In the Matter 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Proposed Plans and Agreement Between New York Central 
 & Hudson River Railroad Company and the City of 
 New York, Affecting Riverside Park and the North 
 River Waterfront. 
 
 Report of 
 
 Committee on Legislation, Law and Schools 
 
 Appendix Showing Proceedings Taken for the Extension and 
 Preservation of Riverside Park in 1893 by West End 
 Association, and Legislative Action Thereon. 
 
 George B. Sheppard, Secretary. 
 
 32 Broadway, 
 New York City. 
 
THE 
 
 Organized February 1st, 1884. 
 
 OFFICERS: 
 
 John C. Coleman, President 
 A. Walker Otis, First Vice-President 
 Warren C. Crane, Second Vice-President 
 Charles L. Craig, Third Vice-President 
 William H. Rock wood, Treasurer 
 George B. Sheppard, Secretary 
 Frederic H. Ridgeway, Asst. Secretary 
 
Meat i£nb Aaaoriatum 
 
 Report of Committee on Legislation, Law and Schools 
 with Respect to Proposed Plans and Agreement Be- 
 tween the New York Central & Hudson River Rail-' 
 road and City of New York Pursuant to Chapter 777 
 of the Laws of 1911. 
 
 March 3rd, 1913. 
 
 To the Officers and Members of the West End Association. 
 
 This Committee has had this subject under consideration 
 for some time, and pursuant to the action of the Association at 
 the January meeting. In order that no misapprehension might 
 exist with respect to the facts and conditions of the pending 
 plans and negotiations between the Railroad and the City your 
 Committee has undertaken to acquire at first hand such facts 
 and to report the same to the Association, together with a brief 
 summary of the conditions under which the Riverside water- 
 front is now occupied by the railroad tracks. 
 
 The facts with respect to the present status of the negotia- 
 tions between the City and the Railroad have been furnished 
 to us by the office of the President of the Board of Aldermen, 
 who is the Chairman of the Special Committee of the Board of 
 Estimate and Apportionment, to which the plans and profiles 
 submitted by the New York Central were referred and which 
 Special Committee has carried on the negotiations with the 
 Railroad. By special arrangement a meeting of the Committee 
 was held at the office of the President of the Board of Alder- 
 men, where a set of the Dlans and profiles were available for 
 use, and these plans and the negotiations and the present status 
 thereof were fully stated to the Committee by Mr. R. C. Harri- 
 
 3 
 
son, examiner on the executive staff of the President of the 
 Board of Aldermen, and who is familiar with the entire subject. 
 The proceedings of this hearing were taken down stenographi- 
 cally by a court stenographer who attended for that purpose, and 
 a copy thereof delivered to Mr. Harrison, as well as to the 
 various members of the Committee. 
 
 In addition to this, a request was made by the Committee 
 upon the general counsel of the New York Central for a set of 
 the plans and profiles, and in compliance with this request the 
 Railroad on the 28th ultimo furnished to us a complete set. 
 
 The Committee has had several meetings and the subject 
 has been given careful attention and consideration, and has drawn 
 on such other sources of information as were available to it in 
 addition to the foregoing. 
 
 In order to understand the present conditions it is neces- 
 sary to have in view the circumstances under which these con- 
 ditions have developed. 
 
 Railroad Charter and Agreement with City of New York. 
 
 The Hudson River Railroad was organized under Act of 
 the Legislature passed in 1846. By this act the Company was 
 empowered to 
 
 "construct a single, double or treble railroad or way between the 
 cities of New York and Albany, commencing in the City of New 
 York, with the consent of the corporation of the City of New 
 York." 
 
 and the Act provided that : 
 
 "The said directors may locate their railroad on any of the 
 streets or avenues of the City of New York, westerly of and 
 including the Eighth Avenue and on or westerly of Hudson 
 Street, provided the assent of the corporation of said city be 
 first obtained for such location." 
 
 The consent of the City prescribed in the Act was granted 
 by an ordinance approved by the Mayor on May 6th, 1847, 
 which, among other things, provided that: 
 
 "Permission is hereby granted to the Hudson River Rail- 
 road Company to construct a double track of rails, with suitable 
 turnouts, along the line of the Hudson River, from Spuyten 
 
 4 
 
Duyvil Creek to near Sixty-eighth Street; occupying so much of 
 the Twelfth Avenue as lies along the shore, thence winding 
 from the shore so as to intersect the Eleventh Avenue, at or 
 near Sixtieth Street; thence through the middle of the Eleventh 
 Avenue to about Thirty-second Street ; thence on a curve across 
 to the Tenth Avenue, intersecting the Tenth Avenue at or near 
 Thirtieth Street ; thence through the middle of the Tenth Avenue 
 to West Street, and thence through the middle of West Street 
 to Canal Street." 
 
 The ordinance further provided for a number of conditions, 
 among others, that : 
 
 "Sec. 2, (a) The said Hudson River Rail Road Company 
 shall Grade, Regulate, Pave and keep in Repair, a space twenty- 
 five feet in width, in and about the tracks, in all the Avenues 
 and Streets through which the said track or tracks shall be 
 laid, whenever the Common Council shall deem the interest of 
 the public to require such pavement to be done. 
 
 (b) The said Company shall lay such rail track through 
 the Avenues and Streets in conformity to such directions as 
 to line and grade as shall be given by the Street Commissioner, 
 and shall conform their said Rail Road to the Grades of the 
 Avenues and Streets through which it shall extend, or cross, as 
 shall be from time to time established by the Common -Council, 
 if the latter so require; 
 
 0) and shall lay their rails or tracks, in the Streets or 
 Avenues, in such manner as to cause no unnecessary impediment 
 to the common and ordinary use of the Street for all other 
 purposes, and so as to leave all the water courses free and un- 
 obstructed. 
 
 (d) It shall be especially encumbent on the said Hudson 
 River Rail Road Company, at their own cost, to construct stone 
 bridges across such of the Streets intersected 'by the Rail Road 
 as may, by the elevation of their grades above the surface of 
 said road, require to be arched or bridged, whenever, in the 
 opinion of the Common Council, the same shall be necessary 
 for public convenience : 
 
 (e) and also to make such embankments or excavations 
 as the Common Council may deem necessary to render passage 
 over the Rail Road and embankments at the cross Streets easy 
 and convenient for all purposes for which Streets and Roads 
 are usually put to ; 
 
 (/) and the said Company shall also make, at their own 
 cost and charge, all such drains and sewers, as their embank- 
 
 5 
 
ments or excavations may, in the opinion of the Common Coun- 
 cil, render necessary; 
 
 (g) and said Company shall be at all times subject to such 
 regulations, with reference to the convenience of public travel 
 through such Streets and Avenues as are affected by the said 
 Rail Road, as the Common Council shall, from time to time, by 
 Resolution or Ordinance direct; 
 
 (h) and the Corporation hereby reserves the right to re- 
 quire said Company, at any time after the Eleventh Avenue 
 shall be made to Fourteenth Street, to take up their rails in 
 the Tenth Avenue, and lay them in the Eleventh Avenue to said 
 Fourteenth Street, and through Fourteenth Street to connect 
 with West Street. 
 
 Sec. 3. The said Company shall, within one year from 
 the passage of this Ordinance, and before entering upon any 
 contracts for Grading, file in the office of the Street Commis- 
 sioner a Map showing the location and intended grade of said 
 Rail Road. 
 
 Sec. 6. This Ordinance shall not be construed as binding 
 upon the Corporation, nor shall it go into effect, until the said 
 Hudson River Rail Road Company shall first duly execute, under 
 their corporate seal, such an instrument in writing, covenanting 
 and engaging, on their part and behalf, to stand to, abide by, 
 hnd perform all such conditions and requirements contained in 
 the second and third sections of this Ordinance as the Mayor 
 and the Counsel to the Corporation shall by their certificate 
 approve, and not until such instrument shall be filed, so certi- 
 fied, in the Office of the Comptroller of this City." 
 
 The conditions imposed its- this ordinance were accepted by 
 the Railroad by a formal covenant in writing executed by it on 
 August 12th, 1847, in and by which the Company agreed, among 
 other things, 
 
 "That the said Hudson River Railroad Company for them- 
 selves and their successors, do hereby, in consideration of the 
 premises, covenant and engage to and with the Mayor, Alder- 
 men and Commonalty of the City of New York and their suc- 
 cessors forever . 
 
 That the said Company will lay such railroad track through 
 the avenues and streets in conformity to such direction as to 
 line and grade as shall be given by the Street Commissioner, 
 and shall conform their railroad to the grades of the avenues 
 and streets through which it shall extend, or which it shall 
 cross, as shall be from time to time established by the Common 
 Council, if the latter so require. 
 
 6 
 
And that said Company will lay their rails or tracks in the 
 streets or avenues in such manner as to give no unnecessary 
 impediment to the Common and ordinary use of the streets for 
 all other purposes and so as to leave all the water courses free 
 and unobstructed. 
 
