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ces than can be found any where else. Then we propose to sell these 

 lots, with certain provisoes in regard to the character of the improve- 

 ments which shall be made npon them. We believe that if we are 

 allowed to develop this idea unhampered, it will tend to the advance- 

 ment of the reputation of Brooklyn as a place of residence, well nigh 

 as much as the park itself, and will give it exactly the advantage that 

 it needs in its struggle for its natural rights in this respect in competi- 

 tion with New York. We propose to reserve besides the avenues 

 and about twenty-eight acres of ground for public use, the lands 

 which include the Reservoir and the higher grounds adjacent. But 

 after making these reservations for a public garden on the hill, and 

 sites for public buildings and places, and after laying out the ample 

 avenues which we propose to make, with their bordering plantations, 

 there will still remain a body of over one hundred acres of land to be 

 disposed of, with such restrictions as will insure the erection upon it, of 

 strictly first-class dwelling houses. 



If we assume that these lots will command the price of twenty-five 

 hundred dollars a piece, which is below the estimate generally put 

 upon them, the sum which would be realized by the city from their 

 sale, would be three millions of dollars. 



But we shall also save the expense of forming and maintaining the 

 ground as a park; this we judge from our experience in dealing with 

 the ground of a similar character on the other side of the avenue, would 

 be about a million of dollars. Of course we include in this estimate 

 the fencing and all the usual and necessary furniture and equipment of 

 a convenient and agreeable place of crowded public resort. Add this 

 million to the sum which we expect to receive from the sale of the 

 ground we do not want, and it makes a difference to the city in favor 

 of our plan of four millions of dollars. We reckon that this sum will. 

 pay the city subscription of three millions to the Bridge and the im- 

 provements at the Wallabout, which may cost one million. This, how- 

 ever, is not all. If we double the price of the land, for the value of 

 buildings which would probably be erected on it, we should add, 

 independently of the immense stimulus thereby given to the sur- 

 rounding property, at least eight millions of dollars to the taxable 

 property of our city, and enlarge its revenues by nearly half a million 

 of dollars annually. 



We have very carefully considered the matter, and we express in 

 these estimates our deliberate and well established convictions. 



