Morning journal and courier., 1884-02-15
Town and City.

Fifteenth Ward People and Their FeeI-
 ing Of Opposition to the Project of COn-
 sOlIdatfOn-VVhat is Said the sub- Z jecG Across the Toll Bridge-Nevv Haven
 and the Rarb0r Control.
 The Annex people of the Fifteenth ward are, according to reliable reports, strongly op- posed to annexation. Residents of that sec- tion say that the people are overwhelmingly against it. Several gentlemen former resi- dents of East Haven, but by annexation con verted into New Haveners Presidents of the town, but not of the city, were engaged in conversation upon the subject of annexation
 recently. They said that to annex the Eff
 teenth ward to the city of New Haven would
 be gross injustice and beside that would be
 Q gross breach of faith. They said they were
 ready to back up these statements and could
 produce facts and figures in support of their
 statement. The reporter asked them on
 what grounds they rested their claim. They
 said that New Haven would never have suc-
 ceeded in annexing Fair Haven East, but for
 generous aid given by the then people of
 East Haven residing in what is now the
 Fifteenth ward. They further said that by
 the same generous act and assistance New
 Haven obtained control of the
 east side of the harbor which before
 belonged to East Haven. Look at the
 facts. You will see that the entire east side of
 the harbor belonged to East Haven, and that
 New Haven controlled nothing east of the channel. Now, good people of what is now
 the annex said, here, we will help you. You
 want to annex the borough of Fair Haven
 East We will help you in that project
 You cannot annex the borough alone, but if we will go in and allow ourselves to be an-
 nexsd. More than that we will
 do what New Haven has long desired and
 what the commerce of New Haven has a right to claim. You New Haven people | don't own the harbor east of the channel we will submit to be annexed to the town | that is strip of East Haven from up above Lewis bridge to the lighthouse. We did | this, we went in and helped annexation through. New Haven got the borough of Fair Haven East and got us-taking in the strip of land before mentioned terminating l below the lighthouse, by which New Haven gained control of the east half of the har- ! bor. Now what return do we get? We are ! asked to come into the city. We of the | Fifteenth ward don't want to come in. It | was expressly stipulated that we were not to ! be asked to come Into the clGy. we can't I have city privileges if we do come in to | amount to anything. We like the town, part | of it well enough. The towns debt we will 1 help share. But how about asking us to 1 help share the burden of the citys debt ? | We don't see as we are to gain anything by coming into the city, but that are to lose ! by it. We are to be taxed heavily to help l support the city and reap but mighty little | benefit. What do we need of city police in territory like ours with so few houses com | paratively and many of these quarter or a half 8 mile apart? How about shovelling
 snow off the walks for quarter or half g
 mile at stretch? No, sir, we don't like an- I nexation.
 Then again if you force us in against the ! will of the people here do you think you will ever be able to induce WhitneyvilIe and | Westville and West Haven to come in? You want West Haven in order to get control of | the west side of the harbor. It does seem a | little of for maritime city like New Haven not to have control of it's own harbor and to | have it controlled, as it has I been, by two little country towns l with no commerce, like East Haven and l Orange. Now East Haven folks have very kindly given up strip of their territory to \ the town, which gives you the ownership of | the east half of the harbor. Do you think
 that West Haven wants to come into the | town only to find that they have been en
 trapped into the city? The same remark ap. plies to Westville and Whitneyville.