BROOKLYN PARK COMMISSIONERS. 



REPORT OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER AND SUPERINTENDENT, 



Office of Chief Engineer and Superintendent, | 

 Brooklyn, December I, 1884. [ 



To the Brooklyn Park Commissioners. 

 Gentlemen : 

 The work of the Commissioners during the past year has 

 been mainly confined to that for which its principal fund is 

 provided, viz., the maintenance of the several Parks, Parkways, 

 &c. 



Our operations, of necessity, have been limited to the current 

 and seasonable demands made upon us by the public for the 

 appropriate uses of these several works, the object having been 

 to extend all the facilities in our power to visitors, and at the 

 same time, as far as possible, preserve from destruction the 

 groundwork of the principal improvements in our charge. It 

 is unnecessaiy, therefore, to make more than passing allusion to 

 the condition of the parks in detail, which, for need of a more 

 liberal provision for expenditure during the period which has 

 intervened since our construction fund was exhausted, ten 

 years ago, have suffered from deteriorations caused by use and 

 exposure, far beyond the limitations of real economy. This 

 state of facts has been so constantly reiterated as to fully en- 

 lighten the public in regard to our restricted financial resources, 

 and has justly deterred criticism as to the condition of impor- 

 tant parts of the work to which, with a liberal fund at our 

 disposal, we would otherwise be exposed. It has been demand- 

 ed of us, during the year, a careful and economical adjustment 

 of our means to meet the requirements made upon us. 



Notwithstanding the many disadvantages under which we 

 have labored for a number of years, as regards our ability to 

 do all that would seem to be desirable, the parks have never 

 before been put to such general and apparently satisfactory 

 use by the people. This is in part the evidence and result of an 



