19^ FIRST COUXTY PAEK SYSTEM 



control of the Park Commission. They would prefer that 

 rapid transit ways and parkways should be kept separate, 

 bnt they will not oppose the Y\'ish of the majority of the 

 property owners and mnnieipal governments in this mat- 

 ter. If rapid transit tracks are to be put on Central ave- 

 nue, the question should be decided at once; but it is not 

 the part of the Park Commission to make this decision 

 under existing conditions. It is, however, in our opinion, 

 inconsistent to attempt to operate a trolley road on a park- 

 way only one hundred feet wide. 



"In response to the request for section plan and detail, 

 it seems to be unnecessary for the Park Commission to 

 take up that question until the local governing body de- 

 cides the main proposition. If these avenues are not to 

 become parkways, further details will not be required.^^ 



The effect of tliis communication was distinctly unfavor- 

 able. The resulting action of the Township Committee 

 was, as already stated, a prompt declination of the com- 

 mission's request. Some of the leading papers were out- 

 spoken in their criticism of the Park Board's position. 

 The day following, January 12, 1897, the Jv"ewark News, 

 under an editorial caption, "The Eeticent Park Board,'' 

 in referring to the Stanley letter and the commission's 

 reply, said: 



"These were fair and reasonable questions. They were 

 not answered; they were even treated ^vith scant courtesy 

 by the sending of a reply that the commissioners' pro- 

 posed to construct parkways. The reasons for secrecy which 

 existed in regard to the purchase of lands and locations 

 of parks certainly do not apply to the extension or improve- 

 ment of public highways." And again, February 4, "That 

 the application of the Park Commission was refused was 

 partly due, no doubt, to the manner in which that body 

 chose to preserve its air of dignified silence." 



These and similar expressions were in marked contrast 

 to the almost unanimous sentiment of the press favorable 

 to the avenues' transfer, when the plan and resolution of 

 the commission v^^ere made public the previous November. 