 And further that said Company will, at their own cost, con- 
 struct stone bridges across such of the streets intersected by 
 the said railroad as may, by the elevation of their grades above 
 the surface of said road, require to be arched or bridged, when- 
 ever, in the opinion of the Common Council, the same shall 
 be necessary for public convenience. 
 
 And also that the said Company will make such embank- 
 ments or excavations as the Common Council may deem neces- 
 sary to render the passage over the said railroad and embank- 
 ments at the cross streets easy and convenient for all purposes 
 to which the streets and roads are usually put. 
 
 And will at all times be subject to such regulations with 
 reference to the convenience of public travel through such 
 streets and avenues as are affected by said railroad as the Com- 
 mon Council shall from time to time by resolution or ordinance 
 direct. 
 
 And that the said Company will, within one year from 
 the passage of the said ordinance, and before entering upon any 
 contracts for grading, file in the office of the Street Commis- 
 sioner, a map showing the location and intended grade of said 
 railroad. 
 
 And lastly, that said Company will stand to, abide by and 
 perform all and singular the conditions and requirements con- 
 tained in the second and third sections of the said ordinance/' 
 
 This covenant was approved by William V. Brady, then 
 Mayor of the City of New York, as being in compliance with 
 the ordinance required, and was thereafter filed and still remains 
 upon file in the office of the Comptroller of the City of New 
 York. The map or plan required by the ordinance and agree- 
 ment was filed, and reference to this will hereafter be made. 
 
 In Addition to the Contract Obligations to the City of New York, 
 the Railroad and Manner in Which It Shall be Maintained and 
 Operated Are Subject to the Control of the State. 
 
 The Act under which the Company was chartered and by 
 which it was given the right to lay dowm its tracks concluded 
 with the provision that 
 
 'The Legislature may at any time alter or repeal this Act." 
 
 7 
 
In the recent litigation between the Railroad and City of 
 New York, where the question was involved as to whether the 
 City could compel the removal of the railroad tracks, the Court 
 of Appeals held that such power was not in the City, but in 
 the Legislature. The Court, referring to the foregoing pro- 
 vision, said: 
 
 "The last section (Section 36) provides that the Legislature 
 'may at any time alter or repeal this act.' The Legislature has 
 not exercised its reserved power to repeal up to the time of the 
 
 argument before us The Legislature chose to make 
 
 the location of the tracks in the streets of New York dependent 
 upon the assent of the municipal corporation, but it was not 
 under any legal obligation to do so; and the fact that it did so 
 gave the City no authority to withdraw or cancel the franchise 
 after it had once been made effective by the City's consent. 
 Assuming the existence of that power in any one, it belonged 
 and still belongs to the Legislature and not to the corporation 
 of the City of New York. . . . Even if it conferred an 
 irrevocable property right, under the doctrine of People v. 
 O'Brien it would not follow that it was incapable of modification 
 or regulation by the Legislature as to the manner in which it 
 might continue to be enjoyed. . . . The interests of the 
 public in the other direction were protected by the reserved 
 right of amendment and repeal. 
 
 The question upon which this litigation turns is whether 
 the plaintiff can lawfully be put off the streets by the City of 
 New York. The Act of the Legislature which permitted the 
 Hudson River Railroad Company to go there sixty-five years 
 ago and which the Legislature has seen fit to leave in full force 
 and effect ever since compels us to answer that question in the 
 k negative." 
 
 Chief Judge Cullen, in concurring in the opinion of the 
 Court, said : 
 
 "The permission to occupy the street was solely as a means 
 for running from one terminus of the road to the other; nor 
 did the franchise to maintain the road include an unqualified 
 right to maintain it on the surface. The 'power reserved to 
 the Legislature to alter, amend or repeal a charter authorizes 
 it to make any alteration or amendment of a charter granted 
 subject to it which will not defeat or substantially impair the 
 object of the grant or any rights vested under it and which 
 the Legislature may deem necessary to secure either that subject 
 or any public right.' {Close v. Glenwood Cemetery, 107 U. S. 
 466, 476.) Under this doctrine the Supreme Court of the United 
 States upheld the validity of an act of the Legislature of the 
 
 8 
 
State of Connecticut compelling a railroad company to abolish, 
 at its own expense, all grade crossings as a valid exercise of the 
 police power. (N. Y. & New England Railroad Co. v. Bristol, 
 151 U. S. 556.) So in the case before us I think it clear that 
 the Legislature may so regulate the plaintiff's railroad in the 
 City of New York as to remove the constant menace and dan- 
 ger to life occasioned by its present operation ." 
 
 Railroad Tracks Laid Upon Land Owned by the City of New York. 
 
 The location map filed by the Railroad shows a strip of 
 land under water along the shore of the Hudson River from 
 Spuyten Duyvil south not continuous, but in its several parts 
 aggregating in length over four miles. Under the Dongan char- 
 ter, the Montgomery charter and the grants made by the People 
 of the State of New York in 1807 and in 1826, and other grants 
 prior to the incorporation of the Hudson River Railroad, the 
 City of New York had title to all of the lands under water 
 shown upon the Railroad Location Map. 
 
 The State did not in any of the statutes relating to the 
 Railroad convey any land to the Company which belonged to the 
 State or City, either above or under water. It is not contended that 
 the City by the mere giving of its consent that the Railroad 
 might locate its tracks in certain places thereby conferred any 
 title or ownership of the soil upon the Railroad. \Ye mention 
 this because of the claim often asserted by the Railroad that 
 it is the owner of the land upon which its tracks are laid along 
 the North. River waterfront, and which ownership is asserted 
 upon the plans and profiles submitted to the City, and with 
 respect to which the Railroad, as hereafter pointed out, asks the 
 City to release its rights. 
 
 While the City consented that the Railroad might lay down 
 two tracks along Riverside Park, it now has for the greater 
 portion of the distance four tracks. We have been unable to 
 find any authority whatever for the laying and maintenance 
 of these additional tracks. 
 
 The Extension of Riverside Park to Include Lands Under Water, 
 by the West End Association.* 
 
 No understanding of the subject can be had, however, with- 
 out a knowledge of the origin and status of Riverside Park. 
 
 *For Petition and Proceedings by West End Association, see 
 Appendix, infra, p. 30. 
 
Prior to 1894 Riverside Park had been laid out and estab- 
 lished from 72nd Street northward to about 129th Street, and 
 extending down to the easterly line of the Railroad as shown 
 on its location map. In 1894 the west side was very greatly 
 imperiled by the proposal to establish, among other things, a 
 gas works just above 72nd Street, and other industries of equally 
 objectionable character, and in order to avert this peril the 
 West End Association exerted itself to the utmost, and as a 
 result of these exertions and in order to carry into effect its 
 plans to protect the West Side and Riverside Park, an Act 
 was passed by the Legislature, being Chapter 152 of the Laws 
 of 1894, by which Riverside Park was extended from the west- 
 erly line of the railroad tracks, as shown on its location map, 
 to what is known as the Central Park Commissioners Bulkhead 
 Line (which is about 500 feet off high water line at 72nd 
 Street), and extending from the southerly line of 72nd Street 
 to the northerly line of 129th Street ; with two exceptions. These 
 two exceptions the Association was compelled to submit to in 
 order to obtain the passage of this legislation, and related to 
 the reservation of certain parcels at 79th Street and 96th Street 
 for commercial purposes, to be under the jurisdiction of the 
 Dock Department. The parcel at 79th Street extends 500 feet 
 each way from the side lines of the street, and the parcel at 
 96th Street extends 362^ feet each way from the side lines of 
 the street. With the exception of these two parcels Riverside 
 Park was extended so as to include everything from the westerly 
 line of the railroad track, as shown on its location map, to the 
 Central Park Commissioners Bulkhead Line ; and by the terms 
 of the Act the City authorities were directed to acquire by con- 
 demnation proceedings the outstanding title, if any there might 
 be, to any property within that area for such park purposes. 
 Such condemnation proceedings were had and the property so 
 acquired was paid for by the issue of corporate stock. And 
 ever since that time the City of New York has held title to this 
 area in trust for park purposes, and it has been confided to the 
 jurisdiction of the Park Department, with the two exceptions 
 at 79th and 96th Streets, which have been under the jurisdiction 
 of the Dock Department. 
 
 It is in this area so held in trust for park purposes by the 
 City of New York that it is now proposed to lay down additional 
 railroad tracks so that from 129th Street southward the New 
 
 10 
 
York Central will have six tracks until Sftth Street is reached, 
 where the tracks begin to increase in number, and at S4:th Street 
 there will be ten tracks, which continue crossing 79th Street, 
 and at 72nd Street the number will have fanned out and in- 
 creased to twenty-six tracks in all. It is further proposed that 
 the absolute and unqualified ownership of all of this land now 
 held in trust for park purposes by the City of New York be 
 conveyed to the New York Central, subject to an easement 
 in favor of the City to the extent that the City may maintain 
 over the tracks a roof supporting soil or passageways. 
 
 Existing Railroad Legislation and Its Origin. 
 
