RECORD OF TESTIMONY AND STATEMENTS IN RELATION TO 171 



NECESSITY FOR DISTRICTING PLAN 



cession. The only way to deal with it is by laws excluding factories ; and 

 this is only a protection of the rights of the property owners themselves. 

 The plan proposed by this Commission is absolutely necessary to save the 

 city in the matter of its own public buildings inestimable loss as well as 

 the frustrating of the full fruit and results of the purpose for which a 

 large portion of these public buildings have been erected. We have seen 

 such destruction of value happen in the past, and it will come in the future 

 in the same way to a greater degree unless we speedily adopt appropriate 

 restrictions., and the restrictions now proposed seem appropriate for the 

 purpose. 



Assessed value of city owned property 



The assessed value of the property owned by the City of New York in 

 1915 was $1,502,000,000, while the aggregate assessed value of all the real 

 property that is taxable was $8,108,000,000. Of this great investment of a 

 billion and a half by the city, $123,000,000 represented the assessed value 

 of school sites, schools and other property under the jurisdiction of the 

 Board of Education. The assessed value of parks was $673,000,000. The 

 assessed value of the property under the jurisdiction of the Departments of 

 Charity and Correction, which includes numerous hospitals, amounted to 

 $54,000,000. Property of a semi-public character, owned by private cor- 

 porations and exempted from taxation because of its semi-public character, 

 was assessed in 1915 for $392,000,000. That sum included $36,000,000 

 for hospitals, $46,000,000 for colleges and schools, and $192,000,000 for 

 churches, parochial schools, and their usual adjuncts. 



For 1915 the aggregate number of buildings that were assessed as 

 taxable was 386,000. Of this total number 338,000 buildings were devoted 

 to human habitation, of which 153,000 were houses constructed for single 

 family dwellings, 78,000 were two-family dwellings, and 103,000 were tene- 

 ment houses. It will be noticed that the number of buildings devoted to 

 human habitation is about 88 per cent of all the taxed buildings in the city. 

 The assessed value of all the structures that are subject to taxation was 

 $2,884,000,000. It is apparent, therefore, that the conservation of the value 

 of these buildings is of immense importance to the general welfare of the 

 community. 



From what I have already said in regard to the effect upon the value 

 of the land of the intrusion of inappropriate uses and inappropriate struc- 

 tures, it must be clear that to conserve the financial stability of the city and 

 its power to incur indebtedness and pay its debts, it is most important to 

 conserve the land value. The value of ordinary land, that is, land other 

 than special franchises, and the right of way of public service corporations, 

 was assessed in 1915 for $4,643,000,000. 



Statement by Martin S. Rourke, Real Estate and Insurance, April 



29, 1916 

 Effect of gaseous fumes on vegetation 



Mr. Rourke stated that the gaseous fumes emitted by the chemical com- 

 panies in the vicinity of Newtown Creek destroyed the paint on neighboring 

 buildings within forty-eight hours of its application. Truck gardening in 

 this locality he stated was just as impossible as in the Desert of Sahara, the 

 gaseous fumes killing all vegetation. 



