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The Fifth Avenue Association
358 FIFTH AVENUE .. NEW YORK
Telephone: Wisconsin 1200

BULLETIN NO. 57, DECEMBER 1930

TO OUR MEMBERS:

BOARD TO SUBMIT PLANS FOR UNDER RIVER-28TH STREET TUNNELS IMMEDIATELY
The Board of Transportation is prepared now to submit detailed plans for the under-river section of the midtown tunnels and will urge the City administration during the next few weeks to speed approval of these plans so that contracts may be let soon after the first of the year.
The Board is also prepared to submit plans for the Manhattan East Side Plaza for these tunnels but because of some scattered opposition to certain features of these plans the Board will hold up these plans temporarily. Our Association has already approved the plans advanced by the Board of Transportation for the East Side Plaza and is endeavoring to overcome the objections that have been put forth to this plan by other organizations.
We hope that these objections will not be of such consequence that construction of the under-Manhattan section of the tunnel will be delayed. Our East Rover-38th Street Tunnel Committee predicated their approval of this tunnel plan upon assurance that the under-Manhattan link to Twelfth Avenue, which will eventually unite the new Hudson River tunnels with those under the East River at 38th Street, would be constructed, and we feel that if the under-Manahattan section of the tunnel were to be abandoned or delayed beyond the possibility of having it constructed simultaneously with the under-river section, our Committee might have to petition for the abandonment of the entire project because of the fatal effect that an East River crossing at 38th Street, dumping traffic into already congested streets, would have on business and real estate.
The under-river section will take some five years to build, while the Manhattan section will take two years less. We believe, however, that if the two sections can be started at approximately the same time, the benefits of the under-Manhattan section can be enjoyed, in advance of the finish of the entire project, by traffic now forced to use the street surface for the trip between the West Side and the East Side of the city.

ASSOCIATION URGES MADISON AVENUE BUS LINE
The Park Avenue Committee of our Association appeared before the Board of Transportation at a hearing during November in connection with an application for a bus route on Park Avenue. The use of this Avenue for a bus line was protested by the Executive Vice-President of the Association speaking for the Committee and by others who appeared at the hearing, because it was claimed the operation of busses along that Avenue would defeat the purpose of the series of improvements which had been put through in order to make Park Avenue an artery for private automobile traffic. It was also argued that before any consideration be given to a bus route on Park Avenue the petition of our Association to motorize Madison Avenue should be granted. As a result of these arguments and the others set forth by all those who appeared in opposition, our Park Avenue Committee is pleased to announce that an amended application has since been filed withdrawing the application for the Park Avenue route.
We are hopeful that, as a result of this application, and the negotiations thus started, the Fifth Avenue Coach Company, or some other company, may make formal application for a bus route on Madison Avenue. This would fit right into our campaign for the removal of the street cars and the substitution of busses along the route now traveled by the Madison-Fourth Avenue line.

PULITZER FOUNDATION
Thanks to the generous donation of $25,000 from the Pulitzer family and the $10,000 appropriated by the City of New York through Mayor Walker and the Park Commissioner we are now able to inform our members that the foundation at 58th Street and Fifth Avenue will be restored, and the work, we expect, will start early in the Spring. This brings to a favorable end a three years' campaign by our Association for this improvement.

CLEANER STREETS ASSURED FOR MIDTOWN
Efforts of our Campaign on Health and Sanitation to build up a program for clean streets in our section -- Fifth, Madison, Park, Fourth Avenues, and the cross streets between these Avenues -- are bearing fruit slowly but certainly. At a recent meeting of our Committee it was announced that the first of a new type refuse wagon would operate in our streets; today an uncovered refuse wagon in our district is unusual. Augmented street cleaning forces, and various changes in the regulations governing their work, and that of the flushing gangs, and snow removal forces, made at the suggestion of our Committee, which is studying the problems of street cleanliness in this section constantly, have, in the past few years particularly, been of great aid in keeping our streets clean. Within the past few days plans have also been completed with the Street Cleaning Division for the prompt removal of snow from our streets in the event of a heavy downfall.