 Prior to the present time various efforts have been made 
 and various agitations had from time to time with respect to a 
 change in the conditions under which the New York Central 
 enjoys railroad facilities in New York City. Among other 
 things there was passed in 1906 what was known as the Saxe 
 Law. This, however, proved entirely abortive. In an opinion 
 rendered by Mr. Justice Gerard in December, 1908, he said that : 
 
 "There is no conflict as to the facts in this case. It seems 
 that the old Board of Rapid Transit Commissioners never obeyed 
 this law. They prepared a plan, but this plan did not provide 
 for a subway. . . . The fault lies with the old Board of 
 Rapid Transit Commissioners and not with the present Public 
 Service Commission or the Corporation Counsel. The old Board 
 of Rapid Transit Commissioners failed to take the first step 
 directed by the Legislature." 
 
 With this decision ended the attempt under the baxe Law 
 to do away with the operation at grade of the so-called West 
 Side tracks of the New York Central. 
 
 In 1909 a resolution was adopted by the Board of Estimate 
 and Apportionment which if carried into effect would have 
 required the removal of the tracks of the New York Central. 
 As a result of this resolution the Railroad brought an action 
 against the City of New York in which it sought an injunction 
 permanently enjoining the City from taking any such steps. 
 Both the Railroad and the City injected into the litigation a 
 large number of contentions that the courts refused to pass 
 upon. It was held in the court below that the City did not have 
 the power to require the Railroad to remove its tracks, but that 
 
 li 
 
such power resided solely in the Legislature. This was upon 
 the theory that the rights originally granted had been granted 
 by the Legislature, and only the Legislature, which had reserved 
 the right to repeal or amend the Act granting such rights, had 
 such power. This result was affirmed in the Court of Appeals. 
 It is from the opinion of the Court of Appeals in this case that 
 quotation was made in the earlier part of this report {infra, 
 p. 7). The decision of the Court of Appeals was announced 
 May 15th, 1911, and on July 25th, 1911, the Legislature passed 
 the Act known as Chapter 777 of the Laws of 1911, from which 
 the present situation has resulted. This Act has frequently been 
 called an enabling Act ; meaning thereby that the Legislature has 
 given to the City of New York power to do things which with- 
 out such Act it could not do. 
 
 Legislative Bills Prepared by the Dock Commissioner, the Mayor 
 
 and the Railroad. 
 
 It has been stated publicly by one of the engineers employed 
 by the City that the Act was "drawn jointly by the New York 
 Central officials and the Corporation Counsel of the City." But 
 in a communication to the Mayor dated September 24th, 1912, 
 the Dock Commissioner, after referring to previous discussion 
 of the West Side waterfront matter, stated : 
 
 "I therefore had prepared and submitted drafts for three 
 classes of enabling legislation: 
 
 1. An enabling act to empower the City toward the acqui- 
 sition, construction and operation of up-to-date freight term- 
 inal facilities. 
 
 2. An act under which your Board was specifically em- 
 powered to readjust the franchises of the New York Central 
 Railroad at the West Side of Manhattan. 
 
 3. A freight terminal incorporation act to facilitate the co- 
 operation in this regard of private capital and public service. 
 
 With the co-operation of your Board and especially of his 
 Honor the Mayor and the Corporation Counsel, the proposed 
 legislation was enacted July 25, 1911, as Chapters 776, 777 and 
 778 of the Laws of 1911." 
 
 However, in a communication to the Mayor dated Novem- 
 ber 2nd, 1911, the Dock Commissioner stated that while in 
 
 12 
 
preparing the bill he had "fully consulted the Central Railroad," 
 yet, nevertheless, a provision contained in the bill as originally 
 drafted by him which would prevent the taking of any part of 
 Riverside Park' by the Railroad east of the Railroad's present 
 line was eliminated from the bill at the instance of the Railroad 
 before it was enacted. In the former communication the Dock 
 Commissioner said : 
 
 "By the Act, Chapter 777 of the Laws of 1911, under which 
 it is now proposed to readjust the Central's franchises, that road 
 is permitted to become the contractor of the City for such con- 
 struction as may be required in the premises, and under the 
 City's Freight Terminals Act, Chapter 776 of the Laws of 1911, 
 it can become the City's lessee for operation." 
 
 Outline of Chapter 777. 
 
 Briefly this Act, Chapter 777 of the Laws of 1911, author- 
 izes the New York Central to prepare and submit to the Board 
 of Estimate and Apportionment plans and profiles showing the 
 proposed changes that the Railroad desires to make in its tracks 
 and facilities within the City of New York and permits the 
 City to make amendments to these plans; and authorizes the 
 City and the Railroad to enter into an agreement as to the terms 
 and conditions upon which said plans shall be carried into 
 effect, and when the final plans are agreed upon requires that 
 they be filed in certain offices in the City of New York, and 
 that the map of the City of New York be thereby amended in 
 accordance with such plans. The Act further provides that 
 the plans so adopted may be amended from time to time on 
 application of the Railroad to the Board of Estimate and Appor- 
 tionment. It does not contain any requirement that any par- 
 ticular notice, public or otherwise, of such application shall be 
 given. With respect to that part of the plans and agreement op- 
 erative north of Dyckman Street the Act provides in substance 
 that it is optional with the Railroad to carry out such plans at 
 such time in the future as it may desire, unless the agreement 
 made with the City requires immediate change in this respect. 
 The Act requires the substitution of electric for steam power 
 within four years from the date of the contract between the 
 City and the Railroad. 
 
 The Act contains nothing in detail as to the nature of the 
 plans, and there is nothing to indicate that the Legislature by 
 
 13 
 
the passage of the Act either had any knowledge of or in any 
 wise approved of any plans or profiles that might be submitted 
 thereunder ; nor is there anything in the Act that directly author- 
 ized the City of New York to abandon any property held in trust 
 for park purposes or other trust, nor is there anything that im- 
 pliedly suggests that any such question was brought to the atten- 
 tion of the Legislature. 
 
 Plans and Profiles Filed and Action Proposed Thereon. 
 
 Following the passage of this Act on September 28th, 1911, 
 certain plans and profiles were submitted to the Board of Esti- 
 mate and Apportionment by the New York Central. These 
 plans consisted of 39 sheets each substantially two feet in width 
 by five feet in length. These plans and profiles were by the 
 Board referred to a Committee consisting of the President of 
 the Board of Aldermen, the Comptroller, the President of the 
 Borough of Manhattan and the Chief Engineer of the Board. 
 
 Under date of October 3rd, 1912, such Committee made a 
 report to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. In this 
 report the Committee stated that when these plans were filed 
 they were referred to the Dock Commissioner for his criticism 
 and report, and that on November 2nd, 1911, the Dock Com- 
 missioner submitted a critical report expressing, among other 
 things, the opinion of the Dock Department that the City should 
 retain control of a continuous waterfront strip at no point less 
 tha)i 100 feet in width, and at certain strategic points not less 
 than 150 feet in width, which marginal way in the opinion of 
 the Dock Commissioner would be sufficient for commercial pur- 
 poses and preserve the entire waterfront for general commer- 
 cial development ; and the Committee goes on to state that "it 
 has adopted the view of the Dock Commissioner.' The view 
 of the Dock Commissioner adopted is stated by him in his report 
 as follows : 
 
 "If the reservations for public use indicated on the Dock 
 Department's maps are adopted by your Board, they will have 
 the effect of keeping for the City control of its waterfront above 
 Seventy-second Street. There is a line in the river westward 
 of which it will be difficult and expensive to make solid fill, on 
 account of the character of the river bottom. Reservation of 
 a strip of land to the eastward at least 100 feet wide is there- 
 fore shown, which can be filled in and made available for public 
 use for park or commercial purposes. In other words, a prac- 
 
ticable marginal way along the waterfront, betzveen the river and 
 the Company's tracks should be left in control of the City. In 
 localities where commercial development exists, or is anticipated, 
 this width of 100 feet is increased." 
 
 By the map then filed by the Dock Commissioner as a part 
 of such report the land so reserved for a marginal way is indi- 
 cated by a green line and shows the full length of Riverside Park 
 from 72)id Street to 13oth Street, where it is interrupted by the 
 proposed yard and pier extensions of the New York Central ex- 
 tending to 148th Street. In order that there may be no mis- 
 apprehension as to the meaning of this marginal way the Dock 
 Commissioner in the report referred to further says : 
 
 'The Company's plans show a fanning out of the trackage 
 from 86th south to ?2nd Street, as an approach to its great yard, 
 thus in effect including this park section within the limits of the 
 proposed yard. A wide approach to the yard may be commer- 
 cially desirable, but City park lands here should be extended 
 over the railroad as a condition of any City concession. 
 
 If the Company shall acquire all the land it asks from the 
 City south of 79th Street, there will not be sufficient room be- 
 tween the railroad and the bulkhead to permit of the City's com- 
 mercial development in that locality. The Company shows ten 
 tracks at ?9th Street so separated as to provide for passenger 
 platforms. If the Company conforms to the restrictions noted 
 in the Department's plans, it will be able to secure ten tracks by 
 narrowing the space from centre to centre, and by omitting the 
 passenger platform. But if the platform is essential for future 
 City traffic, then it will be necessary to widen the Central's right 
 of way easterly under Riverside Park. To maintain six main 
 tracks in the vicinity of West 89th Street it will be necessary to 
 move the Central's tracks about thirty feet under Riverside 
 Park. If, however, it can be arranged so that the Park Com- 
 missioner's bulkhead line at this point shall be removed out- 
 shore about thirty feet, the City can still retain its 100- foot mar- 
 ginal right of way and permit the Central to construct six tracks 
 without going under the park." 
 
