RECORD OF TESTIMONY AND STATEMENTS IN RELATION TO 121 



NECESSITY FOR DISTRICTING PLAN 



For six months the city has been struggling to let a contract for the 

 disposal of garbage from the boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn, 

 and for at least four of the six months the city has been defending law 

 suits brought by property owners in the location where the plant was pro- 

 posed to be erected. Every locality demands garbage and rubbish and ash 

 removal and the work must be done expeditiously and regularly, regardless 

 of conditions. Necessarily this material must be disposed of in some way. 

 Yet, local sentiment is so strong and brings such power to bear upon 

 officials that every locality in the city objects to the erection of disposal 

 works within its particular confines. 



In the present instance three sites suitable for the erection of a garbage 

 disposal plant were proposed : First, Riker's Island, between the East River 

 and the Long Island Sound ; second, Barren Island, in Jamaica Bay ; third, 

 marsh land on the westerly side of Staten Island. 



The city has used Barren Island as a garbage disposal location for over 

 twenty years. The residents of that locality have sought relief from the 

 nuisances which existed at the old plant, and have repeatedly brought suits 

 against contractors as well as the city to abate this nuisance. 



* In the latter part of last year the city recognized the necessity for im- 

 proving the treatment of garbage and eliminating the existing nuisances. 

 Two contracts were advertised, one of which was for the erection of a 

 plant on Riker's Island, and the second allowed the contractor to erect a 

 plant in any suitable locality except Jamaica Bay and the Borough of 

 Manhattan. The Board of Estimate approved Riker's Island as a suitable 

 location for a garbage plant, but the Board of Aldermen, influenced by local 

 sentiment in the Boroughs of The Bronx and Queens, refused to ratify the 

 contract. The only alternative left was the acceptance of a proposal for a 

 garbage plant on the westerly shore of Staten Island, in an isolated location. 

 This particular contract was approved by the Board of Estimate and Appor- 

 tionment, but the contractors have been delayed in the construction of the 

 plant on Staten Island on account of local objections. So that the three, 

 available locations now existing within the city limits which are suitable 

 for a garbage disposal plant have all been objected to by residents of the 

 adjoining localities. In each case the garbage plant would be situated in 

 an industrial and waste land section, with very few houses within a mile 

 of the plant. 



I believe that the treatment of garbage has progressed to a point where 

 modern methods of treatment will eliminate nuisances, and as the health 

 of the whole community is involved it may be possible for your Committee 

 to set aside a locality where the treatment of waste materials may be carried 

 out economically and with the greatest conservation of properties. In other 

 words, a waste treatment zone might be considered as part of the city plan 

 and a location so selected as would have the least adverse effect upon other 

 properties within the city limits. 



Statement by John C. Gebhart, Secretary, Tenement House Com- 

 mittee, Brooklyn Bureau of Charities, April 4, 1916 

 More stringent area restrictions desirable 



The Tenement House Committee of the Brooklyn Bureau of Charities 

 is particularly interested in restricting congestion in Brooklyn. We know 

 there is still a great deal of undeveloped territory in Brooklyn and that in a 

 sense Brooklyn is therefore the hope for the housing of the future popula- 



