrial section with that of Elizabethport. It will become of very great importance if the proposed new bridge connecting Elizabeth with Staten Island should be located, as now contemplated, alongside of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad bridge. This Commission favors a bridge rather than a tunnel on economic grounds and it has reported in favor of the Bayway location rather than an Elizabeth Avenue location on the obvious ground that Elizabeth's primary problem is to get through traffic off of her business streets rather than to bring more through traffic to them. A reasonably curved approach from First Street to the bridge is entirely possible, although the bridge would reach grade somewhat north of First Street. Street nomenclature in Elizabeth is in an unsatisfactory condition, there being too much of a duplication of names. This subject is having the attention of the Board of Public Works. There may be no objection to giving a Place or Court the same name as the Street or Avenue from which it extends, and a Lane or Road might be given the same name as a Street or Avenue of which it is the sole continuation ; but, beyond this, we advise against continuing the duplication of names. The city's house numbering system is also in a complex and unsatisfactory state. The irregular street system makes it questionable whether any scheme of numbering will be entirely satisfactory and there is always much confusion and some expense when numbers are changed. It is proposed next year to make a preliminary study of the subject so as to ascer- tain whether a reasonably satisfactory plan is possible. Street name signs have been erected over about half the city. Some of the signs are on buildings, but there are 318 of the familiar separate standard, double sign type, one being placed at one of the four corners at an inter- section. It would require 419 sets to cover all intersections of remaining paved streets. We recommend that these be provided for, to be installed over a period of two years, and that in the future, whenever new street paving is done, the necessary number of street name signs be included as a part of the paving program. The present type of sign is believed to be more practicable and satis- factory than any of the ornamental types which have recently been developed. 27 Certain questions of street detail have been considered. At the intersec- tion of Union Street and Westfield Avenue, there is an awkward jog at the northwest corner. This could be straightened out and the effective width of Union Street preserved through the intersection, by taking over part of one improved lot. A final recommendation is deferred until the whole problem of improvement at this intersection can be studied comprehensively. The same course is necessary with respect to the proposed straightening out of street kinks at Union Avenue and Parker Road, and near Irvington Avenue and Prince Street. The present paving practice, employing granite block and asphalt concrete, is entirely satisfactory and the detailed specifications and methods used are well worked out. Items of paving scheduled for priority in the 1924 program are: Fairmount Avenue eastward, and the road to the almshouse. Naturally, some part of the paving necessary for the outer circumferential route, already described, should form a part of the 1924 undertakings. The next most needed step is a continuation of the repaving of those streets now paved with rough stone, but not included in the circumferential route. As initial items, East Jersey Street, below Smith Street, the easterly end of Second Street, and New Point Road, west of Magnolia Avenue, are suggested. There is now pending before the Board of Public Works a traffic ordi- nance, the purpose of which is to improve traffic conditions in the streets. In view of the objection which has been expressed to various features of this ordi- nance, the City Plan Commission proposes to develop certain necessary data and, if possible, establish some underlying principles on which there may be substantial agreement. These studies will include an analysis of parking habits and conditions.* It is planned also to investigate every possible site for outside day storage of automobiles at low cost, close to the center of the city,f and to study the relative demands for parking and traffic in relation to road- way widths on various streets. Since there is some dispute as to the value of through traffic to the merchants of Elizabeth, actual observation of individual vehicles using each of the State highway routes is contemplated. It is believed that some form of time-limit parking will continue to be necessary on certain streets, and there are methods of demonstrated efficiency for simplifying the regulation and control of such parking. The number of automobile accidents on the streets of the city has increased rapidly during the past four years; not more rapidly, it is true, than the number of vehicles has increased ; but the number of accidents exceeds that which is normal in a city of Elizabeth's size. * It is understood that certain commuters park their cars all day. In a neighboring city, 60 per cent, of the parking was found to be by merchants and their employees who were most strongly opposing parking. t The actual development of such sites is not believed to be properly a municipal matter. Perhaps the Chamber of Commerce would undertake it. 28 Railroads Elizabeth has railroad facilities almost unparalleled, but in certain points of detail constructive action is possible. The Pennsylvania Railroad, for exam- ple, handles an overwhelming proportion of team-delivered freight. It has very little car lot business in Elizabeth and, under present conditions, never will have. As soon as the Elizabeth meadows exhibit a pronounced industrial devel- opment a siding from the Pennsylvania should be arranged for. This would have to leave the main line at a point outside the Elizabeth city limits but the connection is perfectly feasible at