Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-06-02
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.



Editor Star;-Permit me to inquire through
your columns whether IL is not about time
for the residents on 10th street northwest
to hold an indignation meeting or some
other sort of meeting to see whether the
footwalks on that street cannot be put In order,
so that doorsteps can be reached without wadtng
through mud and dust shoe mouth deep? The
sidewalks have been torn up for more than six
months, and from present appearances IL will
be six months more before they viii be relaid.
Who is responsible for this outrage? Is it the
b. z. w. or the contractors? One day we are
told the work will be commenced next week.
and actively pushed to completion; another
day, that bricks cannot be obtained. The last
Is no excuse. They cuR be had. and are had, for
other streets; why not for 10th? Are the con-
tractors for that work insolvent, or are they
waiting for fall in the price of bricks, SO they
can make more money on their job? In either
case, let the contract fe taken from them and
given 70 others. who can and will do the work.
BY what looks like sharp practice the certifi-
Gates fof the street paving have been issued
long ago, and are drawing interest, while GER
tifcates of indebtedness are refused in pay
ment, and meantime the people living on the
street are no better off practically than II the
street had not been touched by the greedy cor
morants. Again I ask, who is to blame? The
Board of Public Works must be censurable in
some degree, or they would not permit snch
trifiing. y.
9th Street Northwest.
Editor Of the star: As your paper seems in
clined to speak fearlessly on all subjects de-
power, appeal to you for assistance on behalf
of large number of worthy people who are
made to suffer unnecessarily and uniustly. Fer
about ten months 9Th street, above NJ has been
impossible by reason of the roadway being
plOughed up, preparatory to the pavement be-
ing laid. All through the winter the Maud was
in many places knee deep, and as soon as the
weather permitted work, we had instead an in
junction case, in the petition for which the fact
was developed that the clear profit accruing to
the contractors for paving the street fl ON the
avenue to NJ street amounted to serenity thousand
esty of job that paid such figures can ask with
propriety, think how long are We to be kept as
we now are? l believe the rault does not
matter is probably beyond their jurisdiction,
being in the courts; but is there not ,vdy by
which we who pay our full share of the taxes
can be relieved? The manner in which the
portion Of the street between the Avenue and
NJ street is paved, proves conclusively to any
honest man that the party or parties doing the
work are unworthyof moments thought as
public spirited or fair dealing men. Look al
1t! The road bed Is cut to pieces, all over its
uneven surface are dangerous holes, and yet
over. Can't the Board OF Public Works put
men at work to fill up the street north of M
street with ANYTHING on the face of the earth
that will enable vehicle to approach our
houses? Give us common turnpike, or even a
corduroy road: give us anything, but don't
keep whole street in misery and mud that a
set of specializing, loud mouthed street con-
tractors may fatten. Yours, truly, NJ.