CONTEST FOR PARKWAYS CONTINUED 209 



passed one reading, was imsatisiactory to the Park Commis- 

 sion, and that if passed and accepted in its present form, 

 he would advise the commission to go into court to have 

 certain restrictions relative to assessment and widening 

 nullified as contrary^ to public policy. That he turned to 

 Mr. Stetson and said : ^You want a trolley on Central ave- 

 nue, well, there can^t be a trolley there without widening 

 the avenue, and we cannot widen the avenue without an 

 Although under the resolution of the Park Commission of 

 assessment.' 



November 12, 1896, requesting the transfer of the avenues, 

 for parkways, it was specifically made the duty of "the 

 counsel to obtain, if possible," such transfer from the free- 

 holders and local governing bodies, no action on these and 

 similar communications was taken by the commission. In- 

 quiries and appeals were being continuously sent to ascer- 

 tain just what the attitude of that board would be in view 

 of the conflicting statements then current. Finally, at the 

 Park Board meeting of March 4, 1898, a letter was received 

 from Colonel E. H. Snyder, as president of the Orange City 

 Council, asking the direct question as to the intention of 

 the commission regarding the avenues. The following reply 

 and authorized statement was the same day made public : 



PARK COMMISSIOI^'S REPLY. 



"The Park Commission does not intend to widen Park 

 or Central avenue in the city of Orange, and is advised that 

 the transfer of the care, custody, and control of those ave- 

 nues does not confer upon the commission the power to 

 widen them. It follows, therefore, that the Park Commis- 

 sion cannot make assessment on abutting property.^' 



To many of the active supporters of the park movement 

 and those having confidence in the commissioners rather 

 than in the confusing and contradictory statements to the 

 contrary accredited their own co'unsel, this concise promise 

 of intention was accepted as made in good faith and ap- 

 peared to settle the question on the points indicated. To 



