32 

 REPO II T . 



The Committee (<> whom was referred the communication of Messrs. 

 Edmund Driggs, Jno. W. Hunter, Charles Jones, Wm, W. Goodrich 

 and J. Carson Brevoort, under date of .May 22d, L869, by which they 



offer to improve so much of Prospect Park as lies East of Flatbush 

 Avenue, at a cost of $775,000, under the engineering of Mr. Egbert 

 L. Viele, or some equally competent engineer, according to a 

 plan which was suggested by Mr. Viele, in 1860, respectfully 

 report : — 



That there seem to be many obvious reasons why the Board should 

 not accept this proposal. 



In the first place it is to be executed under the supervision of gen- 

 tlemen who have not yet been appointed Commissioners, and without 

 regard to the fact that there is already a Board of Improvement Com- 

 missioners, who must continue to discharge their duties until their suc- 

 cessors in office are appointed. Next, they in effect designate Mr. 

 Viele as engineer; but the Board is not yet prepared, Ave think, to 

 substitute him in place of the skillful and experienced engineers who 

 are now in charge of Park improvement. And furthermore, they pro- 

 pose to improve the land acccording to Mr. Viele's plan — a plan which is 

 not in harmony with the present Park design, and which has not been 

 adopted by the Board nor approved of by the people. 



There are other serious objections to the proposition of these gentle- 

 men. They evidently require too much money for the work they pro- 

 pose to do. The Board's estimate of the cost of improving the East 

 side of the Park, as stated at the public meeting of citi/ens in April 

 last, to which their communication refers, was one million of dollars, 

 and not from one and a half to two millions, as stated in the proposal. 

 It also included two bridges and the necessary fencing, with all such 

 other equipments as are required for a place of public resOrt ; while their 

 estimate includes no fence, and only one bridge with a tunnel. If we add 

 the cost of an enclosure with an additional bridge, their offer will be 

 carried up from ^775,000 to over a million. But while the Committee 

 think the charge is too high, they art' pleased to find in it a confirma- 

 tion of our own estimate, that this improvement would cost over a 

 million of dollars. , 



The proposal, moreover, is premature. It has not yet been deter- 

 mined that the area of land now in the course of improvement on the 