 After having stated that it "had adopted the view of the 
 Dock Commissioner," the Special Committee in its report of 
 October 3rd, 1912, goes on to say: That since the reference of 
 the plans to it a number of conferences had been held with the 
 officers and engineers of the New York Central, with the Dock 
 Commissioner and his engineers and counsel ; that the plans had 
 been studied in detail from a point north of the Harlem Ship 
 
 15 
 
Canal to the 60th Street yard; that south of the 60th Street 
 yard the Committee had at that time considered only the gen- 
 eral aspects of the problem, but that meanwhile it was in a posi- 
 tion to make an interim report concerning that portion of the 
 line north of 60th Street; and reported that it may be said 
 generally with reference to the plans of the Railroad between 
 60th Street and the Bronx that they were satisfactory to the 
 Committee as filed, with certain important exceptions which sug- 
 gested changes of two kinds, one of which had been adjusted 
 to the satisfaction of the Committee and might be placed on 
 amended plans without further negotiation, and the other of 
 which were still the subject of negotiation, but at a point where 
 early adjustment seemed reasonably certain. The report then, 
 under fourteen separate headings, refers respectively to the 
 tracks in the Borough of the Bronx between the City line and 
 the Harlem Ship Canal, the crossing of the Harlem Ship Canal, 
 the crossing at Dyckman Street, the land required for freight 
 terminal purposes immediately south of Dyckman Street, treat- 
 ment of the cut through Fort Washington Park, the track align- 
 ment and marginal way between 161st and 155th Streets, land 
 required for terminal purposes between 153rd and 137th Streets, 
 the track alignment and marginal way between 135th and 129th 
 Streets, roofing of tracks between 122nd and 72nd Streets, ad- 
 justment at 96th Street, adjustment at 79th Street, real estate 
 adjustment in the 60th Street yard, general question of real estate 
 adjustment between the City and the Company, and adjustment 
 of harbor lines; and concludes with a summary of the results 
 which the Committee conceives the negotiations have produced. 
 
 Your Committee has concerned itself chiefly with the pro- 
 posed disposition of Riverside Park, that part of the railroad 
 facilities lying between 72nd and 129th Streets; though neces- 
 sarily some reference must be made to other parts of the plans. 
 A set of the plans as originally filed are on view at the time that 
 this report is submitted and are open for inspection with respect 
 to the details of the various yards and facilities which the Rail- 
 road plans at Dyckman Street, Manhattanville, 60th Street, 30th 
 Street and St. John's Park. 
 
 With respect to the conditions between 72nd Street and 
 129th Street, the Special Committee of the Board of Estimate 
 in the aforesaid report dated October 3rd, 1912, said: 
 
 16 
 
"9. Roofing of tracks between 122d and 7 2d streets. ' 
 
 Your Committee has insisted throughout the entire negotia- 
 tions that the tracks along Riverside Drive should be roofed. The 
 railroad company has agreed that this roofing should be done be- 
 tween 122d and 72d Streets, but has not agreed as to the division 
 of expense in the manner insisted upon by your Committee. 
 
 Your Committee has submitted to the Company a plan which 
 it. considers to be perfectly fair to both the City and the Com- 
 pany. The tracks along Riverside Drive are to' be increased in 
 number. It follows that the nuisance will be proportionately in- 
 creased. Your Committee has suggested that the Railroad Com- 
 pany, at its own expense, pay for the elimination of the nuisance 
 created by the additional tracks. So far as the existing tracks 
 are concerned, your Committee has suggested that the expense 
 of roofing be borne equally by the Railroad Company and by 
 the City. 
 
 The Railroad Company agrees that it should bear the ex- 
 pense of roofing the new tracks, but insists that it should not 
 be asked to bear any portion of the expense of roofing the exist- 
 ing tracks. The Company's argument is that any roof is a dis- 
 advantage from an operating standpoint, and that in submitting 
 to roofing, it has gone as far as it feels justified in going in the 
 matter. Your Committee does not at all agree with this con- 
 tention. The City of Xew York is asked to sell to the Railroad 
 Company valuable waterfront property and lands under water, 
 which it would not part with to any other purchaser, nor except 
 as a part of the present proposed general adjustment. While 
 it is true that the Railroad Company is to pay for these lands 
 at their appraised value, there is over and above such value an 
 additional consideration which cannot be accurately measured 
 in money, due to the willingness of the City to sell at all. It is 
 the contention of your Committee that this consideration is 
 sufficient to justify insistence by the City upon the Railroad 
 Company sharing in the expense of roofing the existing tracks. 
 
 From 79th to 72nd Streets, the main line tracks begin to 
 fan out as a lead to the 60th Street yard, until at 72nd Street 
 they occupy a width of 379 feet. Your Committee has insisted 
 that the general welfare of the City demands that this space 
 be entirely roofed over. The Railroad Company has insisted 
 that while it is possible to operate main line through-tracks 
 under roof, it is very difficult to operate a freight yard under 
 cover. The Company has consented, however, to have its en- 
 gineers prepare plans for roofing in whole or in part this yard 
 space, and your Committee is convinced that a satisfactory plan 
 can be worked out. The problem is difficult, and it might be 
 fair for the City to bear a greater portion of the expense of 
 roofing the tracks at this point than along the main line. 
 
 17 
 
10. Adjustment at 96th street. 
 
 The Commissioner of Docks pointed out in his report the 
 necessity for the retention by the City of a strip 150 feet wide 
 at 96th Street. In order to accomplish this, and at the same 
 time permit the New York Central to construct its tracks as 
 planned, it will be necessary to extend the present bulkheads 
 outshore about 35 feet. This would disturb the buildings of sev- 
 eral lessees of the City bulkheads operating important freight 
 handling facilities at this point. The Railroad Company has 
 agreed that it will pay for the extension of the bulkheads, and 
 will bear the expense involved in the readjustment of leases. 
 
 The present piers will be slightly shortened by the con- 
 struction of the railroad tracks as proposed. The Company 
 agrees to extend the piers a corresponding distance, or, in the 
 discretion of the Dock Commissioner, to pay for an equivalent 
 amount of space at some other point on the river front. 
 
 "11. Adjustment at ?9th street. 
 
 Seventy-ninth Street is another of the points where, in the 
 opinion of the Dock Commissioner, a 150 foot marginal way 
 should be reserved for the City's use. The Railroad Company 
 has expressed its willingness to bear the expense of extending 
 the bulkheads at this point by means of piles and platforms 
 sufficiently to give the desired width. The adjustment is satis- 
 factory to your Committee." 
 
 In view of an observation hereafter made in this report 
 with respect to conditions at 79th Street and 96th Street, we 
 here quote further from the report of the Board of Estimate's 
 Committee the following: 
 
 "12. Real estate adjustment in the 60th street yard. 
 
 The City owns the beds of Twelfth Avenue and the cross 
 streets, which the Railroad Company proposes to acquire for 
 its yard purposes at this point. Your Committee recommends 
 that here, too, the Railroad Company be given a permanent 
 easement for railroad purposes rather than a fee. At the pres- 
 ent time most of the land is actually occupied by the New 
 York Central's yard tracks. The Company has not, however, 
 clear title to the land lying in the beds of the streets crossing 
 the yard. This condition presents a checker-board type of 
 ownership which, while of no practical advantage to the City, 
 is unnecessarily burdensome upon the railroad. It is the opin- 
 ion of your Committee that the control of the land lying within 
 the limits of this yard should be in the Railroad Company, and 
 that to this end the railroad be given a permanent easement for 
 
 is 
 
railroad purposes which will permit it to make the necessary 
 permanent improvements at this important freight distributing 
 point." 
 
 The further discussion of matters in said report would un- 
 duly prolong the report of your Committee. 
 
 Status of Negotiations at Date of This Report, as to Proposed 
 Disposition of Riverside Park. 
 
 A further report to the Board of Estimate and Apportion- 
 ment by its said Special Committee is now ready for submis- 
 sion, but copies are not available prior to submission to the 
 Board. However, at a meeting of your Committee held at the 
 office of the President of the Board of Aldermen on February 
 21st, 1913, a set of the plans and profiles being used, the pres- 
 ent condition of the negotiations between the City and the Rail- 
 road insofar as they relate to this particular district were ex- 
 plained to your Committee by Mr. R. C. Harrison, examiner 
 on the executive staff of the President of the Board of Alder- 
 men, to be substantially as follows: 
 
 Running southward from the Manhattanville yard the six main 
 line tracks of ,the Railroad cross 130th Street over a viaduct 
 and come to grade at 122nd Street, and continue as six tracks 
 to 86th Street, where the tracks begin to increase in number, 
 and at 84th Street there are ten tracks, zvhich continue to 79th 
 Street, where the tracks rapidly begin to increase in number, 
 so that at 72nd Street there are twenty-six tracks occupying a 
 space 379 feet in width. 
 