reasonable cost and would be to the advan- tage of both the railroad and the city. Through the co-operation of the Central Railroad of New Jersey a complete analysis of inbound and outbound shipments over that line has been made available for the calendar year 1922. The data thus obtained are so instructive that it is believed a similar compilation of Pennsylvania Railroad freight statistics should be made next year even though some of the clerical work may have been done at the city's expense. The purpose in view in this analysis, after making due allowance for freight trucked in or out of the city,* is to arrive at definite conclusions with respect to needed industries and retail or wholesale business establishments. For a study of this sort no more valuable data could possibly be obtained. Elizabeth has about 3,000 commuters and the number is increasing rap- idly, more particularly on the Central Railroad. The two railroads combined operate the largest number of passenger trains at any point outside of Man- hattan Island, with the possible exceptions of Flatbush Avenue and Jamaica. They reach New York by direct routes, and Elizabeth has the cheapest com- mutation, in proportion to its air-line distance, of any suburban community. The demand for homes will outstrip that which is naturally associated with industrial and business development. Certain of the railroad stations, notably the main station of the Penn- sylvania Railroad, have been the scene of fatal accidents due to the move- ment of through trains adjacent to platforms where people were standing. Men or women are killed every year from this cause in Elizabeth. Unless special equipment is provided to keep people at a suitable distance back from the edge of the platform, fatalities are bound to continue. Methods should be devised for promoting safety at the platforms of the principal stations where trains do not stop, as a first item of a planning program. One way would be to widen the platform and provide a fence with a series of gates centrally operated. Passengers would be kept on the safe side of the fence until the local trains stopped and the gates would be closed after such trains had left. •Water shipments must also be considered, since Elizabeth has a daily packet- boat service to New York. 29 Those who ride through Elizabeth on trains judge the city by its railroad stations. The impression thus conveyed by the Elizabethport station is most unfavorable. This station needs immediate improvement. The Schiller Street grade crossing and the numerous grade crossings in the Elizabethport section must be corrected at the earliest possible date. Plans for the elimination of these have been under way for a long time. Conditions in Elizabeth are now scheduled for early correction but the depression of the Central Railroad tracks in Perth Amboy has been understood to have priority. Certain questions have arisen which point to the probability of a considerable delay in Perth Amboy. It is thought that vigorous action at this time might possibly accelerate the period of grade crossing elimination in Elizabeth. The Broad Street Arch No element in city planning looms as large in the mind of the average citizen as the correction of conditions at the Broad Street railroad arch. Almost every bad feature that can be imagined is exhibited there now : grade, curve, inadequate roadway width, trolleys, buses and the junction of two rail- roads and seven streets. The problem of rectification should, as a first step, be reduced to its lowest terms. At one time a leveling of street grades was thought to be essen- tial, and this would have required an elevation of railroad tracks at points where the rails are already on a summit. This levelling is no longer necessary. The grade is not too severe for motor traffic. From time to time there has been thought of a more or less compre- hensive relocation of one of the railroads. It is believed that this thought should be dismissed, but any possible relocation would involve enormous initial expense and would augment rather than reduce railroad operating cost. Whatever steps are taken with respect to these matters, the essence of the problem is the widening and straightening of Broad Street, and this should be done no matter what detailed steps are chosen as best for the further improvement of traffic conditions. Moreover, it is believed that projects for the scrapping of unattractively occupied blocks in the region need not have immediate attention. The condition of Broad Street, just south of the arch, will automatically improve with improvement of the street. 31 Education in Elizabeth Like all cities, Elizabeth has fallen behind in its school building program. The Board of Education has been making herculean efforts to be in time with such new buildings as will at least hold congestion in check and permit of rea- sonable educational efficiency. It is constantly faced with an increased demand for school buildings, and the program might just as well be planned now for twenty-five years ahead. The need is certain to come. There may be some uncertainty as to its exact incidence. The studies of population, elsewhere recommended in this report, will remove much of this uncertainty; and it is essential in the 1924 city planning program of Elizabeth to study, in co-opera- tion with the Board of Education, those school site needs which will arise during several years to come. Requirements, now foreseen, include a new high school and another junior high school. The conversion of the present high school to a junior high school, with the development of a much larger high school on a more adequate site, at a distance from the center of the city, may have to be contemplated. Future schools should be in larger units than those older buildings now existing. A twelve-room school is not economical from any standpoint. Some old schools will, before long, have to be abandoned. One has just been aban- doned. In certain cases the location of these schools, largely