| Parkway supporters asserted that the increasing real estate values throughout Westchester County were another indication of the Bronx River Parkway’s success. The BPC and civic boosters had always predicted that the parkway would more than pay for itself through rising real estate values. The Real Estate Record of Westchester County staunchly supported the parkway in its early years, noting that the project was a great economic stimulus for Westchester County. In 1912, the Record claimed that the BRPR would assist nature in what was "so generously bestowed" on Westchester County. The parkway would help Westchester "exploit" the county’s natural attractions. With the new parkway providing additional attractions and offering easy access to New York City, Westchester County was sure "to be a great ‘seller’ to all who are seeking the country home.(272) In 1913 the Record claimed that property values were already rising in Westchester County in areas like Hartsdale, where there were already fifty houses built within sight of the proposed parkway on land that had been vacant for years. Local boosters expressed confidence that the BRPR would bring a new era of prosperity to this "unusually delightful stretch of territory." The local papers predicted that the area would benefit from its proximity to the railroad and the creation of a great parkway that would clean up and beautify the valley as well as bring increased land values.(273) In many of its published annual reports, the BPC emphasized that the BRPR would easily pay for itself. It cited San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago as other cities whose property value rose in association with park development, resulting in increased tax revenues that more than covered the initial costs of the projects. The BPC maintained that even though property values near public parks increased, the overall tendency was to lessen the rate of taxation rather than increase it by creating a general increase in the attractiveness of the entire community. Parks had other direct economic benefits as well, since they stimulated a better class of growth. The BPC land acquisition concentrated on low-lying swamplands, which the commission deemed "unfit for habitation," or occupied by a "low class of development." Parkway development eliminated these "practically valueless lands," replacing them with a beautiful parkway and giving rise to more attractive development in the surrounding areas.(274) One newspaper maintained that Westchester’s parks and parkways transformed the greater portion of the county into a "high class suburban residence section." Another newspaper claimed that fortunes were made building the most beautiful residential area in America along the Bronx River Parkway.(275) In 1930, Downer stated that values in Westchester County rose along parkways, whereas elsewhere values dropped. "The outstanding advantage in favor of parkways," Downer maintained, was "that in our Westchester County experience they have invariable made the lands adjoining their reservations highly desirable for residential uses." He explained that parkways were desirable because they provided express traffic routes with convenient access, but remained separated from privately owned lands by a liberal strip of park reservation. In contrast, most ordinary highways and thoroughfares were inappropriate for residential development because they were heavily traveled with vehicles of all types. As a result, Downer calculated about 20 percent of land adjacent to modern highways was used by businesses, with the remaining land doomed to be filled with billboards and hot dog stands, which resulted in lower property values.(276) |
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Estate Record of Westchester County, October 24, 1912. |
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