CITY OF BOSTΟΝ.

In Board of Aldermen, September 30, 1861.

THE Joint Special Committee, to whom was referred the subject of constructing a new Avenue to South Boston, submit the following

REPORT.

The Committee have given to this subject an unusual amount of investigation, on account of the importance of the subject, the number and respectability of the petitioners, and the favorable recommendations of the committees of former City Councils. The further we have proceeded in our investigation the more have we been satisfied that the construction of a direct avenue from some central portion of the City to so extensive a territory as the South Boston peninsula, will be of great pecuniary benefit to the City, and that the public exigencies demand its speedy completion. Being satisfied that, from the necessity of the case, such an avenue must eventually be built by the City, and that the sooner it is built the more speedy will the City receive its attendant benefits, your Committee have had less hesitancy in recommending an immediate commencement of the work, from a consideration which will be fully appreciated by the City Government and by the citizens at large. This is, that the construction of this avenue will give immediate employment and relief to

1

thousands of laborers in the City who will otherwise suffer from extreme destitution through the coming winter. There is no other public work, except building streets, upon which laborers can be employed, and we are of the opinion that it is the imperative duty of the City Government to do something for the relief of those who must be supported as paupers if judicious aid is not given now. We do not believe that it is wise or prudent for the City Government to remain indifferent and inactive, while every one can see that the want of work will drive thousands to the Almshouse during the approaching winter.

The City is bound by law to provide for the support of the poor within its limits, and we believe it is much more prudent, and that we shall best fulfil the duty of a government, by anticipating and preventing poverty and suffering, and by keeping honest and industrious laborers from the Almshouse. Prompt and energetic measures, in such times as these, are the only prudent ones. Although we place this subject first, because it should be first at this emergency in the minds of every citizen, we are aware that this of itself would not be a sufficient cause for the particular work we recommend. We therefore proceed to state the reasons which seem to make the proposed avenue a matter of public convenience and necessity, and to justify a much larger expenditure even than will be required, and under the present circumstances we cannot but deem it fortunate that there is a great public enterprise waiting to be commenced which will furnish the needed employment, and at the same time be a judicious expenditure for the City. That the proposed avenue is a matter of public convenience and necessity, and a proper enterprise to be undertaken, we think is evident from the following reasons:

First. The public convenience and necessitics of South Boston, (comprising a population to about thirty thousand in number,) require a new and more direct avenue to the centre of the City.

Second. An examination of the records of the City show that South Boston has received a singularly small and disproportionate share of the money expended for highways and

streets.

Third. This great public improvement will give an immediate and positive value to the lands owned by the City at South Boston, much larger than the amount of outlay required.

Fourth. The construction of this avenue will be of a great and permanent benefit to the harbor of Boston.

Fifth. It will add immense sums to the taxable property of the City, by developing a worthless waste of flats of over a mile in extent, and changing it to useful and valuable property.

Sixth. It will bring the City lands three quarters of a mile nearer to the City Hall.

Seventh. By thus giving direct communication, it will give those healthy and desirable building sites, which are so much needed at this time to check the constant and dangerous drain upon our tax-paying population, which is so injurious to us, and so beneficial to the suburban towns in the vicinity of Boston.

Eight. This improvement will enhance the valuation of the City, and diminish largely the pro rata tax on property.

Taking up these reasons more in detail, your Commit would state that, in their judgment, there can be little doubt that the public convenience and necessity require this avenue. We find that there is an unusual and unanimous complaint about the main highway to South Boston, which is through Federal Street, formerly Sea Street. This street is circuitous, crowded, and, from the nature of its population and the business carried on there, is very inconvenient and undesirable as a principal thoroughfare to such an important portion of the City. need not enlarge upon the advantages of wide, straight, and cleanly avenues, or the reasonableness of the demands for them. Indeed we consider that we are not granting any favor, but that we are complying with a just and legal requirement, when we comply with such a call. The avenue which we recommend will lead from some point near the foot of Summer Street, or the

We

:

L

junction of Congress Street, in a straight line to the City's lands in South Boston; and when it is laid out, sixty-six feet in width, it will be a public improvement worthy of the City and valuable to the public.

That South Boston has peculiar claims for this improvement cannot be, with any fairness, denied by those who know the history of this portion of the City. When it was annexed to the City proper the streets were all regularly and carefully laid out in the most convenient manner, and of very liberal width; and these highways, thus laid out, amounting to many miles of valuable and necessary streets, were all given to the City without compensation. Besides this, the long bridge from Dover Street and the Federal Street Bridge were given to the City as free bridges, without compensation.

By comparison with other portions of the City, the rights of South Boston are much more apparent. East Boston has a much smaller population than South Boston, yet within the past three years the City has spent, not in permanent avenues which would aid the City property, but in gratuities to the two ferry companies, nearly four hundred thousand dollars. This great sum was given on the ground that it was the duty of the City to facilitate communication between the different portions of the City. But the present case is very much stronger. The same argument may be applied, with equal if not with greater force, in the present case. There are several streets, such as Washington and Hanover Streets, in each of which the City has spent more in merely widening the streets, within a few years, than is required for this important and valuable avenue. If we compare the expenditures at the south part of the City, or the value of the improvements near the Public Garden, the contrast brings out in a still more forcible light the rights of South Boston. In a merely selfish view, this improvement is worthy of the attention of the City Government. The City owns nearly two millions of square feet of upland in South Boston, and about thirteen hundred thousand square feet of flats. This upland is situated upon a beautiful slope of the hill, commanding a fine