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THE NASSAU POST: FREEPORT, N.Y, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1914 Proposed Long Beach Highway Would Eliminate Two Death-trap Grade Crossings and Hazardous, Antiquated Bridge at Wreck Lead President of Estates of Long Beach Gives Undisputed Facts Concerning Develop ment of Former Town Island; Shows That Present Road is a Menace to Tra vel and Avers That People are Respon sible For Accidents That May Occur There—Gives Liberal Guarantee to Tax payers. (Continued from page 1) things have been done for years. You who are familiar with county m atters know that It Is divided Into three districts—the Town of Hempstead, the Town of North Hempstead, and the Town of Oyster Bay. It was only when I became a resident of your town several years ago that I learned that we residents were paying 66 to 67 per cent, of the entire taxes of the county; but under a recent decision of the Court you have been relieved of from 7 to 10 per cent, of this bur den. You now pay 60 per cent, of the taxes of the entire county. Of course those In authority are willing to Issue the bonds for a new road and bridge to Long Beach, provided they can have $250,000 each for the other two dis tricts,, which would mean a total of 9750,000. Under the decision of which I spoke, you would then be called upon to pay 60 per cent, of 9750,000, or 9450,- 000, In order to spend 9250,000 in your ■own town. These a re the facts. I would be doing you an injustice and myself an Injustice,—I am a large taxpayer— to stand for a proposition of this sort. Don’t you think it better for me, un der the circumstances a s I have stated them, to appeal to you taxpayers di rect and ask you to Issue the bonds tor this road and bridge even i f you have to pay them without outside as sistance? I would certainly be do ing everybody concerned an Injustice by going to the county officials and asking them to issue these bonds, In this way saddling you with 9*50,000 when all that Is needed Is 9250,000. The argum ent has also been brought forward that It should be made a State road. Well, first, the State won’t build the bridge; second, the State stands only a part of tob cost of a road. It would expect the cost of the road to be paid by the County, the Town and the State com bined. And that puts us right back against the same proposition with the County. The County undoubtedly would not agree to stand any part of the cost unless twice as much is ex pended In other parts of the County, and of which the Town of Hempstead would have to pay 60 per cent. Again, you know It takes considerable time, and It means a lot of red tape, even if you are ever able to get the State to build the road, and I am warning you that this is not a time for dilly dallying, because of the danger of ac cidents, which I will show you more in detail later. City, to front? whom you sold the ocean Every Male and Female Tax payer in the Town of Hemp stead, on the last assessment roll, whether living In or out of an incorporated village and whether or not registered, has the right to vote on the Long Beach Road and Bridge prope ls assessed a t 910,000, you will have to pay 991.80, or only 9180 more than you are now paying, and so on. And now I will show that voting fa vorably on this proposition will cost you nothing. As I have already stat ed the assessed valuation of Long Beach has grown from $600,000 in 1907 to over 97,400,000 this, the eight yeai. You probably know the condition of the real estate market, if only threugh conditions existing in this section. They are the same in Brooklyn, Queens, out eighteen inches of this top-soil, and and today It is one eighth of the as- paying $310,000 a year In this way. next spring you will ‘see rolling hills ' sessed valuation of the Town o f ; The Town never put a dollar into Hempstead on which Long Beach ll this improvement; the money invested paying taxes. Every bond this town came from the outside, and you are of green from the Ocean to the chan nel there. You and I could not affora to do ths work; it would cost too much money. Nothing, though, will stop this syndicate from having Just what it’s members want there. They are also going to build a $1,500,000 Hotel. ■> It is already financed. I understand it is to be operated by the Rltz- Manhattan, | C arlton people, who already have Ho- on Long! tels in London, Canada, New York Island, everywhere. You know i and Atlantic City. The new Hotel will issues, whether for a road, a Town getting the benefit from 1L This road Hall, a tuberculosis hospital, a w a t e r : Is going through your property. How way or a bridge. Long Beach Is a l - ; much do you think it will increase the ready liable for l-8th of the amount.; valuo of it? You own it. Let us look at some of the other jn building this road a dredge could benefits that will accrue to you placed In the middle channel and through this syndicate purchase at pipes extended in opposite directions Long Beach. In addition to the In-, an(j gaid pumped into the line of creased assessed