because of the inadequacy of site, should also be abandoned. Much larger school sites should be provided in connection with all future building. As the school authorities have pointed out, school distribution at the present time is fair — scarcely more than that. Schools of adequate size might well be farther apart in some of the Elizabethport territory; while in other sections of the city, schools are too far apart for best effectiveness with the lowest grades. The use of temporary, portable buildings should be regarded as an emerg- ency measure only, and when permanent structures are to be erected, they should be, in general, of the most permanent and substantial type, built for long life. The necessity for this arises from the present high cost of building, and the wisdom of such a course will depend absolutely on a proper selection of future school sites. All of this bears on physical matters. There is another point, physical in its origin, the importance of which is such that more than purely physical measures may be required for correction. For some years, Elizabeth's schools have been too largely on a part time basis and made up of over-sized classes. These conditions have obviously impaired the efficiency of school work. Cor- rection may be expected with the enlarged school facilities which are made available this Fall, but unless this correction is notable and immediate — per- haps even though it be notable and immediate — a forward looking program should be contemplated. This might include not merely new school buildings, 32 but a comprehensive survey of the whole school situation; such a survey to be made by the educational authorities of the Board of Education, and in its physical aspects, to utilize the work being done by the advisors of the City Plan Commission. There are nearly 30,000 persons in Elizabeth directly and personally involved in this matter, and their future, as well as the future of the community, depends upon the effectiveness of the education furnished them. The initial step toward junior high school facilities has everything to commend it. Twenty-eight per cent of the children, between sixteen and seventeen years of age, attend school ; and only eight per cent of those between eighteen and twenty years of age. There is an abrupt break at the age of high school entrance, and this will be bridged by the junior high school. It will be more effectively bridged if the vocational type of training continues to be emphasized and expanded. If there ever was a city where vocational training was desirable, it is Elizabeth. It would be scarcely possible to go too far with it. The economic training of the young of all origins and antecedents is a direct step toward general benefit. Vocational training is good for the voca- tion, good for the student, an advantage to the employer and an asset to the city. This part of the work of the schools should have more and more atten- tion every year. 33 The Operation of the City A city, like a business or an industry, has administrative, maintenance and construction departments. The three must co-ordinate. City planning has always aimed at the co-ordination of current maintenance and new construc- tion. It is only recently that the opportunity for increased co-ordination of administrative operation with physical improvement has been realized. The government of Elizabeth is a big business. Exclusive of schools, the valuation of city properties aggregates about one and one-half million dollars, and the annual municipal budget is over two million dollars. The carrying out of the city plan must be the work of the city government. The organic laws, under which that government is conducted, have grown much as the British Constitution grew — by successive enactments, the full effects of which, in their correct relative proportions, are comprehended by comparatively few citizens. These laws need codification, and somewhere there should be a comprehensive and correct description of how the city operates. As a contribution toward such a description, the City Plan Commission aims (in the near future) to prepare an organization chart of the city's departments and personnel, showing derivation of authority, method of selection and functions. Such a chart should indicate the relative position of every individual on the municipal payroll, as well as the functioning of the various unpaid boards and commissions. It is believed to be pertinent to city planning, also, to give some considera- tion to the accepted form of municipal government in Elizabeth. This city is operated, not by a city manager or a board of commissioners, but by a Mayor and Council. As will be shown more in detail later, it is an economically gov- erned city. The functioning of the city is more or less completely described in the annual reports of the various municipal departments. In addition, the Council, the Board of Public Works and the Board of Education regularly print their minutes. Many of the annual reports are admirable in their form and scope. No better reports are issued anywhere than those of the Comptroller. It is believed, however, that much would be gained by combining the printing of all annual reports in a single volume, to be issued as a municipal year-book. If possible to accomplish it, this issue should take place at a much earlier date than that at which annual reports are now available. Certain of the latter this year could not be obtained until six months after the close of the fiscal period. The local government cost, exclusive of schools, is $21.28 per capita ; the debt, $32.70; and the assessed valuation, $1,080. These are most gratifying figures. Of the nine cities in the State having populations between 50,000 and 300,000, Elizabeth, in 1921, had the lowest net debt per capita; the lowest percentage of net debt to assessed valuation ; the lowest percentage expenditure for interest charges, and the lowest net cost of city government. In the seventy- 34 six cities of the United States, within