 Quoting now from the stenographic transcript of Mr. Har- 
 rison's explanation, he says : 
 
 "The Company has agreed to put in a solid roof between 
 the southerly line of West 72nd Street and the northerly line of 
 West 122nd Street, covering both the old tracks and the new, 
 that is to say wherever we give them an extended area over 
 what they have now, the roof will be carried to the extreme 
 westerly edge of the new right of way, and the roof will be a solid 
 deck without openings, built in such a way that it will carry 
 four feet of earth. The treatment of the top of that roof has 
 not been decided upon for this reason, that we are so arrang- 
 ing it that we may make it a park if we want, that is a park 
 in the sense of a dirt covered area which may be planted with 
 bushes and trees, or it may be a drive, or it may be desirable 
 to make that into a public esplanade simply for pedestrians. In 
 
 19 
 
the latter case it will cost a little less, because the structure need 
 not be quite so heavy. The present disposition is to make it 
 a combination park and drive, making it heavy enough to carry 
 the necessary earth, together with the necessary vehicular traffic. 
 For a long time the Railroad Company contended very strongly 
 that they should not roof the section between 72nd and 79th 
 Streets, because that is the neck of their 12nd Street yard. But 
 no matter what anyone may tell you to the contrary, the roof 
 is to be absolutely solid between those points, and to eliminate 
 the nuisance entirely. Another thing you should bear in mind 
 all through this discussion of the New York Central problem, 
 and that is that the engines, the present steam engines, are all 
 to be removed and the operation from the City line south is 
 to be entirely electric, thus doing away with the incidental noise 
 and smoke and soot and dirt of the present steam operation. . . . 
 
 The roof, as I say, will be solid from 72nd Street to 122nd 
 Street, at which point the tracks rise on a viaduct across Man- 
 hattan Valley, crossing on an elevated structure in front of the 
 125th Street Ferry and one hundred and fifty feet from the 
 bulkhead, leaving a clear marginal way of one hundred and 
 fifty feet in width for commercial purposes at that point, and 
 coming down again to grade at the new Manhattanville yard 
 somewhere between 139th and 141st Streets, gradually coming 
 down on a ramp into this new freight yard. Now, beginning 
 at 135th Street and running to 151st or 152nd Street, this new 
 yard layout is to be made. As you have probably noticed from 
 the plans it was originally of considerable size. That yard is a 
 very necessary yard so far as the commerce of the port is 
 concerned. It is the mid-town distributing depot for food 
 products. At the present time they are using what tracks they 
 have for the distribution of milk and perishable food products 
 and light freight destined for the upper parts of the city. And 
 they have contended, and we have conceded, that it was very 
 important that they have a yard of considerable size at those 
 points." 
 
 It was further stated to your Committee that the City's 
 engineers had reported that this was the smallest possible yard 
 that would suffice for the necessary development of traffic at 
 Manhattanville, by development of traffic meaning storage yard, 
 classification yard, receiving and distributing yard largely for 
 food products to the City at large. 
 
 "Between the southerly line of 72nd Street and the north- 
 erly line of 122nd Street it is proposed and agreed to roof solidly 
 to the extreme westerly line of the Railroad Company's present 
 or future right of way. In other words, there will be no tracks 
 and no right of way that is not solidly decked. The easement 
 
 20 
 
over that deck will belong to the City of New York, and can 
 be used by the City for park purposes and esplanade purposes 
 or other purposes. North of 122nd Street it will come out on 
 a sufficient clearance to cross the Manhattanville Valley, and then 
 will come out on the grade of this yard. . 
 
 There are certain things which, so far as the money is con- 
 cerned, are not agreed upon between the City and the Railroad 
 Company, that is as to sharing costs at various points; but there 
 is no disagreement as to the physical plan. The physical plan 
 is decided upon and agreed upon by all hands. The only ques- 
 tion is how much the Railroad Company will pay as its share 
 and how much the City will pay." 
 
 Seventy-ninth Street is to be carried over the railroad tracks 
 by a slightly ascending grade from Riverside Drive, and on the 
 westerly side of the tracks the viaduct turns at a right angle to 
 the south and the traffic comes down to dock level on an in- 
 clined plane or ramp at a grade of about five degrees, reaching 
 the surface about opposite 77th Street. In substantially the 
 same manner 96th Street is to be carried across the tracks, ex- 
 cept that in that instance the inclined plane or ramp will de- 
 scend to the northward. 
 
 No Access to Waterfront Between 59th Street and 153rd Street, 
 Except at 79th Street, 96th Street and Manhattanville. 
 
 Other than by these tzvo crossings and inclined planes there 
 will be no access to any part of the waterfront between 72nd 
 Street and 129th Street; and when it is borne in mind, as here- 
 inafter pointed out, that the railroad now occupies and proposes 
 to continue to occupy all of the waterfront as far south as 59th 
 Street, it means in effect that there will be no public access to 
 the waterfront between 59th Street and 130th Street, except by 
 these two ramps; and all streets from West 137th to West 153rd 
 Street inclusive, closed and discontinued. 
 
 As your Committee is now definitely informed, this roof 
 over the tracks does not extend beyond the southerly line of 
 72nd Street or beyond the outerly track of the railroad, and 
 while there are no openings in the roof proper, it is open on 
 the 72nd Street side and also along the waterfront its entire 
 length. 
 
 21 
 
According to Mr. Goodrich the Present Residents of a Large Area 
 Will Be Forced to Move Away, and Property Will Depreciate. 
 
 With respect to whether these proposed plans resulting as 
 they do in a radical change, are beneficial or detrimental to the 
 particular district in which the West End Association is con- 
 cerned, different contentions are made. In this connection your 
 Committee deems it its duty to submit to you the views of 
 Mr. E. P. Goodrich, one of the consulting engineers of the City 
 of New York associated with the office of the President of the 
 Borough of Manhattan, and who is entirely familiar with the 
 various plans and negotiations. These views were expressed 
 by Mr. Goodrich on the 4th of February, 1913, in an address 
 given to the Riverside Branch of the Women's Municipal League 
 and (quoting from the stenographic transcript) are as follows: 
 
 "(Q.) A Member: Will there be depreciation of values as 
 the result of these changes? 
 
 Mr. Goodrich : At some points, inevitably. It is impossible 
 to prevent that. In any case, as business changes, property will 
 rise and fall in value. Around Worth Street, for instance, 
 this has occurred on two occasions. At first it was resident 
 property, and then it was changed to manufacturing; then that 
 went, and there was a great depreciation. But I can see how 
 the market is moving away from that depreciation, and some 
 day it will be an office building location, with very high values. 
 
 Mrs. Bryan : Is not the New York Central going to drive 
 the residential section away? 
 
 Mr. Goodrich: That is, only the section between 79th and 
 72nd Streets will be affected, and I think the change will relieve 
 the residential portion of all noise, so that there will be very 
 little trouble there. But the people of the highest class will 
 leave that vicinity, and the quality of the occupancy will change. 
 This is being effected in parts of every city in the United States. 
 
 Mrs. Bryan : Now are they safeguarding the landscape ad- 
 vantages of the City? That is important. 
 
 Mr. Goodrich : There will be the whole Riverside Park, 
 from 79th to 122nd Street, which will be highly improved in 
 value. It will be increased in area, and in park treatment. 
 
 There will be no freight yards at 129th Street. 
 
 The only thing for any one to do who is studying city plan- 
 ning is not to attempt to hold present conditions; if you do, 
 you are going against a movement which cannot be overcome; 
 you will have to adapt your movement to the conditions. Evo- 
 lution is going on in city development, just as it is in plants and 
 animals. The city planner today must try to fit everything to 
 the new conditions, to the constant movement that is going on 
 
 22 
 
and that will go on in one form or another — to fit the conditions, 
 as they change, so that certain individuals will have to move 
 away from certain districts, because those districts cease to fit 
 into their scheme of life. 
 
 Mrs. Bryan : Where can they go, if freight yards go every- 
 where? 
 
 Mr. Goodrich : You can go to the district around Fort 
 Washington; there is plenty of space there!' 
 
 When this opinion came to the attention of your Committee 
 it obtained from Hon. Lawson Purdy, President of the Board 
 of Tax Commissioners, a statement of the assessed valuations 
 upon the area between 71st Street, 80th Street, Amsterdam Ave- 
 nue and the North River, being the smallest district that it seems 
 to your Committee would be affected by the changes indicated 
 by Mr. Goodrich. The assessed valuations of this property for 
 the year 1913 amount to $53,404,000. 
 
 The Proposed Plans Necessitate an Enormous and Increasing Com- 
 mercial Use and Nuisance at 79th and 96th Streets, 
 Under Control of the Dock Department. 
 
 Although the report of your Committee has necessarily been 
 very greatly extended, there are certain observations with respect 
 to the subject that your Committee feels it to be its duty to 
 make. 
 
