Deputy Street Commissioner
Quinn, Health Commissioner Black
and C controller Coler will be
ably assisted by many of the
respectable business men and
property owners of Coney Island
if they really intend to give
the famous resort a thorough
sweeping and washing.
While there has been so
much talk of late about the city
purchasing certain garbage
plants at an enormous cost, the
Coney Island peo0ple have been
wondering why the city
authorities do not take it upon
themselves to again put in
operation the crematory now
located at Coney Island. The
sight of heavily laden garbage
trucks being drawn through the
streets and up over Ocean
parkway has long been a
disgusting nuisance and the
suggestion has been made that it
could be done away with by
burning the garbage at the
crematory as did the officials
in the former town of Gravesend.
It was said yesterday that the
plant at Coney Island could be
placed in first class condition
for a very small expenditure,
and in a short time. Nobody
seems to know why the plant was
abandoned at the time of
annexation, but the residents do
know that the resort has been
sadly neglected since that time
by the police and health
departments.
When the old town was in
existence great care was taken
by the reigning officials in
preserving the health of both
resident and visitor, and the
way it was carried out was in
gathering all the garbage and
trucking it over to the
crematory, where it was burned.
The island was not nearly as
thickly settled in those days as
it is today, but the crowds of
visitors on Sundays and holidays
were equally, or almost, as
large and a considerable amount
of garbage would be collected in
twenty-four hours. The town
officials introduced a system,
however, and the men who held
the contract for cleaning the
streets and collecting the
garbage were forced to keep
constantly at work. That
resulted in making Coney Island
a remarkably clean place, when
the big crowds were taken into
consideration.
Every one who has visited Coney
Island during the past five
years has noticed the condition
of the main thoroughfare, Surf
avenue and the many board walks
and they have often wondered how
it was that an epidemic did not
seize hold of Coney Island and
carry off the people to their
graves.
Every season since the former
town people decided to become a
ward in the old City of Brooklyn
and later one little corner of
Greater New York, the garbage
conditions have grown decidedly
worse and today finds the more
thickly settled portion in the
grasp of malaria, caused, the
local physicians declare, by the
rotten condition of the island.
Thousands of people now make
their homes the year round at
Coney Island, whereas in the
days of the former town, the
permanent residents were few.
The crusade made by the street
cleaning force of men during the
past week has not amounted to a
great deal. Most of the time has
been passed along the beach,
where, it is said, a large
quantity of refuse and
objectionable matter has been
collected. Perhaps the beach
needed the cleansing, but no
complaint was ever made as to
its alleged filthy condition.
The people have entered numerous
complaints, however, against the
filth that is permitted to lay
in the streets leading to the
beach and on Surf avenue,
through which thoroughfare
hundreds of thousands of people
pass. A futile attempt has been
made to clean the thoroughfare,
but practically the same
conditions exist.
A new dumping ground has been
chosen at Coney Island and the
terrible odor that is noticeable
in passing by brings one back to
the days when Contractor Charles
Hart "planted" hundreds of scow
loads of filth on the meadow
land near the Harway avenue
bridge. Hart's Park, as some
have named it, is now covered
with green grass and all kinds
of vegetables are growing there.
The vicinity of West Eighth
street and Neptune avenue is now
being filled in with filth and
the residents are complaining.
All kinds of refuse, it is said,
is being dumped there. The land
is partly meadows and there is a
narrow roadway which leads
across to the West End railroad
tracks, and it is along side
this road that the filth is
noticeable. A number of
complaints have also been made
about the lots in the rear of
the Albermarle and Prospect
Hotels, on Surf avenue, near the
old Culver depot. A policeman
who had occasion to cross the
lots yesterday stepped in a soft
spot and sank down over his
shoes. He said it was garbage
and the smell coming from it was
horrible. Down at the
intersection of Thompson's and
Henderson's walks and Surf
avenue, barrels and bosses
filled with refuse are piled up
in the morning and it is well
along in the afternoon before it
is removed. The filth is still
to be found along the board
walks, many of which it has been
said, should be torn up and
filed in with earth, and despite
any effort that may have been
made toward cleaning Coney
Island, a tour of the resort
yesterday showed that conditions
are just as they were before the
crusade was commenced. The
trucks are few and far between
and when they do put in an
appearance they are loaded up
over the tops of the wagon and
much refuse drops to the street.