the 50,000 to 100,000 population class, only nineteen show lower local governmental cost per capita than does Eliza- beth. This city was one of the few in New Jersey in which the 1923 budget was less than that for 1922. Elizabeth must continue to be economically governed. It is not a rich city. The assessed valuation per capita is comparatively low. While there was a remarkable increase in building operations from 1920-1921-1922, total per- mits in the last year aggregating six million dollars, much of this building involved property exempt from taxation. Elizabeth's whole scheme of assessment needs examination. Assessed val- uations should be studied in detail, with a view to proper equalization with- out disturbance of the present total in relation to the county total. Building valuations should also be scrutinized and standard factors developed for assess- ment of various types of building, particularly residence buildings, on the basis of cubic contents. Statistical investigation of assessments, by wards, with some consideration of corresponding building permits, should be included. The city needs a complete revaluation of industrial properties which, in the opinion of this Commission, should be made neither by local agencies nor by the county, but under the supervision of specialists who might well, also, be called upon to suggest to the assessors general methods for the whole program of assessment. Many of the city's activities are now administered by the Board of Public Works which is, itself, constantly and constructively planning for the future of the city. The control of private building is now pretty well covered by the recently re-issued building ordinance and by the building zone ordinance. The latter has met with general approval, has required amendment only w T ith respect to minor details, and several proposed amendments have been defeated. A city electrical bureau, having charge of the supervision of installation of electrical conductors and equipment, comes also under the jurisdiction of the Board of Public Works. The City Plan Commission takes this opportunity of again suggesting the desirability of the reference to it of future sub-division plats. The city has no adequate standards for platting, and complete standards cannot be suggested at this time. A careful analysis of current plattings, with some study of those which have taken place in the last five years and consid- erable attention to what is generally accepted as good practice in platting, will permit of the development of a program and suitable standards within a com- paratively short time. The need for this is apparent. Many streets in indus- trial sections have had to be vacated because block sizes were too small for industrial occupancy. The need for city planning usually arises from defects which are physical and geographical in their nature. Elizabeth has enough of these defects, but Elizabeth has one additional motive for comprehensive city planning in that economy of expenditure is, and will continue to be, essential. The mere cur- tailing of disbursements down to a minimum standard of municipal living, even if regarded as economical, is a much less desirable course than that type of economy, that adaptation of means to ends, which ensues when a long-range view is taken and when the whole problem is visualized for many years to 35 come. This present report, incomplete as it is with respect to final recom- mendations, will, it is believed, serve to set up the various terms and factors of the whole problem. The Elizabeth which is planned in accordance with these suggestions will be adequately planned and there will be no unanticipated shocks to municipal revenues or borrowing powers. What is before us is known. It remains to estimate relative magnitudes and orders of urgency. 36 Can Elizabeth Ever Be a City Beautiful? Elizabeth has much that is beautiful now, much to be proud of. It needs certain specific things. It needs, perhaps, a new attitude of mind with respect to certain things; but the Elizabeth of the future will be an attractive city. One of the specific needs, which is most apparent, is that for public parks. Elizabeth is poor in parks. On an acreage basis, the city compares unfavorably with most other cities. The Fay Woods property promises to relieve this con- dition, but the plans of the Union County Park Commission for a 200-acre park in the immediate vicinity, just beyond the city line, imply the necessity of careful study to determine the exact type of development which will be best for Fay Woods. There are many small parcels of city-owned property scattered all over the city. On some of these there exist monuments, many of which are of interest and some of which are of artistic or historic value. Other monuments will be proposed from time to time. Some of the parcels referred to are bare and unattractive. The city should establish the general policy of treating dec- oratively all of these tracts. It would be desirable to organize a municipal art commission, separate from the City Plan Commission (one member of which might well be a member of the other), which would have jurisdiction over the planting of these tracts and the erection of public monuments thereon. One of the largest parcels of city-owned property is the Poor Farm, which covers fifty-nine acres, including the isolation hospital property. The time may come when this tract will be more needed for other public purposes than those which now preempt it. One of the most attractive park projects to many people in the city, is that of improving the Elizabeth River. The river (including the Harrison- Price Street area) is an eyesore now and, under present conditions, the river could scarcely be made anything else unless it were covered over; but with a new and adequate water supply, the diversion of sewage and the possible improvement of the channel, these conditions will disappear and it would be perfectly feasible to develop an attractive strip along the river above a