CROSS SECTION, ATLANTIC AVENUE, SHOWING CUT AND COVERED WAY, WITH RESTORED STREET SURFACE FROM FLATBUSH AVENUE TO BEDFORD AVENUE.

tions and division of the said improvement where said expenditure has been made, the comptroller of the said city shall draw his warrant upon the treasury of the said city, in favor of the treasurer of the railroad company, bearing and paying said expense, for one-half the said sum, which shall be duly signed and countersigned by the proper officers of said city, upon whom there is devolved the duty of signing and countersigning warrants, and deliver it to the said railroad company for and on account of the one-half of the expense and cost of the said improvement to be borne and paid by the city as aforesaid.

§ 6. For the purpose of raising the sum or amount of the cost of said improvement to be borne and paid by the said city, it shall be the duty of the mayor and comptroller, or other proper officers thereof, from time to time, upon the requisition of said board of improvement, to issue bonds of said city not exceeding the amount above specified, bearing such rates of interest as they may deem proper, which interest shall be payable semi-annually, which bonds shall be issued as are other city bonds, and the proceeds of which shall be used for the purpose of paying the one-half part of all amounts called for by the certificate of the superintending engineer, approved by said board and provided for in the preceding section of this act. Such bonds shall be known as the "Atlantic avenue improvement bonds," and shall be issued at not less than par, for such period as said mayor and comptroller may determine, not exceeding twenty years.

§ 7. The proceeds of the sale of said Atlantic avenue improvement bonds so sold, as provided in the preceding section, shall be set apart, when collected, as a trust fund, for the purposes of said improvement, and for paying the portion of the cost thereof hereinabove imposed upon said city. To provide for the payment of the interest upon said bonds there shall be included in the tax budget and raised by tax upon the real and personal property in said city which, during each year until said bonds are paid, is subject to taxation, a sum sufficient to pay such interest after deducting therefrom any interest that may have been earned and received during the said year from said trust fund or the sinking fund hereinafter provided for. To provide for the payment of the principal of said bonds, there shall be included in the tax budget and raised by tax upon the real and personal property in said city which, during each year until said bonds are paid, is subject to taxation, a sum equal to one-twentieth part of the entire principal of said bonds, which amount shall be set apart as a special sinking fund to be denominated the "Atlantic avenue improvement sinking fund," and shall be appropriated and applied for and towards the payment of the principal of said bonds, and shall be under the management and control of the mayor, comptroller and treasurer of said city, or a majority of them, who shall be commissioners of said fund, and shall apply the same solely to the use and purpose aforesaid until the principal of said bonds shall be fully paid and discharged. The moneys directed to be paid unto the said sinking fund shall be invested by the commissioners of said fund in the several respective public stocks or bonds of said city or of the State of New York.

§ 8. The cost of construction of all stations and sidings upon said railroad and other betterments to the railroad hereafter made, whether provided for in this act, or not, shall be borne by the said railroad corporations, or one of

them, and shall not be included in the estimate to be made by said board of the cost of the proposed improvement herein authorized.

§ 9. Said depressed right of way and tracks and the elevated portions of said railroad hereinabove provided for, shall be employed for the uses and purposes of the said the Long Island Railroad company to the same extent and as fully and completely as the railroad at present constructed which is operated by the said company, provided that the operation of passenger trains on said railroad on said improvement shall be by some power other than steam locomotives, but steam locomotives may be used to move freight trains and, in cases of emergency, preventing the use of other power, to move the passenger trains over said improvement. It shall not be lawful for any person or persons other than a public officer in the execution of his duty as such, with his agents or assistants, to enter or pass upon or through the said depressed right of way or the elevated structure or any portion thereof, in any other way than in the proper cars of such corporation provided for that purpose, without the consent of said corporation, under a penalty of fifty dollars for each offense, to be recovered by said railroad corporation.

$ 10. If in the preparation of the plans for said improvement, it shall be found that the alteration in the grade of the right of way and railroad tracks hereinabove referred to shall interfere with any water main or pipe running longitudinally along said avenue, the said board for the Atlantic avenue improvement may locate said underground and depressed right of way and tracks at such point or points along said avenue as shall avoid said water mains or pipe, but the entire width of the depressed right of way and tracks shall not exceed the width of the present right of way occupied by the tracks and fences upon the surface of Atlantic avenue. Said board of improvement shall prepare a map and plan showing the location of the right of way and tracks of the railroad company as now in possession, together with the location of any water main running longitudinally along said avenue and which might be affected or interfered with by the construction of the depressed track herein provided for, and shall also indicate on said plan the underground and depressed right of way as located by them, and in consideration of a license from the said the Long Island Railroad company to the city of Brooklyn or its successor to keep and maintain the said longitudinal water mains or pipes as at present constructed, the said city is hereby authorized and directed to execute all necessary instruments for vesting in said Atlantic Avenue Railroad company of Brooklyn, or its lessee, the Long Island Railroad company, their successors and assigns, the full and complete right and privilege, during the continuance of said license, of using and occupying, for railroad purposes, such portions of the depressed right of way under the surface of Atlantic avenue as may be necessary by reason of such change in location, in so far as the said city shall have any right, title or interest therein. Whenever, in the prosecution of the said improvement, it shall become necessary to remove or change the position of the water or sewer pipes upon the said avenue, the same shall be done by the department of city works of the said city, and so as not to interfere with the prosecution of the work of the said improvement, and the cost thereof may be included in the estimate to be made by the said board, of the amount to be paid jointly by the