valuation which 11 road a t six cents a cubic yard, have already mentioned the proposed ; guch dredges were unknown hotel will cost another $1,500,000. The | when the old road wos 6ullt| Picturesque Long Beach Homes and a Panoramic View of Parkway During the Busy Summer Season Proposition to Appropriate $250,000 Contemplating Dawning Epoch of Civic Advancement in Hemp stead—is Presented Fairly to Taxpayers by One of Them—County Proposition Would Entail Great Ex pense and State Can Pay But a Third of Highway and Build no Bridges, there is no business in such a m arket, and Long Beach is no exception. As a m a tter of fact, After I bought It in 1907, you assessed the Island of Long Beach at $600,000; in 1908 you raised it to $1,000,000; In 1909 you made it $1,500,000. Then they came along with that proposition, which I think all of you were as badly fooled about It as I was, to the effect that they multiply the assessed valua tion by 2 1-2 and proportionately re- months, I do not know what Long pavilions, duce the rate in order to equalize with Beach would have done, In spite of what you may hear of the millions that have been made there. I was, however, sufficiently fortunate to make a sale of some of the land still under w ater which you sold to me I say to you that If I had not accom- ^ 0pen t0 public. They will also pllshed what I have In the last eight ^ found a Casino, cottages and bathing the north side of the county. The tax rate did come down for one year, but the next we had the same old rate to pay. Do you know that the assessed valuation of Long Beach thle year Is over $7,400,000. Long Beach Is now 'e ight years ago, to a syndicate, the paying to the Town of Hempstead 1-8 members of which have named their of the entire taxes of the town. In ' purchase \Lido” after a little place eight years we have paid you nearly Just outside of Venice, Italy. I men- $600,000 In taxes. Now, did you sell ■ tion the names of some of the gentle- Rlght alongside of the : property now under development they have taken an option from me for 93.- that property too cheap? Some of you may say that the Town has given us something In re turn for that $600,000 in taxes. But It has not—not an electric light, not a police officer, not a piece of roadway not a cubic yard of fill on those muck men comprising this syndicate, not because of their social standing, but to show their Importance in the busi ness world. Among them are Otto H. Kahn, of Kuhn, Loeb and Company; Cornelius Vanderbilt, Henry Rogers Wlnthrop, E. T. Stotesbury, of Drexel and marsh lands, nothing, not a dollar, and Company, and Robert Goelet. It Every Male and Female Tax payer In the Town of Hemp stead, on the last assessment roll, whether living In or out of an Incorporated village and whether or not registered, has the right to vote on the Long Beach Road and Bridge propo sition. We have not complainec’ ; we have taken our medicine; we have, as I say, paid nearly 1-8 of the entire taxes of the Town of Hempstead this year. In eight years you have Increased our assessed valuation from $600,000 to over $7,400,000. Through your minds Is probably flashing the thought that I n otwithstanding this fact, your tax bills are no lower. But that is not my was no easy task to make this sale, I assure you. They bought about two thousand feet on the Ocean front, a irile and a half e a st of Long Island R. R. station and running back a mile to the channel. For the last three or four months they have been doing something which has never before been done anywhere else. They are pumping two million five fault. The money has been paid to the , hundred thousand Cubic yards of ma- town, and if your duly elected officials terial out <;f the channel on' t0 the have taken this $600,000 and expended ; muck and marsh lands which you sold Every Male and Female Tax payer In the Town of Hemp stead, on the last assessment roll, whether living In or out of an Incorporated village and whether or not registered, has the right to vote on the Long Beach Road and Bridge propo sition. 000,000, more worth of property, from Ocean to channel, and this property Is to be also filled rolling, with no boardwalk, and to be laid out In villa plots, not In blocks, as has been done by me, but with winding roads, and anyone who purchases there must be long to the club. Can you not imagine what this means to the Town of Hempstead and to Long Beach? It means that next year, and I make this statem ent in all sincerity, that your assessed vnlu- ation will be increased $1,500,000, through this sale to the Lido Corpora tion. An assessed valuation of $1,500,000 the first year, at 90 cents a hundred means $13,500 to be received in taxes. That Is more than the interest on these bonds that I am asking you to vote for, and that new source of in come is not only for this year, but tor years to come as well. When Hotel Nassau cost $1,000,000, and you know how small a hotel that Is. Can you not see m at when this Lido proposition Is further along on the boardwalk a pier will be ur_exsary, with boats running