12 report op The 



appropriation of money from the Board of Supervisors for the 

 purpose of providing suitable accommodations in the way of 



dollies rooms, water, &c., for the use of the various organizations 

 that frequent the Parade Ground. 



CONEY ISLAND. 



The attractions and increased popularity of Coney Island as 

 a summer resort have greatly emphasized the usefulness of the 

 Concourse and the promenade drive and walk within its bound- 

 aries as a convenient and desirable means of communication 

 between the principal points on the Island. The bituminous 

 concrete which forms the superstructure of the embankment 

 upon which the roadway and walk rest, was put down in 1875, 

 and was the initial enterprise of the kind in this class of con- 

 struction. The plan was simple and in many respects neces- 

 sarily experimental, and has proved every way satisfactory, and 

 for the extent and the subsequent use to which it has been 

 subjected was not costly. 



The roadway and walk have been exposed to exceptional 

 wear, and is now in need of a liberal restoration. The surface 

 now covered with concrete is 2,750 feet long- and over 100 feet 

 wide, and contains a superficial area equal to 300,000 square 

 feet. It is estimated that a renewal of this surface will cost 

 about thirty thousand dollars, and so important a feature does 

 this work appear to be to the Commissioners, in the pleasure 

 and the facilities it provides for the people who visit the 

 Island, that the Commissioners think the appropriation of an 

 amount of money sufficient to restore the pavement to its best 

 condition is amply justified. It is also of importance to secure 

 a more desirable and extensive system of plantation, and an 

 opportunity to experiment more generally as to the adaptability 

 of certain trees for growth and establishment to the peculiar 

 conditions to which they are subjected at the Island. A more 

 liberal use of soil and manure, involving considerable expense, 

 is also necessary, and this, with the aid of tilling and the devel- 

 opment of turf, which it is evident can be grown at the Island, 