 As a concession and in order to obtain the enactment of 
 Chapter 152 of the Laws of 1894, extending Riverside Park to 
 the Central Park Commissioners Bulkhead Line, the West End 
 Association was compelled to submit to the exception of two 
 parcels for commercial purposes, one at 79th Street and the 
 other at 96th Street, to be under the jurisdiction of the Dock 
 Department. A most extraordinary situation now results and 
 will doubtless be greatly accentuated in the future should con- 
 ditions with respect to the use of these two parcels be carried 
 into effect in accordance with the proposed plans. 
 
 According to these plans there is no street betzveen 79th 
 Street and 59th Street over which there is any access to the 
 river front or to any piers for hauling purposes, such as the re- 
 moval of garbage and the distribution of building material. 
 With reference to the streets below 79th Street the Special Com- 
 mittee of the Board of Estimate in its report of October 3rd, 
 1912, said: 
 
 23 
 
"12. Real estate adjustment in the 60th street yard. 
 
 The City owns the beds of Twelfth Avenue and the cross 
 streets, which the Railroad Company proposes to acquire for its 
 yard purposes at this point. Your Committee recommends that 
 here, too, the Railroad Company be given a permanent easement 
 for railroad purposes, rather than a fee. At the present time 
 most of the land is actually occupied by the New York Cen- 
 tral's yard tracks. The Company has not, however, clear title 
 to the land lying in the beds of the streets crossing the yard. 
 This condition presents a checkerboard type of ownership which, 
 while of no practical advantage to the City, is unnecessarily bur- 
 densome upon the railroad. It is the opinion of your Commit- 
 tee that the control of the land lying within the limits of this 
 yard should be in the Railroad Company, and that to this end 
 the railroad be given a permanent easement for railroad purposes 
 which will permit it to make the necessary permanent improve- 
 ments at this important freight distributing point." 
 
 Your Committee also calls the attention of the Association 
 to the large amount of waterfront, including street ends, that 
 it is proposed to place under the control of the Railroad at the 
 Manhattanville yards. As a result of being deprived of access 
 to the waterfront between Manhattanville and 59th Street, ex- 
 cept at 79th Street and 96th Street, an enormous development 
 of traffic has been converged at these two points.. At both 79th 
 Street and 96th Street are garbage dumps, and to these points, 
 especially at 79th Street, large quantities of garbage, ashes and 
 other refuse are removed, including excavated material from 
 building operations; while great quantities of building and other 
 heavy material are landed at these docks and thence removed 
 to various parts of the City by wagons and auto-trucks. For 
 some time past large quantities of sand and gravel and other 
 material for concrete to be used by the Aqueduct contractors 
 have been landed at 79th Street, and powerful auto-trucks car- 
 rying several tons at a load are engaged during the day and 
 throughout the night in conveying this material to different parts 
 of the City. The dirt and confusion resulting from this traffic 
 constitutes if possible a greater nuisance than that of the rail- 
 road. 
 
 High Coal Structure Now Erected at 96th Street. 
 
 At 96th Street in addition to the garbage dump and handling 
 of building materials, there are a number of large and unsightly 
 
 24 
 
coal-pockets where an enormous traffic in the merchandising 
 of coal is carried on. At this point there has been erected under 
 the jurisdiction of the Dock Department one of the most un- 
 sightly concrete coal-pockets that can anywhere be seen. More- 
 over, the premises surrounding it are littered with obsolete and 
 discarded coal wagons and other material and present a most 
 unsightly appearance. There is also located here a stable where 
 horses used in the coal traffic are stabled. Not only are these 
 coal-pockets and the enormous piles of sand and gravel at 79th 
 Street, together with the great mass of unused wagons and 
 materials with which both premises are littered, an illustration 
 of what may result under color of a commercial use of the water- 
 front with jurisdiction vested in the Dock Department, but they 
 constitute an exhibition to all of the visitors, domestic and for- 
 eign, to the City of New York to what the City of New York 
 and its inhabitants are willing not only to tolerate but to sanc- 
 tion. Moreover, upon every visitation of our own or any for- 
 eign fleet which chooses to utilize the North River anchorage, 
 there is displayed to them not only these unsightly uses, but they 
 are exposed to and sleep in the odor of the garbage dumped at 
 these two points by municipal sanction. This condition exists 
 either in conformity with or in total disregard of the provisions 
 of Chapter 152 of the Laws of 1894 extending Riverside Park, 
 as heretofore explained, contained in Section 9 thereof as follows: 
 
 "But no portion of the said lands, bulkhead or waterfront 
 herein set apart for commercial or dock purposes shall be de- 
 voted to any other use or purpose, and no building, shed or 
 any other structure shall be placed upon or within the same, 
 which shall in any manner be detrimental to the health of the 
 public or injuriously affect the public use and enjoyment of 
 said Riverside Park as hereby extended, or property fronting 
 thereon, or be in any other respect a public or private nuisance." 
 
 Your Committee can discern no reason why these structures 
 and this traffic should not be eliminated from 79th Street and 
 96th Street and access for the purposes thereof restored to the 
 City of New York over the various streets running to the North 
 River below 72nd Street and at Manhattanville. 
 
 The Proposed Disposition of the North River V/aterfront Is Rad- 
 ically Different From That Advocated for Other City Property. 
 
 The attention of the Association is further drawn to the 
 fact that very recently the Dock Department has publicly 
 
 25 
 
advocated the control by the City of New York of its water- 
 front and terminal facilities, going so far in this direction as 
 to recommend the purchase by the City of the Bush Terminal, 
 recently constructed by private owners, and such recommenda- 
 tion has actually been favored by a Special Committee of the 
 Board of Estimate and Apportionment, some of whose members 
 are also members of the Committee having this matter in charge. 
 The Dock Commissioner has further advocated the erection of 
 an elevated freight railroad below 60th Street, to be constructed 
 by the City with City funds and to be leased for operation to 
 the New York Central Railroad. In its report of October 3rd, 
 1912, the Special Committee having these plans under consider- 
 ation stated that on November 2nd, 1911, the Dock Commis- 
 sioner had submitted a critical report outlining the general prin- 
 ciples of waterfront control which he considered should be 
 adopted by the City, and pointing out in what particulars the 
 plans submitted by the New York Central Railroad Company 
 failed to carry out those principles; that it was the opinion of 
 the Dock Department that the City should retain control of a 
 continuous waterfront strip at no point less than 100 feet in 
 width and at certain strategic points not less than 150 feet in 
 width, which views were adopted by the Special Committee. 
 Whatever of soundness there may be in the principle of munici- 
 pal ownership and control of waterfront and terminal facilities 
 and in the purchase of certain facilities as the Bush Terminal, 
 your Committee has been unable to perceive why this principle 
 should cease to operate when 60th Street is reached, and the 
 enormously valuable terminal and waterfront facilities from that 
 point northward to the City line are placed irrevocably and 
 irretrievably under the dominion of the New York Central & 
 Hudson River Railroad Company. 
 
 If there is any force whatever in the contention that the 
 City should own and control its waterfront and terminal facili- 
 ties and in particular should be the purchaser of the Bush 
 Terminal in order to give effect to such policy, your Committee 
 sees no reason why that principle should not apply to the enor- 
 mously valuable waterfront and terminal facilities on the west- 
 erly side of Manhattan Island and extending northward to the 
 City line, and lying alongside the port of call of the new thou- 
 sand ton barge canal at Dyckman Street; built by the State at 
 an outlay in excess of $100,000,000. 
 
 26 
 
The Diversion of Park Lands to Railroad and Commercial Uses 
 Would Be a Breach of Faith With Property Owners and 
 Residents, and an Infringement of Property Rights. 
 
 Your Committee desires to revert again to the fact that the 
 land which it is now proposed to convert into a railroad yard 
 from 72nd Street northward is held in trust by the City of New 
 York for park purposes, pursuant to Chapter 152 of the Laws of 
 1894, and the proceedings taken thereunder. Upon the faith of 
 this condition millions of dollars have gone into the improve- 
 ment of property along Riverside Drive and in the territory 
 to which this Association is particularly devoted, and many thou- 
 sands of people have been led to make their homes within such 
 district by reason thereof. We have already called attention to 
 the opinion of Mr. Goodrich with respect to the effect of this 
 change in condition upon the territory north of 72nd Street. 
 It is the view of your Committee that the City has no moral right 
 to convert the property held in trust for park purposes to a rail- 
 road use even upon the receipt of a monetary consideration; 
 that not only would it constitute a breach of faith with all of 
 those who have acquired property and made valuable improve- 
 ments and those who have come into the neighborhood, but that 
 it would constitute an actual breach of trust on the part of the 
 City of New York in diverting to railroad yard uses the prop- 
 erty now held in trust for park uses ; and that at the suit of any 
 or all of the owners of property abutting upon Riverside Park 
 both the City of New York and the New York Central & Hud- 
 son River Railroad would be adjudged liable for the depreciation 
 of value of such property owners; that the trust created in the 
 City of New York constitutes a contract between the City and 
 such abutting property owners, the obligation of which both 
 the City and the Legislature of the State of New York are pro- 
 hibited from impairing by the contract clause of the Constitution 
 of the United States. 
 
