No. 11.

IN SENATE,

JANUARY 15, 1908.

Report of Commission to Select a Site

FOR THE

New York State Training School for Boys

THE CAPITOL, ALBANY, January 15, 1908.

To the Hon. LEWIS STUYVESANT CHANLER, Lieutenant-Governor and President of the Senate:

SIR. We have the honor herewith to transmit to the Legislature the report of the Commission to Select a Site for the New York State Training School for Boys, appointed pursuant to the provisions of chapter 665, Laws of 1907.

Yours very respectfully,

DENNIS MCCARTHY.

HOMER FOLKS.

ISAAC TOWNSEND.

To the Legislature:

ALBANY, N. Y., January 15, 1908.

The Commission appointed pursuant to the provisions of chapter 665 of the Laws of 1907 to select a site for the New York State Training School for Boys and to perform certain other duties, respectfully reports as follows:

On July 29th his Excellency Governor Hughes appointed as members of this Commission Dennis McCarthy of Syracuse, Isaac Townsend of New York City and Homer Folks of Yonkers.

The Commission was organized on September 6, 1907, Mr. McCarthy being elected chairman and Dr. Robert W. Hill being elected as secretary. Mr. Joseph P. Byers, superintendent of the House of Refuge on Randall's Island, the work of which it is proposed shall be taken over by the New York State Training School for Boys, was present by invitation and was invited to attend meetings of the Commission and to assist it in the examination and selection of sites.

At its first meeting the Commission decided that, in view of the difficulty which always attends the acquisition of land at a fair price when the State is known to be the purchaser, it would endeavor to make its examination of sites and to conduct the negotiation for the purchase of the site selected without disclosing the identity of the purchaser. To secure this result it decided to select some firm of real estate brokers familiar with suburban and rural properties and to request such firm to devote itself continuously to the examination of possible sites and to report to the Commission for inspection by it or by Mr. Byers as its representative of sites which appeared to meet the requirements previously indicated by this Commission. A committee was

appointed to frame a schedule of the requirements for sites suitable for its purpose and to secure the services of a qualified firm of real estate brokers.

At the second meeting of the Commission, held September 20, 1907, a schedule of general requirements was adopted and the firm of Messrs. Cooley & West, Inc., with offices in New Rochelle, White Plains, Mount Vernon and New York City, was selected as the representative of the Commission. Four firms had been asked to submit proposals as to the terms on which they would undertake to act for the Commission, and the proposal of Cooley & West was considered the most advantageous to the State. This proposal was in effect that they would devote themselves continuously to the undertaking without expense to the State and without reimbursement for expenses incurred by them, charging the usual commission to the seller, if a sale were consummated, provided the Commission would, so far as it conducted its negotiations through the real estate brokers, deal exclusively through them. The Commission desires to place on record the fact that Messrs. Cooley & West have taken up the matter with great energy and industry, traveling some two thousand miles in examining possibly desirable territory, and that their services have been in every way satisfactory to this Commission and in its judgment have been of marked value to the State. The schedule of general requirements of a desirable site, as adopted at this meeting, were as follows:

1. A site that approximates and must not exceed 500 acres in

extent.

2. In New York State and within seventy miles of New York city. The site nearest the city of New York, other things being equal, will receive favorable consideration.

3. An unlimited supply of water for domestic and other uses. Source: Springs, brooks, wells, lakes.

4. Transportation facilities for both freight and passengers. It is not absolutely essential, but it is desirable, that there be facilities for shipping freight, coal, flour, etc., in carload lots to the site without a wagon haul. Railway or trolley line should be within While direct transportation facilities as

two and a half miles.

bove are not absolutely essential, they will be given weight in