San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-02-28
SPECIAL COUNCIL SESSION.
THE MAYOR ANNOUNCES THE
KNOCK OUT OF THE S. E.
ORDINANCE,

the Bridges.
Special meeting of council adjourn
ed from regular session of Monday,
when no quorum was present, and
also for which special notices were
issued, convened yesterday afternoon
at 4:3O o'clock.
The decision of the court of appeals
on the validity of the ordinances Ii
censing houses of prostitution was
presented by the mayor, and as 1t
| was adverse to the ordinance and vir-
tually destroyed it the council unani-
mously agreed TO at once refund the
money that had been received from
the gambling houses and houses of
prostitution as license under the Or
Linance.
The mayor then read the following
from the Dallas contractors who were
the lowest bidders for the street paw
ing; and to whom contract was
awarded at last session of council:
"DALLAs, Tex, February "a, 1S99.-
Hon. Bryan Callaghan, mayor of San
Antonio, Sir: Replying to your letter
of the Goth, inst, notifying us that
the contract for paving for the year
1889 has been awarded to US, and GER
titled check or bond secured on San
Antonio real estate for $25, 900 will be
required as a guarantee tor the faith
full performance of the work. We
would respectfully say that a bond or
certified check of S25, 900 to secure the
performance of $50, 900 worth of work
IS unreasonably high and excessive,
and the requirement of such heavy
security would presume high con tract
prices, or practically exclude non-res- |
idents of San Antonio from competi- |
ton for public work there, as the in
terest on certified check for $25 900 |
would be fair profit on work alone, !
and no contractor who is a uOn-res-
ident or property holder of San An
tonic could make the security on local
property specified without much in
If the city Will name a
bond in reasonable amount, the |
percentage in your locality
we learn being about 80 per cent, we
will make a good bond, which would
be accepted anywhere in Texas, and
en- ter in to the con tract, but we trust
San Antonio does not contemplate
any unfair advantage OF us, as tn csc
burdensome conditions were not sug-
gested or named in the specifications
or advertisement for proposals. If 1T
is desired for us to withdraw from
San Antonio, we will relinquish all
claim in the work in return of our de-
post of $3.50. Respectfully,
O'CONNER, LANG & SMOOT."
This letter called forth debate, Boil
ton considering this demand made by
the council as excessive; lockwood,
Conner and Reimann defending the
action of council, and the latter gentle
man stating that the Dallas firm had
trouble with their Houston contracts.
Lockwood moved to refund their de-
posit and give contract to next lowest
bidder.
Bolton moved to award the contract
to Connor & Co., provided they would
make bond secured by certified check
or lien on city property to One-third
extent of contract.
Bottoms amendment was lost, Boil
ton, Sartor, Kalteyer and Wulf alone
voting yea. Lockwood's motion pre-
vailed.
Council decided to adopt specifica-
tiOns calling for hexagonal block laid
on six inches of concrete.
The following report of the city en-
gineer was then read
Il herewith present to you abstract
of bids for constructing and placing
in position three iron bridges with de-
tail strain sheets showing dimensions,
weights and strains of all members.
The different designs submitted and
considered are az follows: First,
braced arch bridge; second, parabOlic
arch truss; third, pony truss; fourth,
segmental arch. The braced arch
bridge submitted by Mr.. Charles Con-
ner Is the most desirable and rigid
form OF bridge fJr use in cities. Price
as bid, $3.50. The bridge present.
ed by the Berlin Bridge and Iron COM
pany is parabolic arch truss bridge,
either with or without overhead brac-
ing, similar to the Commerce street
bridge, but stronger and more rigid.
This form of bridge is considered one
of the best now in use, S37 ,929. The
open pony truss bridge presented by
the Missouri Valley Bridge Co., is a
good, strong bridge, $4,000. The
King Bridge Co. presented desira
BILE form of bridge, segmental arch
bridge similar to the Commerce street
bridge, but comparison of weights
and strains does not show it as strong
a bridge as either the Berlin or Mis-
souri, Valley, S3S, 800"
On motion of A alderman Rogers the !
council went into q committee of the |