Politics and the Park [153] The mayor's veto prevailed without any effort mustered to override it. Indeed, the formidable new mayor, with his strong popular support, was not now a man to be easily opposed or tampered with. The issue of the park's size and location was now finally settled. Shortly after this episode, cracks began to appear in Wood's carefully constructed image. Approximately six months after his inauguration, some of the worst predictions that had preceded his election began to be realized, and it became clear that his pious behavior had been a temporary facade. During the remainder of his three terms in office, few opportunities for self-aggrandizement eluded him. For a brief period, however, he had won the support of the city's respectable gentry.58 Among them were many who were strong backers of the park, and who were now grateful to have been the unwitting beneficiaries of part of his fanciful charade. A later evaluation of Wood's motives, cynical but perhaps more accurate, held that he had moved to protect the park to enhance his prospects of later extracting huge sums of graft from the contractors hired to develop and improve it. The last step involved in the process of acquiring the park was to appraise the value of the land and take possession of it under the powers of eminent domain. For two years, the commissioners of assessment and apportionment had been at work assigning values to the more than 7,500 building lots embraced by the site. They had also estimated the amount of monetary benefit that would be gained by the properties near the park and delineated the territorial limits over which this benefit assessment should be spread. The commissioners' report, submitted on July 2,1855, had only to be confirmed by a judge of the state supreme court.57 B6 Callow, The Tweed Ring, 18-19. 87 [Hutchinson], A Model Mayor, 42-43. This diagram, "First study of design for the Central Park" was presented by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted in 1858 in their report Description of a Plan for the Improvement of the Central Park. "Greensward" the new-york historical society. '^LyJUUUUUUUULJUULJUUUUUUUUUUL,JUUUUUUUUUUUUUI.JUuUUi ,r, mW^!"'..V.m".V"II.m.m'"I nnnnnnnnnnnrinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnr;nnnnnr