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DOWN TOWN BROOKLYN

A Report to the Comptroller of the City of
New York on Sites for Public Buildings
and the Relocation of the Elevated
Railroad Tracks now in Lower
Fulton Street, Borough
of Brooklyn

[Illustration: BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN]

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
MCMXIII




CONTENTS

LETTER FROM THE COMPTROLLER
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
First Plan
Second Plan
Third Plan
Fourth Plan
Fifth Plan
Sixth Plan
ADDITIONAL REPORT
SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT




LETTER FROM THE COMPTROLLER


April 18th, 1913.

_Dear Mr. Pratt:_

It appears to me that the time has now arrived when some definite
policy should be formulated regarding a number of needed improvements
in the Borough of Brooklyn, with particular reference to a settlement
of the court house, bridge terminal and other questions. We have had
considerable discussion regarding these matters, and while this
discussion has developed, as it naturally would, many divergent views,
I am confident that it has also served a most useful purpose because
now we all have a much better idea of the work that has to be
undertaken and the importance of intelligent and united action
governing it.

It is very necessary that some one should take the lead and I,
therefore, suggest that you endeavor at the earliest possible time to
effect a meeting of those interested as citizens and officials in
developing the best plan for Brooklyn's improvement, with a view to
having a definite policy proposed and so determined at this time that
the only thing necessary in the future will be the authorization of
the funds to carry the plan into effect.

There should be a civic center in Brooklyn. We have a nucleus of such
a center in the present Borough Hall. We need a new terminal for the
Brooklyn entrance of the Brooklyn Bridge, a better approach to that
bridge by the present elevated railroad lines, the removal of the
elevated railroad tracks from lower Fulton Street, a new court house,
a new municipal building and a thorough improvement of that section
running from the intersection of Myrtle Avenue and Washington Street
to the terminal of the Brooklyn Bridge, using this improved section
for the purpose of carrying out a general beautification of the
proposed civic center.

All of these things cannot be done at once, but they are all a part of
what should be a general plan. I believe that if the subject be
approached in a spirit of civic patriotism a general plan can be
developed which will mean the ultimate procurement of all these
much-needed improvements, and in such a way as to be of the greatest
benefit to Brooklyn as a borough.

Yours truly,

WILLIAM A. PRENDERGAST,
  _Comptroller_

MR. FREDERIC B. PRATT
  Brooklyn, New York

       *       *       *       *       *

Upon receiving the foregoing letter, Mr. Pratt conferred with a large
number of officials and citizens interested in the progress of
Brooklyn, and acting upon their advice formed a committee of ten,
believed by him to be representative of the various points of view,
for the purpose of making a systematic study of the problems set forth
and to formulate a report with definite recommendations. The report
and recommendations of the committee appear in the following pages.




REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE

OF TEN CITIZENS OF BROOKLYN APPOINTED AT THE SUGGESTION OF WILLIAM A.
PRENDERGAST, COMPTROLLER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK


Since the appointment of this committee on the 30th day of April,
1913, it has had frequent meetings, conferences and hearings.
Conferences have been had with representatives from organizations that
have given time and study to the subjects within the scope of this
committee. Several public hearings were held, notice of which was
given in the public press. Written communications have been invited
from all persons interested. Architects have been employed to advise
and we have had the help of competent engineers.

At the outset the committee has been compelled to recognize the
situation of Brooklyn and its relation to Manhattan and Greater New
York. Brooklyn has always labored under the disadvantage that,
although its residents have helped create the great assessed
valuations in lower Manhattan, it did not before consolidation receive
any benefit from the taxation of those values. In this respect
Brooklyn was not and even now is not like independent cities such as
Buffalo, Cleveland or Chicago, where both residences and office
buildings contribute alike to support the same municipal government.
Prior to consolidation on January 1st, 1898, Brooklyn had reached the
limit of her constitutional borrowing capacity. The city needed many
new schools and more bridges and tunnels across the East River. Along
with many disadvantages that flowed from consolidation, there came
the great advantage that Brooklyn at last received a portion of the
tax money raised on the real estate in lower Manhattan, to which
Brooklyn people had helped to give a high value. It must, however, be
recognized that Manhattan is the central borough, and that as the
business and municipal center of Greater New York she is entitled to
pre-eminence in buildings to transact the city's business. Now that
the boroughs constitute one city, Manhattan must help to give the
outlying boroughs those utilities that their growth reasonably
requires, and the outlying boroughs must recognize Manhattan as the
business and official center.

