|
|
The New York Times
Friday August 4, 1882
RAPID TRANSIT IN BROOKLYN
Counsel for the East River Bridge and Coney Island Steam Transit
Company made an application to Mayor Low yesterday for the
appointment of a commission to determine the amount which the
company shall be required to deposit with some designated trust
company as compensation for damages before commencing to build its
road. The application was made under section 51 of what is known as
Mayor Low's Rapid Transit Compensation act, which is an amendment to
the General Rapid Transit law of 1875. This section provides as
follows:
"Any corporation heretofore organised under the provisions of the
act amended, and which has not constructed its railway and has
obtained the consent of the local authorities to the construction
and operation of a railway upon any or all of the parties designated
for it by its articles of association, and whose rights under such
consent have not terminiated, and whose proposed railway lies wholly
within the limits of any city may within 60 days after the passage
of this act, apply to the Mayor of such city for the appointment of
Commissioners to estimate and fix the damages to be caused by the
construction and operation of its railway upon and along the streets
or highways as to which such consent has been given."
The number of Commissioners provided by
law is three and the amount estimated by them for damages must be
deposited by the railroad corporation in some trust company before
beginning operations. Following
is the route of the East River Bridge and Coney Island Steam Transit
Company:
Begining on and over Water-street at Fulton-street, then go over,
through, and along Water-street to Washington street, to High
street: to Pearl-street; to Willoughby-street, to the easterly side
of Hudson-avenue; to Fulton-street; across Fulton-street and the
square or open place at the junction of said street and
Flatbush-avenue to the route of the said East River Bridge and Coney
Island Steam Transit Company upon Flatbush avenue; along
Flatbush-avenue to the southerly line of Atlantic-avenue; then along
Flatbush-avenue to Fifth-avenue; to Second street, to
Seventh-avenue; along Seventh-avenue to a point on the easterly side
of Seventh-avenue, distant 56 feet south of the south-east corner of
Braxton-street and Seventh-avenue. Also, beginning on and over
Willoughby-street at Hudson-avenue, along Hudson avenue to
Park-avenue. |
|
Mr. Andrew Culver is the principal promoter of
the company, and the road will be a tender to his Coney Island road, which
now operates on Gravesend-avenue, between Twentieth street and
Ninth-avenue, Brooklyn and Coney Island. The permission to build the road
was granted by the Board of Aldermen at the same time during the same
session that permission was given to the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad, then
and now in the hands of Receivers to extend its route so as to occupy all
the principal streets in the city.
A great outcry was raised by the
property-owners against both schemes, and it was claimed that money had
been used lavishly to secure the consent of the Aldermen. Mayor Howell
vetoed the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad scheme, but signed the resolution
permitting the East River Bridge and Coney Island Steam Transit Company to
build over the route selected. The Aldermen overrode the Mayor's veto, in
defiance of a Supreme Court Injunction, and were subsequently convicted of
contempt of court and sentenced to pay a fine of $250 each and to terms of
imprisonment varying from 10 to 30 days. An appeal was taken after the
Aldermen had spent one day in jail, and the case is now pending before the
court of Appeals.
The Culver scheme, although it received the approval of
the Mayor, was contested in the courts, and the General Term decided that
the road could not be built until proper provision had been made to secure
the property-owners along the route from damages. Rapid transit being a
conceded want in Brooklyn, Mayor Low prepared last Winter a compensation
for damages act which passed the Legislature, and is now sought to be
utilized by the company named. If the property-owners are satisfied with
the award for damages made by the commission which the Mayor is requested
to appoint, the first elevated road will be in operation in Brooklyn, it
is said, by next Summer.
|