to New York, as they do now from Rockaway. If one year’s added Improvements a t Lido will increase your tax receipts $13,500, what will five years do? I wish you taxpayers to bear In mind that if we had not made good at Long Beach, its assessed valuation would not have grown from $600,000 in 1907 to over $7,400,000 in 1914, and I would not be able to ask you to believe my statements. Dr. Schmuck is one of your fellow citizens. I think that four years ago he offered you $500,000, or five times as much as I offered you for the same property. He recently sent word to me through one of my connections that if there Is to be a new road to Long Beach he would like t<j have it go through his property and th a t he the the money once goes Into the pro perty you begin to get taxes from it. Every Male and Female Tax payer In the Town of Hemp stead, on the last assessm ent roll, whether living In or out of an inoorporated village and whether or not registered, has the right to vote on the Long Beach Road and Bridge propo- and the m aterial bad to be carted Into place. On top of the sand, macadam would be placed, for, say 50 feet wide; It Is not necessary at once to make the road Its full width of 100 feet. Do you know that your Town Board has already passed a resolution to the effect that the Long Beach bridge Every Male and Female Tax payer In the Town of Hemp stead, on the last assessment roll, whether living in or out of an incorporated village and whether or not registered, has the right to vote on the Long Beach Road and Bridge propo- wldow of one of the men killed the sum of $40,000. That was an accident In which the driver of the car tried to beat a train. The view for two miles either way was unobstructed. Not withstanding these facts, the Long Island Railroad was obliged to pay one of the parties Involved $40,000. Every Male and Female Tax payer in the Town of Hemp stead, on the last assessment roll, whether living in or out of an incorporated village and w h ether or not registered, has the right to vote on the Long Beach Road and Bridge propo sition. Then came the Pell-Laimbeer acci dent, with which Cornelius Vanderbilt, who had been at Long Beach In con nection with the Lido proposition, was involved. Suits aggregating $500,000 are now pending against the . Long Island Railroad on account of that catastrophe. Suppose these people had been killed through your Insecurs bridge. Can you imagine what would have happened to the purses of the taxpayers of the Town of Hempstead? You would not only have had to pay damages, but now would also have to build a new bridge. it somewhere else, they and not I should be held to account. Now If you vote in favor of this pro- | position to spend $250,000 for a road 1 and bridge to Long Beach the annual ' Interest cost, at 6 per cent, would ; amount to $12,500. The entire amount of taxes received by the Town of Hempstead annually is something When I bought Long Beach In 1907 there was quite some opposition to my doing so, as you will recall. I think many of you heard prominent gentlemen speak In opposition to that sale. They told you that you should I over $600,000, and I am asking not sell at the price named, as you y°u to increase it about $12,- would be giving away your birthright, 500 a year. We will call It \'so to speak.. I told you that It was $12,000 for the purpose of illustration, not exactly the price at which y o u ; $12,000_ Is one-fifth of $600,000. Your were selling that was Involved, but taxes would, therefore, be increased th a t you should consider the benefits one-fiftieth of the present amount. As- which would Accrue to the taxpayers, sume that your home is assessed at Do you know that up to the year 1907,! $5,000 with a tax rate of 90 cents a you taxpayers In all the years since ; hundred, and you have an annual tax Christopher Columbus dlscove r e d of $45. If you Increase It one-fiftieth, America, received a total of only $25r I the added amount is only 90 cents COO In taxes from the Island of Long | for the year, and the total tax would Beach, and that that amount had been j be $45.90 or only 90 cents more than pttld to you only after litigation with : you are now paying. If the vote »n this former owners, from, I think, Atlantic, proposition Is favorable. From this y. to wham you had sold the I example you can aee that if your home me. Starting at the Ocean and with no board walk in front, they are filling the tract up, rolling, some of the hills I being from 30 to 60 feet above the sea level, and already covering it with top soil. If any of you can tijke the time to do so, it will well repay you to visit this improvement. It is so interest ing that I myself have already visited It at least twenty times. They are building the finest Golf course In the world. In the middle they are putting an Island. A good golfer will be able to clear the Island with his ball, but the one who does not will nave to walk over two hundred feet of bridge to retrieve his ball and then over an other bridge two hundred feet long. You are probably thinking, some