 The Proposed Solid Roof Is an Insufficient Protection Against the 
 
 Railroad Use. 
 
 Even if this were not so and assuming the best of inten- 
 tions on the part of present and future managements of the 
 New York Central, it is impossible to suppose that the discipline 
 of train crews could be so maintained as to prevent the storage 
 upon this large number of tracks northward of 72nd Street, 
 
 27 
 
which are leads to the stockyards at 60th Street, of quantities 
 of cars and trains containing hogs, sheep, cattle and other live 
 stock and freight emitting objectionable odors; and that not- 
 withstanding the roofing proposed to be placed over the said 
 tracks, the necessary circulation of air currents under the south- 
 erly end and along the westerly side of this roof would result 
 m the odors from such traffic being wafted over the entire resi- 
 dential district. Moreover, in this connection your Committee 
 has been advised by competent landscape architects and engineers 
 that the soil underneath the water northward of 72nd Street is 
 of such a character that the expense of construction of the 
 character required to support such a roof would be almost pro- 
 hibitive, and it is extremely doubtful whether such roof, even 
 if now agreed upon, would be found to be practicable of erec- 
 tion; and in this view the fact cannot be lost sight of that the 
 Act authorises that the plans and profiles may at any time be 
 amended by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment on the 
 application of the Railroad, without notice. From the same 
 source your Committee is advised that even if such roof were 
 erected with strength and provision for carrying four feet of 
 soil, it would be practically impossible to maintain vegetation 
 thereupon; this results from the fact that the vegetation is ex- 
 posed to the rigor of winter and the heat of summer not only 
 on the upper, but also on the lower side; and that under such 
 conditions experience has demonstrated that plant life cannot 
 exist. 
 
 Conceding all that may be claimed for the necessity of 
 additional and permanent facilities for the New York Central 
 and that it is most desirable that "the greatest seaport on the 
 continent" should have facilities for handling commerce com- 
 mensurate with its greatness, your Committee is unable to per- 
 ceive why either the commerce of the port, the abatement of the 
 present railroad nuisance or the acquisition of permanent term- 
 inal facilities by the New York Central should be accomplished 
 by the spoliation of Riverside Park or of the destruction of 
 property values that the proposed plans and intended agreement 
 import. 
 
 So far as Riverside Park is concerned it seems to your Com- 
 mittee that every consideration of public spiritedness, generosity 
 and fairness toward the New York Central, the Port of the City 
 of New York and the commerce of the Nation entering through 
 
 28 
 
such port and transported over such railroad would be amply 
 satisfied by granting to the railroad an easement for four tracks 
 from 72nd Street northward, the construction thereof as well 
 as the carrying of the park surface over the same and the neces- 
 sary filling and landscaping of the park to be done at the ex- 
 pense of the railroad, and taking from the railroad the neces- 
 sary rights of access to the waterfront over streets below 72nd 
 Street, to which the commercial traffic now carried at 79th Street 
 and 96th Street should be transferred. 
 
 Lands Now Being Filled In. 
 
 In concluding this report your Committee desires that the 
 Association should understand that for some time past under 
 permission granted by the Park Commissioner the contractors 
 excavating for the new subways and the Aqueduct tunnel have 
 been dumping the excavated material northward of 79th Street 
 and southerly of 129th Street, filling in the waterfront at these 
 points out to what appears to be the bulkhead line; and this 
 filling in has proceeded now so that several blocks northwardly 
 of 79th Street and southwardly of 129th Street are already filled 
 in. Your Committee is informed that this permission was 
 granted to the contractors gratuitously by the Park Commis- 
 sioner, and so far as the contractors are concerned it operates 
 to save them the expense of removing the excavated material, 
 which is ordinarily about 60 cents per load. The total amount 
 of excavated material that may be filled in under this permission 
 amounts in the aggregate, your Committee is informed, to about 
 2,000,000 cubic yards. Moreover, it will readily occur to the 
 members of the Association that when this filling in has been 
 completed, which the observation of your Committee shows to 
 be on a level with the present tracks of the New York Central, 
 that a right of way would not only have already been provided 
 for the New York Central, but the filling in actually have been 
 done. 
 
 As to the Dock Commissioner's plan for a marginal strip 
 100 to 150 feet in width reserved for commercial purposes and 
 running the full length of Riverside Park, recommended in his 
 report of November 2nd, 1911, and shown on the maps and 
 plans submitted therewith, it seems almost incredible to your 
 Committee that the Special Committee of the Board of Estimate 
 and Apportionment could have consciously adopted it; yet in 
 
 29 
 
its report of October 3rd, 1912, that Committee states that it 
 "has adopted the view of the Dock Commissioner and has insisted 
 upon and secured a modification of the plans as filed so as to 
 obtain this important result." 
 
 Further than mere mention of the fact that the yards at 
 72nd Street lead to a stockyard at 60th Street and to large 
 terminal stores and markets at 60th Street, your Committee feels 
 that no further mention is necessary and respectfully submits 
 this report for such action, if any, as the Association may deem 
 proper. 
 
 This report is concurred in by Messrs. James A. Deering, 
 Joseph A. Arnold, Charles W. Lefler and Thomas P. McKenna; 
 being the only members of the Committee who have participated 
 in the labor imposed upon it. 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 CHARLES L. CRAIG, 
 
 Chairman. 
 
 30 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 PETITION OF WEST END ASSOCIATION AND PROCEED- 
 INGS FOR EXTENSIONS OF RIVERSIDE PARK WESTERLY 
 OF HUDSON RIVER RAILROAD. 
 
 PETITION TO THE BOARD OF STREET OPENING AND 
 IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 At a meeting of the Board of Street Opening and Improvement, held 
 at the Mayor's Office on Friday, November 17, 1893, at 11 o'clock A. M., 
 pursuant to notice, the following petition was presented : 
 To the Honorable the Board of Street Opening and Improvement of the 
 
 City of New York: 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 The undersigned, property-owners in and residents of the West Side, 
 'respectfully request that the westerly boundary of Riverside Park be 
 extended to the bulkhead line on the Hudson River, as established by 
 Chapter 288, Laws of 1868, or as nearly thereto as may seem advisable, 
 and that in connection therewith provision be made for the roadway of 
 the Hudson River Railroad Company and such suitable docks or piers 
 as may be deemed to be necessary at or in the vicinity of the Seventy-ninth 
 and Ninety-sixth Streets, not to exceed one block frontage on either side 
 of the said Seventy-ninth and Ninety-sixth Streets, the only streets which 
 afford access to the river front. 
 
 Your petitioners respectfully represent that immediate action to this 
 end is not only necessary for the protection of the park and the property 
 fronting thereon, but for the security of the entire West Side lying be- 
 tween Riverside and Central Parks. 
 
 The Riverside Park, by reason of its location, if improved and pro- 
 tected from nuisances along the river front, will be the most beautiful 
 park in the city, affording means for public recreation and enjoyment not 
 elsewhere possible. More than twenty-five years have passed since the 
 park was laid out by the Commissioners of the Central Park, and more 
 than twenty-one years since the City acquired title to the land at an ex- 
 pense of $6,000,000, and yet but a small portion of the land thus acquired 
 has been improved so as to be capable of public use. West of the main 
 ,drive nothing more than temporary provision has been made, and the 
 public is still deprived of its use and enjoyment, and the property-owners 
 in its vicinity of those benefits for which an assessment of over $3,000,000 
 was imposed in the year 1872. 
 
 We believe that the principal reason for this delay on the part of 
 the public authorities to complete the Park, and of the hesitation and 
 
 31 
 
refusal of owners to improve their property, is that in front of the Park 
 is a large strip of land, lying originally below high-water mark and now 
 partly made land, set apart for no public use or purpose, has been a con- 
 stant menace to owners and investors, and without which no permanent 
 plan for the completion of the Park can be carried into effect. It is not 
 needed, and can never be made useful for commercial purposes. The 
 greater part of it is owned by the City, but the portion not so owned 
 may be and can be at any time devoted to uses for business, or otherwise, 
 which would destroy not only the beauty and advantages of the Park 
 for public use. but be a great and irreparable damage to the property 
 adjacent thereto and upon all the intersecting streets connecting with it 
 Already a portion of the land has been appropriated for purposes and 
 uses of this character, and others are threatened, which, for the want of 
 early action, may be more offensive and detrimental to the health, comfort 
 and convenience of the residents in that part of the City than any now 
 existing upon any other portion of the water-front of the City. 
 
 Your petitioners earnestly request that definite action be taken at as 
 early a date as possible toward fixing the permanent lines of the Park 
 or the character of the improvement of the river, for the constant discus- 
 sion and agitation in relation thereto has heretofore, and if continued will 
 hereafter, until it is settled by appropriate action of your Honorable 
 Board, deter improvements upon or in the vicinity, and retard the com- 
 pletion of the Park itself. 
 
 Dated. New York. October 2, 1S93. 
 