For the last twenty years the industrial population in Brooklyn has
been greatly increasing. Officials and loyal citizens who desire that
the historic character of Brooklyn should be preserved cannot afford
to wait ten years before a beginning is made to brighten up the
downtown district. Continued migrations of home owners from Brooklyn
to New Jersey and to counties outside of Greater New York may weaken
the ability of the borough to preserve its entity and character. If it
should once become a somewhat neglected industrial annex of Manhattan,
the result would be injurious both to Brooklyn and Manhattan. No
greater calamity could happen to every part of Brooklyn than to have
the borough lose its civic pride.

When we add to the foregoing considerations the fact that Greater New
York has nearly reached the constitutional limit of its borrowing
capacity, we should not delude ourselves into thinking that persistent
and long-continued demand will bring indefinite millions of dollars to
Brooklyn in the near future. The vast contemplated expenditure for
rapid transit railroads brings a share to Brooklyn, but even to
validate the dual rapid transit contracts it was necessary to dedicate
to subways $50,000,000 out of the $65,000,000 of self-supporting dock
bonds exempted under the recent constitutional amendment, while we in
Brooklyn know that more than $15,000,000 are needed for dock
improvements in Brooklyn alone during the next ten years. In order to
obtain a sufficient margin within the debt limit, assessed valuations
have been placed at full value, and in some cases beyond prices that
property will bring in the open market. Until the comprehensive rapid
transit plan is completed in the course of four to six years, it
cannot be expected that there will be a substantial increase in
assessed valuations, taking the city as a whole.

With all of these considerations before us we have concluded that the
strictest economy must be observed in improving the downtown district
of Brooklyn, and that every dollar expended should be not only of the
greatest use for the special purpose to which it is put, but also that
every dollar expended should give co-ordinated results. Therefore we
consider that such lands as are taken for public buildings should also
contribute toward the opening up and improvement of the central
business locality.

Outside of money for rapid transit lines, docks, schoolhouses and
street improvements, it is not likely that the Borough of Brooklyn
will within the next eight years receive any substantial sums except
for the new municipal building and a new court house. If these
buildings are placed in isolated locations where they have no relation
to one another nor to the borough center, it will be most unfortunate.
Like the Academy of Music, which is surrounded by narrow streets,
they would confer only a partial benefit. Therefore the question of
their location is more than finding a good spot for a court house or
municipal building. The problem is to find locations that will be
convenient for the public business, have a relation to each other and
other public improvements, and contribute to the acquirement of more
open space where it will do the most good.

We think that the Borough Hall locality should be preserved and
improved as the borough's municipal center. Some say that we should
look to Eastern Parkway, some to Flatbush Avenue Extension. But
Borough Hall Park is the old-time and long settled center. The large
office and financial buildings are there. It is convenient of access
from every part of the borough. Every new rapid transit line will be
directly connected with it. It is opposite the district of
corresponding use in Manhattan. It is separate from the congested
shopping district and will undoubtedly remain so. Some advocate
Flatbush Avenue Extension as the best place for new buildings. The
future value of the Extension even for public buildings cannot be
denied. Canal Street, Manhattan Bridge, the Extension and Flatbush
Avenue furnish a continuous broad thoroughfare from the North River to
Jamaica Bay. When Greater New York becomes a city of 10,000,000
people, it may become the axis for magnificent public buildings both
in Manhattan and Brooklyn. But Canal Street today is a locality of
small business and it is premature to try to force its Brooklyn
continuation into prominence as a civic center. Although Manhattan's
new court house will be built on Center Street, yet the front door of
Manhattan's civic center will be the City Hall Park for the next
thirty or forty years, and Canal Street at its best will be only the
back door. When the big business of Manhattan reaches Canal Street it
will be time enough to use city money for great public buildings on
the Extension. If Brooklyn were an independent and self-contained