Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-06-21
Out streets and Lanes Reform
Wanted.

There j. enc matter connected with
oar city govUrument which imperatively
calls for prompt and radical reform, and
taaf is cur system Of public works gen
orally, snd the improvement Of our
streets and lanes particularly. During
the past i've years the amounts appro-
priakd for our thoroughfares-outside
entirely Of the scavenger department.
amounts 10 the neat sum Of $14S. 500. as
fol ows. For 1873, SIS. 900; for 1879. $22, 2
500: fo- 1880, SIS. 600; for 1881, $50, 900,
and for 1852, so. 900. Yet notwithstsnd
ing tn. very liberal appropriation Of
The pee les money for the purpose above
nertio ed. the casual observer would
BE- son y puzzled to discover any i'm
oroven. ut Of any consequence effected
turing he period named Occasionally
. sire,t crossing has been laid, and
perhaps some paving in more or less OBJ
cure u alities may have been completed.
Ia the main, however, the work seems 10
ave ben confined to digging up dirt
ron one locality TO ill holes in another,
nd willie the grading and smoothness
% our streets msy be a matter Of con
.idersbo importance. stiu it must be ad
m.ued hat the visible Improvements
made b we been by no means common
sursle with the sums expended therefor.
Wha' might have been accomplished
with The sums appropriated by Council
for our streets and lanes during the past
Eve We rs Is strikinglv illustrated by
what was done in 1874 when Drayton
street vas paved from Bay TO Castor,
under the superintendent OF Capt Frank
Blair. ilen Chairman of the Committee
on STR IS and Lanes. According to the
report Il the City Surveyor, as embodied
in the T port of the Mayor for that year,
the dis arce paved on this one street
amour Il 70 400 running feet, cover
ing 8 surface Of 1900 square yards
which we're laid down at a cost 10 the
CITY not exceeding fifty cents
ne ,quarc yard. Aud in the
official report OF the Surveyor it is
stated the work is admirably done, and
has bern put down entirely by street
hands. Inder tie personal supervision of
the Street and Lane Committee, though
its Chairman, aided by the City Survey
or and dis foreman" In addition, also,
TO this important work, we see further,
from the same report. that three thou
sand six hundred and ninety-eight feet
Of street crossing at various points in the
city. averaging four thousand nine hun
dred aud thirty-One yards. have in like
ma~uer been laid down. There has also
been built a new plank road on River
street. extending eight hundred and
sixty feet east of Lamar's canal, and
costing s., 900. The total expenditures
for the past twelve months for all pur-
poses amount to $29. 93S 49," Here,
then, We see that N 1874, 1901 square
yards 81 paving-besides the plank road
on River street-was done for less than
so. 900. or at an average cot o. about
81 so Ter yard At the same average
cost, the S14S 500 which has been ex-
pended on our streets during the past
i've years would have enabled us to en-
10y the luxury of having 92.S19 add
tioual yards of paved streets, whereas we
have, comparatively speaking, none.
What practical improvement this
would have amounted to. had the
method adopted by Captain Blair been
continued, il is simply astonishing to
consider. BrOughton street, from East
10 West Broad street, Is about 1850 run
ming feet. Estimating that it is forty
feet wide, it gives us is. 900 square yards
on that street. South Broad street is the
same length between the same termini.
Taking one-half Of it as % feet wide, and
we have II go square yards on half OF
that street. Estimating that Liberty street
is fthe same length, and so feet in width,
and we have %, 562 square yards TO be
paved on that street. Thus had We
paved BrOughton, one-half of South
Broad and the whole of Liberty
streets, we would have paved only s., PSF
wards and would still have had % So
wards of streets additional which might
have been paved with the money appro-
pristed for our streets in the last five
wears. In other words, the $14S, 500
which have been appropriated by Coun
eli since 1873 for our streets and lanes
would. had the street force (Which arr
regularly paid by the day. and the street
carts and animals been used for the pur
pose. have enabled US to have had
the whole Of BroughtOn, One-half Of
south Broad and the whole of Liberty
street paved, and %, 1852 yards of street;
and crossings besides might have also
been paved. Nor is this all. But even
If We had adopted the system of street
improvement which has been in vogue
l sluCt OdlAdlu DAoA . SgStSAA vas 0D0H
doned. we might have had the three i'm
| p1rtant streets above mentioned paved
throughout with Belgian pavement
which can be laid for about So pei
square ysrd-at a cost of about $3.50, 500,
or exactly $4,000 less than has been
appropriated and nearly all expended
for (as far as casual observation goes,
comparatively speaking, nothing.
WedO not mean to censure too strongly
the past administrations of the city.
Perhaps important work has been done
of which we are ignorant, and which
may be equally as necessary as if it were
as patent to the ordinary locker on as
would be the paving of BroughtOn and
other popular thOroughfares which are
now but one vast bed of sand.
Still we cannot understand why
what was done in 1874 by Cap.
tain Blair, when money was depre
ciated, expenses were high, and the street
force was much less than at present,
cannot as well be done now, when
gold and silver is the basis OF
our currency. and expenses are less; MOI
can we understand why $14s, 900 appro-
pristed since 1874 could not have given
/ - ,,o,-l,- 6ya f;rnac &c much ipnnrova