Politics and the Park [ 143 ] By May of 1853, it became clear, however, that the idea of having some park had gained too much momentum and public support to enable the small group that took a stance against any park to prevail. Thus, the issue was now reduced to fighting out the choice between the two proposed sites. One indication of this was that even the Journal of Commerce, which hitherto had consistently opposed the building of any park, tacitly switched its position to one of modest support. In a May 24 article, it condemned the idea that the existing legislation proposed to charge the entire city with the expense of acquiring and improving the Jones's Wood park site when in fact the increased value of the surrounding property would accrue only to a few landowners. This was an outrage to the general taxpayer, it argued, particularly when it appeared that the central site was preferable. If a park had to be, then the central one was best as it would embrace the site for the reservoir, which the city would in any event have to purchase. "However!' it worried aloud and with an obvious lack of enthusiasm, "we do not see the necessity for making it so immensely large!'38 With the legislature in session, the backers of the two sites now marshaled their forces. The assembly had passed a bill authorizing the taking of Jones's Wood on April 2, 1853, and senate hearings were about to be opened in Albany to argue out once again the merits of the respective sites. On June 9, the city gave its official endorsement to the central site when the Board of Aldermen voted to request the legislature to authorize the opening of a park, the boundaries of which would be southerly by Sixty-third Street, northerly by One-hundredth Street, between Fifth and Eighth avenues.84 On June 31, the positions that were argued at the state hearings were made generally known when the select committee of the senate released its report. The report noted first that the only real issue before the committee was whether it should designate Jones's Wood, since this was the only site the assembly had authorized. The report went on to state, however, that because of the common council's recommendation, the Committee on the Sanitary Conditions of the Laboring Classes in the City of New York, with Remedial Suggestions (New York, 1853), 7. 88 Journal of Commerce, May 24, 1853, 3, and June 18, 1853, 3. s* Board of Commissioners of Central Park, First Annual Report, 167.