dam which would be placed somewhere not very far south of Broad Street. Considered as a recreation park project, such a scheme would be of only minor value, because the area involved would be small ; but no single step would add more to the beauty of the city ; and the park value, although minor and somewhat local, would be real. The question of a new city hall, and perhaps the creation of a civic center in the vicinity of Elizabeth Avenue and Broad Street, has loomed up large in any discussion of city planning. The proposed war memorial necessi- tates early consideration of this whole subject. It is a very important subject. Immense property valuations are involved. The aesthetic considerations are of 37 prime importance. Elizabeth has some splendid buildings now, but they are without a nucleus or grouping. There are opportunities now existing for admirable vistas, but not one of these has been properly utilized. Whatever other subject must be postponed, it would seem that the question of construc- tion and grouping of needed new public buildings should be one of the first for consideration next year. The City Plan Commission reserves for a special report its definite recommendations on this matter. This report should prob- ably follow rather than precede its comprehensive recommendations w 7 ith respect to street conditions at and near the Broad Street arch, but the need for both at an early date is fully appreciated. A public comfort station near the center of the city has long been needed. It is not believed that this should be located on the strip along Broad Street south of Caldwell Place. That strip may enter into a much more compre- hensive plan within a year or two. Meanwhile, it might well be used for purposes equally necessary but involving less commitment in the way of per- manent equipment. It is recommended, however, that a comfort station be erected at the rear of the present city hall and that, at this point, there be pro- vided check rooms, telephones and other appropriate facilities. A study should be made at once of other desirable locations. Nothing that the city can buy or build will give so much beauty for so little money as shade trees on the streets. The city is aware of its assets of this kind. There is a shade tree ordinance and tree conservation has not been neglected. New planting is necessary, especially toward the northeast. It is recommended that a shade tree commission be organized and that one member of such commission be also a member of the City Plan Commission. The Shade Tree Commission should have jurisdiction over all street plantings, including sidewalk grass strips, which are important from a practical as well as from an aesthetic standpoint, and which are now, in many parts of the city, in con- spicuously bad condition. Such Shade Tree Commission might well devise means for planting, replanting and proper maintenance of these grass strips, •stimulating competition among residents and school children. It is to be hoped that as time goes on, there will be less and less stone sidewalk construction and that the four-foot standard cement sidewalk of the city engineer's department may eventually become universal in the residence districts. Sidewalk repairs are too much a current feature of the city's work at the present time. The proper development of playgrounds for the city may add, and should be made to add to its physical beauty while, at the same time, promoting the even more important object of conserving the health, virility and competence of its citizens in the next generation. The per capita cost of playground opera- tion last year was only about four cents. School playgrounds are generally inadequate. Elizabeth needs and needs at once a program of expansion for recreation appropriations running two or three years ahead. Appropriations must be much more liberal than they have been if the city is to occupy a respectable rank in this important matter. There are ways of providing space for playgrounds without heavy capital investment and these ways should be used to the utmost. The provision of facilities for playgrounds will require money; 38 and more money will be needed for their proper operation and maximum use- fulness; although present playground practice involves, to an increasing extent, a large measure of co-operation in their control and administration by unpaid volunteer agencies. Certain parts of the program of the present Recreation Commission merit strong endorsement. Among these there should be mentioned the proposed acquisition of the water company's tract on Westfield Avenue to insure the permanence of the swimming pool ; the use of the Seventh Ward Oval for purposes other than skating; and, if a reasonable price can be agreed upon, the purchase of the Clark Club property. In planning more comprehensively for playground space, a desirable step is to study the incidence of juvenile delinquency (or incorrigibility, as it is termed by the local police department). The data for this have been assem- bled and it is believed the mapping will show, as elsewhere, a negative corre- lation between playground location and juvenile delinquency. If this be true, the same delinquency map will point out desirable locations for future play- grounds. There are several possibilities and certain necessities in the matter. A playground site for small children is urgently needed in the Elmora region and one should be selected next year. When the city outgrows its present city yard, or when it can afford to move therefrom, that property would make a well-located park or playground. Playground specialists recognize several types of play area. There is the small play lot of 6,000 to 10,000 square feet area. Next comes the neighbor- hood playground of one to six acres. Elizabeth has one of the latter and several of the former, including the school playgrounds. One of the first needs is for more of the second type. More advanced practice calls for district play- grounds of two to twenty acres and recreation parks of from five acres upward. These can scarcely be deleveloped within the city limits unless on the meadows area. The still larger "play reservation" will never be possible within the present city limits and the best chance of adding any such area to Elizabeth's recreation facilities will be through the Union County Park Commission. 