[2] The several powers and duties of the health officers are set forth in detail in chapter xix of the first charter creating the City of Greater New York (January 1, 1898; amended, 1901).
Workers were paid by Tammany Hall below minimum wage and forced to sign contracts that gave up half of their paycheck to Boole.
After the release of the Citizens Association Report in late 1865, the new board began to manage New York City's worst environmental problems.
A Health official in 1866 wrote of the tenements in a 300-page document, entitled Inspection of Tenement living: The streets were uncleaned; manure heaps containing thousands of tons, occupied piers and vacant lots; sewers were obstructed; houses were crowded, and badly ventilated, and lighted; privies were unconnected with the sewers, and overflowing; stables and yards were filled with stagnant water, and many dark and damp cellars were inhabited.
The streets were obstructed, and the wharves and piers were filthy and dangerous from dilapidation; cattle were driven through the streets at all hours of the day in large numbers, and endangered the lives of the people.The Board of Health helped encourage scientists and doctors to help cure diseases as well as join reformers in bringing attention to tenement law and work laws.