| The BPC and its counsel deliberated over the best way to proceed with condemnations. It did not seem practical to take one case at a time, so the commission organized the parkway into six sections. The commissioners believed that they were well prepared to institute the condemnation proceedings. They emphasized that the BPC had a "vast amount" of information regarding land values, including reports from expert appraisers and a record of uniform prices established through previous sales. The BPC also had photographs to document the parcels, buildings, and improvements. Appraisers were sent back into the field to re-examine property and make supplemental reports. In addition, the BPC hired a title company to examine titles, certify owners’ and lienors’ names, and report on the ownership status of all parcels to be condemned. Another advantage working in their favor was that BPC’s commissioners, engineers, and legal experts were by now intimately familiar with each parcel under question. The BPC law department was increased to handle the work involved with condemnation proceedings. Additional employees included a special counsel, assistant counsel, law clerks, clerical workers, and a process server. The commissioners were optimistic that their presentations would be so conclusive that the condemnations would proceed quickly and establish awards that reflected the BPC’s perspective of the contested property values.(105) Condemnation proceedings began in late 1915. Three appraisal commissioners were appointed for each section of the parkway. BPC counsel Theodosius Stevens described the typical proceedings for a large, unimproved tract of land, noting that many of the property owners employed similar bargaining strategies. First, they hired their own engineers to describe the purported value of improvements that were ostensibly planned for contested properties, asserting that the BPC should compensate the owners for the loss of revenue the owners would suffer if they were forced to give up these planned business ventures. According to Stevens, these unscrupulous witnesses would go on at great length and in minute detail about "elaborate but imaginary structures" including manufacturing plants, hotels, theatres and other proposed improvements. The engineers created the impression that there was an immediate and unlimited demand for such structures. Real estate experts would follow the engineers and "unblushingly claim fanciful values" for the properties in question. Stevens complained that condemnation commissions did not run the hearings in the most efficient manner, wasting both time and money. The result was thousands of pages of testimony and proceedings that spanned several years. To illustrate the absurdity of many of the hearings, Stevens highlighted a few cases, including one that began in 1917 and concluded in 1921. The owner wanted $195,000 while the BPC valued the parcel at $5,400. The final award was $10,500. The proceedings with one of the largest landowners in the parkway, Garth Estates, dragged on for nearly nine years. Garth Estates demanded $1,306,913.41 for its holdings. The BPC claimed a value of $71,820 but made an offer of $88,605 to purchase the property at the condemnation proceedings. The final judgement was $204,940.48. The case was discussed during 189 sessions, with twenty-two experts testifying for the landowners. These proceedings generated 9,135 typewritten pages of testimony that were complied into thirteen volumes.(106) The BRPR condemnation proceedings consumed a tremendous amount of time and effort. By the end of 1917 the tedious process had produced 25,521 pages of minutes, 1,320 hours of testimony, 385 separate hearings, and ninety-three executive sessions covering 355 hours.(107) Titles to 410 parcels were purchased by the BPC by means of condemnation judgments by the end of 1917. The BPC continued to have some success with negotiating land sales directly with property owners. The BPC also continued to receive additional gifts of land. Emily Butler made more donations in 1917 and 1918, including the "Oldwood Reservation" and land near Scarsdale. D. A. Schulte donated land in Tuckahoe in 1918.(108) At this point the parkway reservation was deemed essentially complete, though some minor property issues remained to be worked out. From the BPC’s perspective, statistics justified the direct purchase approach as significantly more cost-effective than condemnation. Stevens reported that 884 parcels comprising approximately two-thirds of the parkway reservation had been acquired through direct purchase for a total of $4,608,888.76, with an additional $135,328.33 (3 percent of the total) being spent on acquisition expenses. The land acquired by condemnation cost $3,843,943.60, with proportionately higher acquisition expenses of $448,210.00 (12 percent). The average parcel size of land obtained by purchase was .678 acre, with an average parcel cost of $821.87. The parcels acquired by condemnation averaged .334 acre and had an average price of $8,446.47, or more than ten times the direct purchase price. Sidestepping the issue of whether or not the condemned lands actually were more valuable, Stevens asserted that these figures provided "the most striking illustration of the inordinate extravagance of condemnation proceedings." The commissioners blamed the higher costs of condemnation on the profligate attitude that allowed those entrusted with public funds to be more liberal with the taxpayers’ money than they would be if they were expending their own funds.(109) While one-third of the land might seem to be a high rate of condemnation, the Bronx Parkway Commissioners considered this to be significantly lower than the norm for other public projects of the time. |
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| (105)Bronx
Parkway Commission, Report, 1916, 22, 96; Bronx Parkway Commission,
Minutes, September 30, 1915, 375-377; March 31, 1916, 173-75. |
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