59 Waste Lands in the City of Elizabeth Meadows The meadows cover an area of 3.67 square miles and have a water frontage of 12,400 feet. The soil elevation is about that of mean high water. There is one railroad and one railroad siding. There are no streets, and all but a very small part of the area is waste land inhabited by mosquitoes. Most of this land is assessed at $100 per acre. Rising out of the middle of the meadows is Great Island, a small patch of dry upland covering six acres. The water of Newark Bay, adjacent to the meadows tract, is exceedingly shoal — the average distance to one fathom depth being about one-half mile. Close to the upland, the meadows soil is peat, four or five feet deep. A larger area out beyond this is a mixture of peat and blue mud, somewhat deeper ; and a still larger area extending beyond the latter to the waterfront is blue mud of twelve or fourteen foot depth. Below these layers, the subsoil is variable in holding power, and in some parts piles must be driven 30 feet to secure good bearing. Pile foundations ordinarily add five to ten per cent, to the cost of building. The meadows soil shrinks when drained, being saturated and compressible. The entire meadows frontage of all municipalities on Newark Bay has been especially examined. Two-thirds of the shore line is unimproved, the balance having bulkheads or wharves. Seventy-three per cent, of the lands immediately behind the shore are vacant, the balance being occupied by fac- tories, with a very small amount of shipping. All of this land can be made suitable for occupancy by covering it with hydraulic fill to a depth of about six feet. This would cost about $2,600 per acre and would incidentally afford navigable channels. The experience of Newark indicates that the provision of street facilities, wharves, etc., will more than double this cost, and that the complete develop- ment of a tract of meadow lands, even with a very simple and modest street system, will involve an expenditure of about $6,000 per acre. If no alloAvance is made for fill derived from the dredged channel to deep water, the cut chan- nel through the meadow lands, if thirty feet deep, will give sufficient fill for lands on each side of such channel to a width two-thirds greater than the width of the channel; thus a 600 foot channel would give fill for 1,000 foot strips on each side. Taken in connection with other considerations mentioned below, this suggests that the most appropriate place for a channel penetrating the Elizabeth meadows would be about 1,000 to 1,200 feet north of the line of North Avenue. The possibility of maritime development seems to hinge mainly on the point that steamships could interchange freight directly with railroad cars, without any necessity for either lighterage, or transportation through the con- 4(1 gested metropolitan district. Not too much should be expected in this direc- tion. It is well established that ocean steamers will insist on berthing on Man- hattan Island or very near Manhattan Island. Cargo coasters, on the other hand, are keenly interested in railroad interchange facilities. They are not particularly productive of business to the section in which the docks are located and they will continue to find the Central Railroad bridge objectionable. The meadows area would furnish excellent factory sites, especially for very large industries which need ample space. Such industries, in many cases, are willing to conduct their own development work. The small industries likely to go into a rental building of the Bush Terminal type would not be particularly attracted by the Elizabeth location under present conditions. A few (mostly heavy) industries find a combination of rail and water frontage highly desirable. For these the Elizabeth meadows might afford the best possi- ble location. There is, however, plenty of territory zoned for industrial pur- poses throughout the metropolitan district. The question before Elizabeth is essentially whether approximately 1,000 acres can be disposed of at a cost upward of $6,000 per acre. The answer seems to be in the affirmative. It is understood that lands adjacent to Port Newark are being leased on the basis of $12,000 per acre valuation. This seems to be about equal to the highest industrial land value realized in Elizabeth. The question of possible intrusion of nuisance industries which might debar the very large and very desirable type of industry should be considered. Shipping and rail transportation conditions in the metropolitan district are in a state of flux. There have been recent important changes and many more are promised or projected. The Stapleton Piers can be very largely expanded if desired. Brooklyn's shore front is largely undeveloped. The Nar- rows freight and passenger tunnel, the proposed tunnel from Greenville to Bay Ridge, and the Jamaica Bay Improvement, with a possible canal to Flushing Bay, are plans now concretely before the public. Bayonne has a marine and industrial development plan. Nevertheless, Port Newark is undergoing modest expansion. There is a possibility of a park development of a small portion of the meadows, which might cost the city nothing. Such a park project has been considered by the Union County Park Commission and investigated in connec- tion with the Plan of New York and its Environs, now being made by the Russell Sage Foundation. The park would be of a resort type and should preferably be east of the Central Railroad, Newark Branch, and not very far from the Central Railroad shops. The site should be 100 acres or more and the best approaches would be via Schiller Street or Fourth Street, and an extension of