13 



pressed an opinion on the subject to them have expressed themselves 

 in favor of it. 



The practical question as to how the scheme shall be carried 

 out presents some difficulties. The lands to be taken are located 

 largely in Westchester County. A portion of them, however, lie 

 within the County of New York. There is no existing body upon 

 which, in the opinion of the Commission, could be satisfactorily 

 imposed the preliminary work of carrying into effect the scheme 

 which the Commission has in mind, and although it is not the pol- 

 icy of the State Government to increase the number of State com- 

 missions, it has seemed that the wisest course to pursue in this 

 particular instance was to appoint a State commission, who should 

 have charge of carrying out the present scheme to the extent of 

 acquiring the land and formulating and carrying out a plan of 

 improvement. This Commission need not necessarily be a perma- 

 nent body. Eventually this whole territory will become a part of 

 the Greater City of New York, and will then naturally fall into 

 and form a part of its vast park system. Although the Bronx 

 reservation will undoubtedly in the future thus become a part of 

 the city or metropolitan park area, and under the jurisdiction of 

 some metropolitan board, it would, in the opinion of the Commis- 

 sion, be extremely unwise that the acquisition and improvement 

 of the Bronx Valley Parkway should at the present time be within 

 the control of the Park Department of the City of New York. The 

 lack of attention which the large park areas in the northern part 

 of the City of New York have received from the city authorities is 

 already the occasion of much criticism and complaint by the citi- 

 zens residing in the portions of the city and of Westchester County 

 adjacent to the parks. It is but natural that a busy city official 

 should devote his attention to the parks in the ratio that he is im- 

 portuned to do so by the citizens, the result being that the chief 

 interest of the officials and the very large bulk of money is spent 

 upon the parks in the populous parts of the city, and that the out- 

 lying districts get but little attention. This fact is a strong argu- 

 ment in favor of the appointment of a special commission, who 

 will have at heart the proposed improvement, and will not have 

 their attention diverted in other directions by the importunities of 

 citizens or the pressure of official duties. 



For the reasons stated the Commission recommends that an act 

 be passed constituting a commission of not more than three persons, 

 who shall have charge of the acquisition of the land necessary to 