of you, that this Is a syndicate of million- aries with nothing else to do; but don’t forget they are doing something for the Town of Hempstead. Already they are' bringing in the top-eoil and fertiliser and they are going to cover the sand pumped with .. V - Every Male and Female Tax payer in the Town of Hemp stead,, on the last assessment roll, whether living in or out of an incorporated village and whether or not registered, has the right to vote on the Long Beach Road and Bridge propo sition. So you see that you are not going to pay the interest on the bonds, don’t you 7 Some of you may say, “Well this disposes of the Interest problem, but when Long Beach becomes a city we will be saddled with all the bonds”. Any lawyer, politician or layman fam iliar with such things will tell you that Long Beach cannot separate Itself as a City without It stands for Its proportionate amount the bonds then outstanding and unpaid, and by “proportionate am o unt” l mean on the heels of our valuation at that time. would be very glad to give the right of way through hie property to the Town of Hempstead for $1. Why do you think he feels that way? Simply because such a road through his pro perty would make it a great deal more valuable. And this road is also going through your property. Right here let me say th a t if you could get some body to take your meadows and in eight years increase their assessed valuation from $600,000 to over $7,- 400,000, you could afford to give them the meadows for nothing. Someone will say they are worth millions; but what are they worth lying out their on waste land? Do you now get any thing from them ? Some people will say the Long Beach property was given away, and that we are after something else, but don’t let that fool you. If I could go back eight years, and you would j give me my money back with- j out interest I would get out of Long Beach at once. Do you know we are j in there with $4,000,000 of bonds on the property, and worse off than we were eight years ago. These bonds bear 6 per cent Interest, or $240,000 a year. We pay you $70,000 In taxes. Those two Items total $310,000. To be frank w ith you, unless the real estate m arket picks up, you will see a reorganisation at Long Beach. We won’t \bust” but we cannot continue is unsafe? I do not know how many of my readers have gone over It, but each time I go over it I wonder if it is the tim e the accident is going to happen. Do you know that your Sup ervisor has been down there on Sun days and kept the automobiles pass ing over the bridge 50 feet apart and at the rate of four miles a n hour; that on one Sunady 3500 automobiles pass ed into and out of Long Beach, or a total of 7,000 for the day. This is j something I should have to ask the peo ! pie of the Town to do for m e ; this is ! something you have got to do. It is i only a question when you will do It, | whether while I am warning you, or when you have paid ten times the cost of the road and bridge from a catastrophe. It is your property; it is your bridge, and you will build the bridge or pay the penalty. And I am now going to put the responsibility upon you. No taxpayer now has an excuse if any thing happens. OBEOGeS MAX IMG CHANNELS ANO . m a r s h C A M P S XILLINO IN j Civic pride should enter in a pro position of this kind, as it does in oth- ! c-r parts of the country. There s no de- j velopment like Long Beach anywhere ! else. You assessed us in 1907 a t Every Male and Female Tax- payer in the Town of Hemp- stead, on the last assessment roll, whether living in or out of an Incorporated village and whether or not registered, has the right to vote »n the Long Beach Road and Bridge propo- •Ition. Every Male and Female Tax payer In the Town of Hemp stead, on the last assessm ent roll, Whether living in or out of an incorporated village and whether or not registered, has the right to vote on the Long Beach Road and Bridge propo sition. $600,000, and to day our assessment is $7,400,000, a period of eight years. W ith nineteen villages in the Town of Hempstead Long Beach Is now paying 1-8 of its taxes. The Lido peo ple are bringing in fresh money. Caq you not Imagine what that means id you? rate will be only 90 cents on each Remember the increase in your tax $5,000 of your assessed valuation if you vote for this proposition, and that the Lido property cotoing under assess ment at Long Beach wext year will more than take care of that small dif ference In your taxes. The issue Is In your hands; the ! responsibility Is now yours and not mine. The Long Island Railroad has said to me that If I can get the taxpayers of the Town to agree to Issue these bonds It will pay 1-6 of the entire cost of the road and the bridge. They want a roadway across the meadows without any grade crossings. They have had their accidents; and I am trying to prevent you taxpayers from having your accident at th a t bridge. I reached the second crossing a few minutes after the accident on the Long Island Railroad In which the- Court of Appeals awarded the Vote “Yes\ on this Proposition '