North Avenue. This matter will involve much detailed study. A street development program should include the improvement of Neck Lane and Humboldt Avenue as first steps, implying regional action with the City of Newark under which that city would improve Haynes, Carnegie and Evergreen Avenues. This complete link might form the first step in a State Highway detour route which would keep entirely away from the congested part of Newark. In connection with Monroe Avenue, Elizabeth, it would also 41 relieve the traffic now using Newark Avenue. An under-crossing at Fourth Street, for a street which would parallel the Central Railroad Newark Branch, out to the approximate line of Fairmount Avenue, and would then cross under that branch so as to reach the park above discussed, would also be necessary. After crossing to the east side of the Newark Branch, this highway should be connected with the street which the City of Newark is now building south- ward from Port Newark. In the case of all street work on the meadows, it is desirable that foundation material should be spread at an early date and allowed to settle. A rather narrow street which would not require this pre- liminary work could at once be built along the line of the old Causeway to Great Island. With such a street and with its existing rail connections, it is believed that this property would be worth at last $20,000 for industrial pur- poses. The assessed valuation is now less than $1,000. As to rail connections, any comprehensive plan should involve a siding from the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley Railroads, paralleling Neck Lane and Humboldt Avenue on the east and at such a distance therefrom as to make easy undercrossings of transverse streets practicable. At a much later date, if the plans of the Port of New York Authority are carried out, a spur from the outer belt line will enter the meadows near the northern city boundary and connect with the Central Railroad Newark Branch. The western terminus of this spur will be at Springfield, through which the main outer belt from New Brunswick to Piermont-on-Hudson will pass. In this day of bus transportation, the question of getting to and from the developed meadows areas will almost take care of itself. There is ample room for housing development on the western edge of the meadows and, with the filling of meadow lands, conditions will so improve that the locality will cease to be objectionable for housing. Elizabeth River The flats along the river are infested by mosquitoes and the river itself contaminated by sewage. The latter condition is soon to be remedied and both conditions are easily remediable. Occasional floods at the river will be here- after prevented if the channel is adequately improved. Nearly one-half the Elizabeth River flats consist of land suitable for immediate building, but the large tracts within this portion of the area have no rail or river frontage. Any thoroughgoing development implies filling. The pending project of the Government for the improvement of the river is altogether trivial from the standpoint of producing hydraulic fill. It would be a much better scheme for Elizabeth to contemplate a wider and deeper channel than that proposed by the Government engineers, securing Govern- ment funds and co-operation as far as possible, but planning for a quantity of dredging which would suffice completely to fill the areas now in need of fill. This would probably involve a straightening of much of the course of the stream below the Baltic Street Bridge. Present foundation conditions on the river flats vary from those which are excellent on the better portion of the 43 higher and older fill to some which are as bad as on the meadows. An ade- quate program of filling will correct this and, with improved access to the river area by means of Baltic Street, Amboy Avenue, Trenton Avenue and Garden Street, probably with a bridge at the foot of Garden Street, good industrial sites will be created to which sidings can be run from the Long Branch Railroad. The cost of improvement here will probably be somewhat less per acre than in the meadows area because the amount of street creation involved is very much less. On the other hand, the amount of bulkheading necessary is considerably greater. Recommendations While there may be some difference of opinion as to the possibility of accurately appraising the promise of maritime development along the Newark Bay frontage of the city of Elizabeth, this, fortunately, does not enter into the case. For any use whatever to be made of the meadows, they must be filled. The only economical method of fill is by dredging. Hence, whether we want them or not, dredged channels will be created. Moreover, to retain the fill, bulkheading is essential, and the bulkhead is a first step toward maritime facilities. The problem of meadows development may be approached with con- siderable certainty if the primary effort is to create factory sites. The map incorporating the recommendations forecasted in the above discussion, repre- sents the judgment of the Commission as to what may reasonably be expected in the way of a comprehensive plan of meadows development. This map does not undertake to plot new streets other than the primary highways necessary — it being the belief of the Commission that complete street planning would be premature. It is not recommended that all of the undertakings here shown be inaugurated immediately. It is not contemplated that all of them will need to be done by the city. The channel and bulkheads, and the development of Fourth Street, Fairmount Avenue and North Avenue are believed to be appro- priate initial steps. It would seem to be the function of the city in this matter to limit litself as far as it can to the creation of opportunity, i. e., it should afford the facilities necessary for the development of the meadows area. If private enterprise will then build piers, erect a manufacturing terminal building or buy or lease land for factory