The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-10-30
BOARD OF ASSISTANT ALDERMEN
EXTRA SESSION.

Cry HALL, NEW ORLEANS
Oct. %, 1865. (
The board convened in extra session, pursuant
to adjournment.
Present President Kearny, and Messrs. Rose,
Athens, Pemberton, Montgomery, Sturcken,
Fisher, Pandely, Farrell and Breen.
The reading of the minutes of the previous
meeting was dispensed with.
The following communication from the street
commissioner was read and referred to the com.
mttee on streets and landings:
STREET COMMISSIONERS OFF1cE,)
Room No. Z, City Hall,
New Orleans, October 81, 1868.
To the HouOrable Board of Assistant Aldermen City New
Gentlemen-I am compelled by the pressure of
of the difficulties have to contend with in carry.
ing out the duties of my office, and which
mentioned to your honorable body in my CON-
municstion OF September 22d. The delay in get.
ting acquisitions for materials necessary to do the
public work, which / then mentioned as great
inconvenience, has since become q serious detri.
ment to the public interest. Now, feeling as
much soicitnde for the interests Of the city as
duty TO respectfully ask you to take some decided
action with regard to the supplying the necessary
materials for carrying on the work of my depart
ment, whereby the constant delays and conse.
quent loss to the city treasury would be avoided,
as, at the present moment, no less than Ga men
are losing the city time waiting for lumber to re.
pair bridges.
For the purpose of illustrating my statement, l
will 60 into o few details connected with my
duties.
In consequence of the late disastrous food, q
vast amount of public property, in the way of
street bridges, was seriously damaged, and. in
some instances, utterly destroyed; the suffering
in the submerged districts, already very great, be-
came aggravated on the retirement of the water
by the loss Of most Of the street bridges; of
course, relief was demanded on all sides, and the
pressure on me became so great that l
instructed MIR. Thomas Reynolds, the inspec.
tor of bridges, to at once put on extra
gangs, TO give relief to the public with the least
possible delay, and to procure all the necessary
Amand, who has recently contracted to supply
the city with lumber at q stipulated price. also
caused acquisitions to be sent up to the honorable
streets and landings committees, as follows;
On October 9th, 930S feet for bridges.
On October 10th, 63, 1877 feet for bridges.
On October 10th, Ii, 900 feet for Liberty street
plank road.
The above lumber has all been used up, the bills
have been rendered, and yet at this moment no
requsition has been granted. To-day have sent
up another requistion for rs, 900 feet, for of
bridges. and am now informed that for the future
shall buy no more lumber without requistion
has been signed for 1t. Now in times of public
emergency the mere matter of petty routine ought
to be made to give way to public utility and If /
had not made II to do SO, In what sort of condi-
tion would the streets at the back of the city have
been to-day THE les bridges we have either re.
paired or rebuilt would have been still undone,
and the public inconvenience and distress have
become unbearable. Even now many bridges are
in need of repairs, some OF them in very public
thoroughfsres. will mention one In particular
the long bridge on Washington street, near the
Halfway House, has been in dangerous condi-
ton for several days for want of lumber, and still
remains so, because Mr.. ]. B. ST. Armand refuses
to supply unless acquisitions are placed in his
hands.
Although the case is not so urgent, the same in.
convenience is felt with regard to procuring bal.
last for the public streets, the delay in the sigma
ture Of acquisitions causing great loss of time
and money. The price pay for 1t, So per ton,
seems to be Objectionable 10 the honorable CON-
mittee on streets and landings, although they do
not instruct me where con procure 1t for less;
might possibly procure 1t occasionally on the
levee for 81 or 81 Is per ton. on condition l
pay for it on the spot in United States currency,
which | am powerless to do; even then l should
have to take il frequently In small lots and to re-
ceive it q very long distance from where need
IL, thereby enhancing the price, by the distance
that have made various efforts to procure bal
last under the usual terms at less price than 49,
but without success. Although not advocating
the giving out of public work by contract, STILL
would be advisable to sell at auction the contract
for supplying the city with ballast, and thereby
avoid sii delay in purchasing and fixing the
price.
will now conclude by asking your honorable
body to favor me with immediate action in this
matter, otherwise l shall be compelled, for the
sake of economy, to discharge the workmen en-
gagged in ballsstiug Liberty street under the
orders of the honorable streets and landings COM
mittees, and also oil those working on street
bridges. while wait for acquisitions to 60 through
their round for signature.
Very respectfully,
Your obedent servant,
JOSEPH MURPHY,
AStreet Commissioner.
Mr.. Fisher submitted the following resolution,
which was unanimously adopted:
RESOLVED, That the Board of Aldermen be and
they are hereby requested to meet this board in
joint session, at haf-past IL o'clock to-day for
the purpose Of electfng superintendent OF ire
alarm telegraph.
The following resolutions. from the Board OF
Aldermen, on their second reading, were unani-
mously concurred In:
Resolved. That all specifications for contracts
to be adJudicated by the controller, shall be made
and published at the discretion Of the Common
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