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The Fifth Avenue Association INC
EMPIRE STATE
350 FIFTH AVENUE
NEW YORK
Telephone: PEnnsylvania 6-7900
-2-
Complaints of Residents
The chairman of the Committee quoted from one or two letters received from residents along the Avenue. "I know of no avenue in New York where the life and limb of the pedestrian is so endangered by the sudden right and left hand turns, traffic proceeding north and south, these turns being made at breakneck speed, than on Park Avenue where pedestrians really have no chance whatsoever." Another wrote: "There have been at least three accidents of a serious nature at the corner of our street recently, and several have been reported to me as having taken place within the next two or three blocks. I have spoken to a large number of residents of Park Avenue, and they are unanimous in deploring the conditions which exist, also feel the many of them are seriously considering moving to other parts of the city on account of the menace of speed and danger which exists practically every time they cross the avenue.
Beating the Lights
The abuse cited by the Committee included "beating the lights," "jockeying" of motorists at crossings, not coming to a stop before making right or left hand turns, making "U" turns at intersections, not stopping behind the crosswalk, and driving through the "dark period" of the signals. At the conclusion of the Committee's report, Commissioner Hoyt told of the efforts the Police Department had been making to carry out the ideas suggested in that report.
Traffic Signals of Each Intersection
The most important step to be taken by the Department is the plan, which is now almost completed, for the reception of traffic signal lights at each intersection on Madison, Park, and Lexington Avenue. The contracts for the Madison and Lexington Avenue systems are ready to be advertised, and the contract for the lights on Park Avenue awaits only the completion of arrangements with the New York Central Railroad in connection with details of installation involving the cooperation of this company, which operates trains under the Park Avenue. Once these lights are installed, Commissioner Hoyt, it may be possible to make changes in the timing of lights on period for cross-town traffic. Awaiting this, however, the commissioner promised that additions would be made immediately to the motorcycle patrol on Park Avenue and that this patrol would be operative twenty-four hours in the day. He also said that special summons squads would be placed on upper Park Avenue to check violations of present regulations.
Motorcycle Squad Active
As this bulletin is being written, these squads have been active for several days and have already issued a great number of summonses to motorists beating the lights or making illegal turns along the Avenue. Commissioner Hoyt also said that the suggestion of the Committee that white lines to be painted at intersections wherever possible in order to keep cars behind the pedestrian crosswalk would be carried out. He said that he would give the full report of the Committee his close study and if any of the other recommendations suggested could be adopted, he would so advise us.
Pedestrian Safety
While we are hopeful that the measures already adopted for pedestrians safety on Park Avenue will be effective, we feel that only through the installation of traffic lights at each intersection, as on Fifth Avenue, with an "all red" period, during which wall traffic will come to a halt, can maximum safety be secured. The Association, therefore, will endeavor to speed the installation of the new light systems on Madison, Park, and Lexington Avenues, and we hope to be able to report soon the completion of the new light systems on Madison and Lexington Avenues and to advise that contracts for the Park Avenue Lights are ready to be advertised.
Legislation Receiving Close ATTENTION
The State Legislature has not yet acted upon Governor Roosevelt's recommendations for emergency taxation to meet the state deficit, but some opposition has arisen to making the one hundred per cent increase in the personal income tax retroactive by applying it to 1931 incomes. Other groups are preparing to oppose the two cents per gallon increase in the gasoline tax. Proposals just submitted to the Legislature by the Mastick Tax Revision Commission, which are not excepted to receive consideration until next year's session an which are aimed at more equitable distribution of the present tax burden to relieve real estate, include: a lowering of the present tax exemptions, requiring that everyone receiving a gross income of $500 or more would have to file a return and paying a a filling fee of 2,00; an increase from two to four cents in the gasoline tax, a special tax on motor common carriers and a special license on other motor vehicles for hire; a tax of billboards; elimination of the personal property tax; and the imposition of a tax on unincorporated business. The tax increases which the Commission recommends unanimously would yield in a normal year about $127,000,000 in revenue from sources other than real estate and thus would lighten the burden on really property about.