 Cyrus Clark, 
 President, West End Association. 
 
 G. B. Sheppard, 
 
 Secretary. West End Association. 
 
 Mr. Cyrus Clark and Mr. James A. Deering spoke in earnest support 
 of the petition, urging the Board's favorable consideration of the matter. 
 
 After some discussion, the Mayor offered the following:' 
 
 Whereas, The Board of Street Opening and Improvement do approve 
 of, in a general way, the sentiments and opinions set forth in a petition 
 presented to this Board, relating to the water-front along Riverside Park; 
 
 Resolved, That the said petition be referred to the Department of 
 Public Parks, with the request that a conference be held with property- 
 owners and with the Department of Docks, for the formation of some 
 suitable plan, to be submitted to this Board, for the protection of the 
 several interests. 
 
 Which was adopted by the following vote : 
 
 Affirmative — The Mayor, the Comptroller, the Commissioner of Public 
 Works, the President of the Department of Public Parks, and the Presi- 
 dent of the Board of Aldermen — 5. 
 
 (The foregoing petition was signed by several thousand property- 
 owners and residents of the West Side.) 
 
 32 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF BOARD OF STREET OPENING AXD IM- 
 PROVEMENT UPON PETITION. 
 
 The Board of Street Opening and Improvement met at the Mayor's 
 Office on Friday, January 5, 1894, at 11 o'clock A. M., pursuant to notice. 
 
 The following report from the Department of Public Parks, relating 
 to the water-front along Riverside Park, was presented and read: 
 
 City of New York 
 Department of Public Parks 
 Nos. 49 and 51 Chambers Street 
 
 Commissioners' Office, December 22, 1893. 
 To the Board of Street Opening and Improvement : 
 
 Gentlemen : — In the matter of the petition relating to the water-front 
 along Riverside Park, which accompanied a communication from your 
 Secretary, dated November 20, 1893, transmitting a copy of preamble and 
 resolution of your Board of the 17th ultimo, referring the said petition 
 to this Department and requesting that a conference be held with property- 
 owners and the Department of Docks with a view to the preparation of a 
 suitable plan for the protection of the several interests involved, I am 
 directed to state that at a meeting of the Board of Parks, held on the 20th 
 ultimo, a conference was held with property-owners who appeared in re- 
 sponse to a notice of a public hearing, representing the West Side Asso- 
 ciation and other property-owners, and Commissioner Phelan, representing 
 the Department of Docks. As a result of the conference the following 
 resolutions, which met with the approval of all the parties present, were 
 adopted by the Commissioners of Public Parks: 
 
 Resolved, That we recommend the plan for the extension of Riverside 
 Park be and the same is hereby approved as follows : 
 
 The westerly boundary of said Park be and the same is hereby ex- 
 tended to the bulkhead line of the Hudson River, as established by Chap- 
 ter 288, of the Laws of 1868, except that the lands required for the pur- 
 poses of the Dock Department at Seventy-ninth and Ninety-sixth Streets 
 be excluded therefrom, to-wit : eight hundred and twenty-five feet at 
 Ninety-sixth Street and one thousand one hundred feet at Seventy-ninth, 
 and Seventy-ninth and Ninety-sixth Street in each case to be the centre of 
 said dock property, and that all the lands now owned by the City and 
 
 33 
 
private owners (the latter to be acquired) be set apart for the extension 
 of said Park and wharves as aforesaid. 
 
 Resolved, That a plan be prepared by the Engineer of this Department 
 in accordance with the lines established as aforesaid, to be submitted to the 
 Board of Street Opening and Improvement. 
 
 Pursuant to the instructions contained in the foregoing resolutions, 
 the Engineer of the Department has prepared a plan, which is forwarded 
 herewith. I also return the petition, and am, 
 
 Yours very respectfully, 
 
 Charles de F. Burns, 
 Secretary, Department of Public Parks. 
 
 After some discussion of the subject and a careful revision of the 
 map or plan submitted, the matter was finally laid over until the next 
 meeting of the Board, and the Secretary was directed to ask for the 
 attendance at such meeting of some representative of the Dock Depart- 
 ment, and also of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad 
 Company. 
 
 Meeting of January 12, 1894. 
 
 The Board of Street Opening and Improvement met at the Mayor's 
 Office on Friday, January 12, 1894, at 11 o'clock, pursuant to notice. 
 
 The matter of the proposed extension of Riverside Park was then 
 taken up. 
 
 Mr. Beekman appeared on behalf of property-owners, Mr. Loomis 
 on behalf of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Company, 
 and Commissioner Phelan on behalf of Dock Department. 
 
 No objection to the plan submitted by the Department of Public 
 Parks having been raised, the Mayor offered the following resolution: 
 
 Resolved, That the plan for the extension of Riverside Park to the 
 bulkhead line in the Hudson River, as shown upon a map entitled "Map 
 showing the proposed extension of Riverside Park, westerly from the 
 New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Company, to the bulkhead 
 line, as established by Chapter 258, of the Laws of 1868, with the excep- 
 tion of lands required for the purpose of the Department of Docks at 
 Seventy-ninth Street and Ninety-sixth Street," dated December 1, 1893, 
 and signed "M. A. Kellogg, Engineer of Construction, Department Public 
 Parks," be and the same is hereby approved by this Board, and that said 
 map be filed with the records of this Board. 
 
 Resolved, That application be made to the Legislature for the neces- 
 sary authority to give effect to said plan. 
 
 Which was adopted by the following vote: 
 
 Affirmative — The Mayor, the Comptroller, the Commissioner of Public 
 Works, the President of the Department of Public Parks, the President 
 of the Board of Aldermen. 
 
 34 
 
Thereupon the following petition was presented to the Legislature: 
 of"the State of New York: 
 
 Petition to the Legislature of the State of New York of the West End. 
 Association and the Riverside Park Property-Owners' Association for 
 the passage of a law providing for the improvement of the land and 
 water front adjacent to Riverside Park, in the City of New York, by 
 extending and improving said Park and regulating the use of said 
 land and water front. 
 
 To the Legislature of the State of New York: 
 
 The West End Association, composed of residents and owners of real 
 estate at the West End of the City of New York, organized for mutual 
 protection, in aid of good government, and for the improvement and de- 
 velopment of that section of the City, respectfully represent to your 
 honorably body: 
 
 That, considering the vital, material, local and general interests in- 
 volved, no more important measure relating to the City of New York will 
 be presented for your consideration than that for the legislative ratifica- 
 tion of the plan agreed on between the municipal authorities and the 
 property-owners interested, for the protection and preservation of the 
 water front adjacent to Riverside Park from objectionable and injurious 
 uses, and the extension and improvement of the Park for the general 
 public benefit. 
 
 (Here follows several pages of facts relating to Riverside Park and: 
 its relation to the West Side, grouped under the following sub-heads) : 
 
 RIVERSIDE PARK AND ITS GREAT COST TO PROPERTY 
 
 OWNERS. 
 
 GENERAL GRANTS' TOMB IN THE PARK. 
 
 DESECRATION OF THE WATER FRONT. 
 
 APPROVAL OF THE BOARD OF ESTIMATE AND APPORTION- 
 MENT OF A PLAN OF IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 COMMISSION OF CITIZENS APPOINTED TO IMPROVE THE. 
 WATER FRONT. 
 
 PROFESSIONAL VIEWS AS TO THE WATER FRONT. 
 
 THE CLAIMS OF THE WEST END: 
 
 THE QUESTION OF COMMERCIAL NEEDS. 
 
 A PLAN FINALLY AGREED UPON WITH THE CITY 
 AUTHORITIES. 
 
 On November 20. such conference was had which resulted in an 
 agreement that was embodied in a resolution unanimously adopted by the 
 
 35 
 
Commissioners of Parks, which was transmitted to the Board of Street 
 Opening and Improvement. On January 12, 1894, this Board approved 
 of the plan agreed upon and recommended that the necessary legislation 
 be asked for to carry it into effect. 
 
 The bill which will be submitted for your consideration is drawn in 
 accordance with this arrangement. We annex the petition of the owners 
 of the property, the minutes of the Board of Street Opening and Im- 
 provement, and some extracts from the daily press of the City, to show 
 how fully all interests are united in favor of this vital protection and 
 improvement. 
 
 We earnestly appeal for prompt action by your honorable body in 
 the premises. 
 
 And your petitioners, etc. 
 
 New York, January 22, 1894. 
 
 THE WEST END ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Cyrus Clark, President. 
 
 To the Legislature of the State of New York: 
 
 The Riverside Park Property Owners' Association unite in this peti- 
 tion and earnestly request that the bill will receive your early attention 
 and approval. 
 
 New York, January 22, 1894. 
 
 THE RIVERSIDE PARK PROPERTY ' 
 OWNERS' ASSOCIATION, 
 
 Samuel G. Bayne, President. 
 
 (In response to this petition the Legislature thereupon enacted Chap. 
 152 of the Laws of 1894, extending Riverside Park from the westerly 
 side of the railroad tracks to the Park Commissioners' bulkhead line.) 
 
 36