[ 140 ] IAN R. STEWART of businessmen, represented effectively by the Journal of Commerce, who wanted no park at all. Their main contention was that it simply was not needed within the city and that its cost would be disproportionately borne by them. Second, there was a considerable group of citizens who were entirely satisfied with the Jones's Wood proposal, feeling the council had acted appropriately and wisely in initially designating it. And, last, there was a growing group of people who endorsed Downing's criticisms, believing that a larger park carefully laid out in the central portion of the island was more suited to the city's long-term needs. Throughout the fall and winter these contending viewpoints clashed, gaining varying degrees of editorial support in all the local newspapers, while awaiting the report and further recommendations of the special committee. On January 2^ 1852, at the first council meeting of the year, the long-awaited special committee report was presented. Following the direction of the resolution that had created it, the committee conipre- hensively compared the Jones's Wood tract with what, in its mind, was the only other site on the island that seemed suitable for prospective park use. This was an approximately 760-acre site situated in the geographic center of the island, bounded by Fifth and Eighth avenues on the east and west and by Sixtieth and 106 streets at the southern and northern limits. The relative advantages of each location were analyzed according to four criteria—size, convenience of locality, availability, and probable cost. In each of the first three categories, the committee easily concluded that the central site was superior. It was obviously larger, more readily accessible, and probably easier to acquire.27 In terms of cost, it was more difficult to argue in favor of the central location. Nevertheless, after preparing cost estimates for each parcel of land at both sites, the committee produced elaborate calculations and arguments to conclude that the central park would cost $1,407,325 and Jones's Wood $706,705. Although the cost was almose double for the central site, it was nearly five times larger in area than the 160-acre east side tract. Also, it included a site for a new reservoir, which the 27 New York City Board of Aldermen, Document No. 83, January 2, 1852, reprinted in Board of Commissioners of Central Park, First Annual Report on the Improvement of Central Park, New York (New York, 1857), 137-58.