A LEGISLATIVE TRAVESTY 279 



port, already quoted, which advised that if Central avenue 

 could not be used to form a continuous parkway "this East 

 Orange parkway will hardly be worth to the people what 

 it will cost." 



The land for the East Orange parkway, outside of that 

 donated, has cost about $100,000, and the improvements, 

 including the bridge for changing the grade of the Lacka- 

 wanna tracks, completed some years ago, nearly as much 

 more. What the cost would have been had this parkway 

 been extended from Bloomfield avenue to Weequahic, or to 

 the West Side Park, and from Watsessing Park to Irving- 

 ton, as was at one time proposed, it would now be difficult 

 to estimate. 



Why there should have been for years such apathy and 

 official indifference as to securing the two great east and 

 west parkways, which, save surface embellishment, were 

 mainly ready for use, and this, too, on the lines connecting 

 the most important hy far of the country parks, and in the 

 direction of the greatest tide of travel ; and at the same time 

 a new, costly and untried cross section parkway was prefer- 

 ably sought, connecting only a parkway at one end and 

 now a railroad at the other end — is a question, which, as 

 time goes on, and the more it is studied, the more difficult 

 a sufficient or satisfactory answer will appear. It is a 

 policy which, to say the least, is not in conformity with the 

 plan and policy upon which the Essex County Park Com- 

 mission was originally established and approved by the 

 people. 



KESUME AS TO PARKWAYS. 



The question finally arises, what have the people of the 

 county obtained for the five millions of dollars contributed, 

 and has the Park Commission accomplished all that could 

 have been done to make the park system a great success? 

 It is manifestly evident that the park system is incompletcj 

 because the Park Commission has failed to secure a system 

 of parfiways to connect the existing parks, 



WM\e the parks themselves have been, for the most part^ 



