October 29: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1909, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The fight for the Fourth avenue subway has been won. By a unanimous vote the Board of Estimate at the meeting this morning authorized the appropriation of $2,850,000 to begin the construction work immediately. Then the board went farther, at the instigation of Controller [Herman] Metz, who has been instrumental in holding up the project for a year, and passed a resolution requesting the Public Service Commission to apply to the Board of Estimate for $13,036,381, which is the balance of the estimated cost of the entire six sections of the subway from the Manhattan Bridge to Forty-third street. ‘As long as we started the work, we should see that it won’t be held up by any future board,’ said Mr. Metz. ‘This board here should authorize the balance of the money covering the entire cost of construction so the work won’t be stopped after it has once been started.’”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1950, the Eagle reported, “There will be more foot patrolmen on duty after Wednesday in parks and outlying residential areas, Police Commissioner Thomas F. Murphy announced last night. The extra men will come from an experiment in the use of one-man radio cars, instead of two, in 22 precincts in the city, including four in Brooklyn. Demands for such action had been voiced by thousands of Brooklynites earlier this year when, while William P. O’Brien was police commissioner, the Brooklyn Eagle campaigned to ‘Put the Cops Back on the Beat.’ For several months, stories pointed up the rising tide of crime on the streets and the fears of residents to go outdoors at night. A few small increases in the number of foot patrolmen followed, but only in widely scattered precincts.”