sites, well and good. If, on the other hand, the use of the city's credit is necessary to carry out such undertakings, Eliza- beth will have to go a step farther, and if it dislikes going into the business of detailed promotion, it may adopt methods by which ownership and regulation will vest with the city but under which the advantages of private management and operation are possible. The meadows matter might as well be viewed as the opportunity for a $6,000,000 investment which might fairly be expected to pay its way within about 10 years. Even though this period could be shortened it is doubtful whether this is just the moment to invest. There is a general feeling that large public works should be undertaken when labor is plentiful. In a project 44 of the sort here contemplated the initial cost is overwhelmingly the important factor in determining whether an ultimate profit or an ultimate loss will result. It seems possible that at some time within the next ten years construc- tion labor will be more plentiful and probably cheaper than at present. Meadows development could best be started at a time when there were many unemployed men in Elizabeth. Special legislation is necessary for the city to undertake meadows develop- ment. The power to condemn property for public uses does not extend suffi- ciently far to enable the city to acquire vacant lands only remotely and perhaps conjecturally related to a proposed ship canal. If the theory of meadows development is a sound one the benefits resulting therefrom would be general benefits. Nevertheless the project should not be financed by general taxation because certain individual owners will benefit immensely. A fair plan would be the creation of an assessment district. Lands in this district should bear a large proportion of the cost of development. The legislation necessary to authorize this or some other method of financing should be inaugurated at once. Under such legislation the city would have the power to fill lands and assess those lands for the benefits conferred. Meanwhile the city should acquire all ungranted riparian lands and should bulkhead them so that any fill derived from dredging operations in Newark Bay might be placed there by the dredging contractor. The bulkhead could be built of sheet piling faced with rock fill. The lands created would be leased for either w r ater commerce or industrial business. In either case, the tenant could construct an apron extending out from the bulkhead, if such a structure were required. As addi- tional lands were needed, the canal, or perhaps more than one canal, could be dredged out and the fill deposited thereon. The whole meadows area should at once be reappraised and the city should adopt the policy of taking over, at tax sale, all meadow lands on which taxes, based on the new appraised value, remain unpaid. 45 The Next Step in City Planning tor Elizabeth There are various "ways of building a city plan. The economical way of proceeding is the comprehensive way. Sample undertakings are costly. Every sample of planning involves going back to fundamental data and necessitates co-ordination. Unless the fundamental data are fully assembled and analyzed and unless a general co-ordination has been effected, time and money are wasted. Co-ordination, in fact, is the essence of city planning. It should be insisted on first of all and all the time. This implies a resisting of the impulse to produce sample results ; not merely because they cost excessively, but also because they are likely to be partial results and may be incorrect results. The next step in planning for Elizabeth should be a comprehensive city plan. Such a plan superimposed on the preliminary studies already made can be prepared in either one or two years more. Probably two years would be the strategic duration. 1923 The work for the balance of this year would include a detailed study of present and future population distribution and a partial analysis of traffic problems with particular reference to the pending traffic ordinance. 1924 The principal work of next year should be the organization of all of the data already derived and the completion of statistical studies elsewhere sug- gested. The traffic studies of 1923 should be continued and completed, includ- ing the whole question of possible reroutings of trolley cars and a comprehen- sive scheme for the handling of traffic throughout the city as well as in and near the Broad Street arch. As a minor item a revision of the fire limits should be included. The year should witness the development of a standard practice with respect to land subdivisions and street vacations. Definite recommenda- tions should also be made with respect to the new city hall and civic center, and a comprehensive examination should be given the whole subject of grade crossings. 1925 All of the remaining topics of the plan should be rounded up during the final year, including parks and playgrounds, a detailed program for school sites and school buildings, the completion of the street program, detailed recommendations with respect to street lighting, the planning of bus routes and the control of buses, some study and recommendations with regard to housing, and an investigation to determine what business and industrial establishments are most needed in Elizabeth. 46 V»ell paved directs Sheets requiring pavement coostroctroo or renewal Struts jorm.nf port o| Stote M.^hwoy Routes POSSIBILITIES OF A CIRCUMFERENTIAL STREET SYSTEM. The improvement of traffic conditions must depend largely on the development of streets which do not intersect the busy hubs. The map shows how three circumferential routes are possible at varying distances from the principal hub. ELIZABETH'S RADIAL STREET SYSTEM. Elizabeth has nine important radial streets of which all but one are fully developed; three of the nine are local streets, while the others connect with important through streets. Elizabeth has two hubs; one at the Broad Street arch and the other at Union Square.