said railroad companies and the city in which said road is located, or the same shall be paid wholly by the said city according as the said board may determine; and whenever, in the prosecution of the said improvement, it shall become necessary to change the location of the gas pipes upon or under the said avenue, the same shall be done by and at the expense of the corporation or corporations owning or operating the same.

§ II. During the progress of said work, the Atlantic Avenue Railroad company of Brooklyn and its lessee, the Long Island Railroad company, are hereby authorized to lay down such temporary tracks on Atlantic avenue as may be necessary for carrying on the railroad business during the progress of the work, and such tracks shall be removed when the work shall have been completed.

§ 12. Whenever it shall be found advisable or necessary to alter the grade of the streets crossing the said Atlantic avenue under or over said railroad, the same may be done by said companies, but so as not to interfere with the free use of said streets by the public, and under the supervision of and with the sanction of said board for the improvement of Atlantic avenue and not otherwise.

§ 13. The said board shall determine when the work of said improvement shall commence, but they shall not so determine until they are satisfied that an underground double track railroad will be built from the westerly terminus of the said railroads to some convenient point at or near Maiden Lane in the city of New York as now constituted and that a company competent and able to build such an underground railroad has secured all the necessary consents and franchises therefor, has entered upon the performance of said work and has obligated itself to unite with the Long Island Railroad company in operating trains to and over the railroads aforesaid, and until the said the Long Island Railroad company has secured all the necessary rights, consents and franchises to construct the improvement herein provided for and has agreed to pay the proportionate cost thereof as hereinabove provided. After such determination is made the work shall be prosecuted to completion with reasonable expedition. When completed, the Long Island Railroad company as the lessee of the said Atlantic Avenue Railroad company of Brooklyn, its successors, or assigns, are authorized and directed to run their trains over the said improvement, and the route of said railroad as constructed and authorized by law, and no trains or cars of other companies without permission of the said Long Island Railroad company shall be run therein or thereon.

§ 14. The board appointed pursuant to the provisions of this act shall act upon any and all questions by a majority vote of its members.

§ 15. This act shall take effect immediately.

I have compared the preceding with the original copy on file in this office, and do hereby certify that the same is a correct transcript therefrom and of the whole of said original law.

JOHN PALMER,
Secretary of State.

Bill introduced in the Legislature April 2, 1897; passed both branches. Was approved by Mayor of Brooklyn. Did not become a law by reason of failure of the Governor to attach his signature.

The intent of the bill being supplementary to Chapter 499, Laws of 1897:

STATE OF NEW YORK.

No. 1400.

IN SENATE,

Int. 1075.

April 2, 1897.

Introduced by Mr. Wieman-read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the committee on affairs of cities.

AN ACT to regulate the use of lands, forming part of the right of way of any railroad company, the road of which has been removed from the surface in, or adjacent to, streets and highways in all cities of the first class in this state.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION I. Whenever the right of way, grade or tracks of any steam railroad company in or adjacent to any street or highway in any city of the first class are required by law to be changed or altered by elevating or depressing the same for the purpose of discontinuing the use of steam power upon the surface of such highway or street, such alteration or change of grade shall not be deemed to curtail or affect any right which such railroad company or its lessees or assigns may have to maintain and operate a surface passenger railway within the limits of the right of way so depressed or elevated, and over or under the railroad tracks so depressed or elevated, with all turnouts, sidings and tracks necessary to secure the continuous connection and operation of such surface railroad.

§ 2. In the event that any such turnouts, sidings or tracks shall extend beyond the lines of the right of way of such railroad corporations so depressed or elevated in or upon any of the streets or highways aforesaid, such turnouts, sidings or tracks so extending beyond the lines of such right of way shall only be constructed upon condition that the consent of the owners of one-half in value of the property bounded on, and the consent also of the local authorities having the control of that portion of such street or highway upon which it is proposed to construct such turnouts, sidings or tracks, shall be first obtained; or, in case the consent of such property owners can not be obtained, the appellate division of the supreme court in the department where such construction is proposed, may, upon application, appoint three commissioners who shall determine, after a hearing of all the parties interested, whether such turnouts, sidings and tracks so extending beyond the limits of such right of way and on