Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-04-16
DRAWING THE LINE.
A Conference Between City OmclalS
to Decide as 10 Some Duties.
CALLED TOGETHER BY THE MAYOR.
The Police Given the Task Of Preventing
Street distinctions.
WHY CHIEF ELLIOT WASN'T PRESENT

WHY CHIEF ELLlOT Wasn't PRESENT
Yesterday was day of conference.-the
library question, the park question and q
nrivate conference to be held by the Mayor,
the heads of the various departments e1-
cepting that of Charities and the Controller,
occupying the attention of the officials. On
Monday afternoon the Mayors messenger
bore note to Chiefs Brown and Bigelow,
City Attorney Moreland and Controller
Morrow, to the following effect:
DEAR sIR:-The Mayor wouldli to have a
consultation with YOU tomorrow, Tuesday,
April 10, 1890, at 5 O'Clock P. M.
Very respectfully.
w. H. MCCLEARY,
Mayors Clerk.
The meeting took place, and although
Chief Bigelow had an appointment for a
consultation on the location of the Blind
Asylum, he hurried back to see what was the
cause OF the gathering. For three hours the
MAYORS Office was held by the invited sur
prise party. Chief Elliot. who was avail
able because on the outside, said the matt
nee, he supposed, was that of Hamlet,
with the Prince of Denmark left out. He was
not good at conundrum, and therefore would
not attempt to guess the cause or effects OF the
the list of invitations.
CAUSE OF THE MEETING.
The meeting was evidently a pleasant one,
and although the voice of the City Attorney
drifred occasionally over the transom, the
waves of sound did not by any means drown
the significance of the meeting. AT its con-
clusion, the Mayor said the consultation was
called to decide the dividing line between the
Departments of Public Works and of Public
Safety as TO the authority in suppressing pub
lie uuisances.
The Mayor thought that Chief Brown, with
800 police could keep the streets clear and pre-
vent wagons, signs and other impedimenta
from obstructing the thoroughfareS easier than
Chief Bigelow could with one ordinance officer
This view was shared in by all present. and
hereafter the police will have an additional job
on hand.
To the question whether the addition of a
fifth member to the Department of Awards was
considered. the Mayor returned a decided neg
ative. Nevertheless, the subject was largely
discussed by officials yesterday, and the only
question seemed to be, not so much the ne
cessity of a fifth member, but who it should
be. The Controller, it was argued. could not
be placed in that position. as he would have to
pass upon contracts on which he had pre-
viously voted. The general impression ap-
peared to favor the addition of the City Treas
urer to the Department of Awards, as he is
perfectly disinterested in all matters, being
only the paymaster of the city, under orders
from the Mayor and Controller.
ANOTHER THING DISCUSSED.
Among the other subjects discussed yester-
day, at the consultation, was the regulation of
the hack and cab business and the placing of
signs, which were also decided to belong ex-
clusively to Chief Browns jurisdiction.
Whether this action will or will not result in
the dismissa! of Ordinance Officer Schultz, is
not known, but if it does the Liberty street
commission men will chant a Te Deum as
fresh as their eggs and as sweet their
bananas They have several times petitIoned
for a change in the administration of the
ordinance officers duties.
Chief Brown was seen after the conference,
and was asked what was done. He said: THE
object of the conference was simply to settle
whether the Department of Public Works or
the Public Safety Department should assume
the responsibility of keeping the streets cleared
of Instructions l have held, ever since l ac-
cepted my present position, that the matter of
licensing theaters, circuses, balls, entertain
ments, merry-gO-rounds, fake shows, and all .
affairs of that Kind as well as the responsibility
of keeping the streets and sidewalks cleared of
obstructions, should be placed with the Public
Safety Department, for various good reasons
" hile Mr.. McCallin was Mayor he continued to
hold control of the amusement licenses. but on
the day after Mayor Gourley was installed. he
turned that part of the work over to me. The
sidewalk obstruction matter was under the
care of the Public Works Department, but il
has not men enough TO attend to it properly.
and a great deal of it was necessarily left un-
done. We had the Controller and the City
Attorney with US this afternoon. and they
furnished us with the law on the subject
Before we adjourned it was UNANIMOUSLY
agreed that street obstructions hereafter will
be attended to by the police.
IN EFFECT AT ONCE.
THE new rules will go into effect to-day, and
under them everything that impedes or en-
dangers the public on the public streets must
go. Overhead signs, barrels, boxes or display
cases on the sidewalks, wagons, lumber piles,
bricks refuse of any kind. castings or anything
that occupies what the public has a right to,
must be removed. The rule will be imperative,
and will apply to all streets, in all parts of the
city. alike. Each officer will be held respon-
sible, and is expected to report any such OBJ
structions on his beat The right of business
men to occupy a reasonable par: of the pave
ments. during certain hours of the day. while
loading or unloading goods will not be inter-
fered with. but they will be held down to the
rules provided for them in an ordinance passed
several years ago. The piling of bricks or lum-
Der on the streets by contractors or builders,
when it is necessary in making improvements
will only be allowed when it is absolutely neces-
sary, and all such cases will be reported by US
TO the Public Works Department. They will
order the distractions removed within reas-
enable time and if the order is not complied
with that department will remove the OBJ
struction at the owners or contractors expense
Under this addition to our authority we will
get after the cabs and cabmen. There is an
ordinance requiring all cabs to have printed
list of tariffs for hauling passengers hung up
inside the vehicles, where it will be plainly
visible. Under this ordinance we will compel
all cabs to be properly supplied with these lists,
and will arrest the drivers not having them.
We will also direct the cabmen what locations
they Shall occupy on the streets, and will eIer
else supervision over the cabs such as the
ordinance authorizes. There are other things
that we can do now that we could not before,
and we expect to make the public safer than it
has been when on the streets"
MIR. Brown said there was nothing else of i'm
portance discussed at the conference. The |
reason Chief Elliot was not present was Mr..
Brown said. because his department had |
nothing whatever to do with streets. and he |
had no special interest in the matter
ESSENCE OF THE MEETING.
The meeting had, it is claimed. more signifi- |
canoe than the regulation Of wagons street |
signs and other distractions. The Mayor. it is !
said called the attention of the chiefs to the |
twenty-frst section of the city charter, showing !
that he had supervisory power over the various |
departments. He gave instance or two in |
which the City Controller had-transcended his ;
power within the last year or two. and lie can
TONED the heads of the departments against a |
similar fault.
The appointment and control of the park |
police was another subject taken under consid- |
GRAFTON. and were, under the opinion of the |
City Attorney, vested in the Chief of the De-
parJment Of Public Safety. This with MANY |
other changes in the programme of the city |
occupied the three hour' session. |
and was satisfactorily accounted for by the |
statement of some of those present that Mr. /
Blrelow had power to order all signs wagons |
and other distractions from the streets but |
that the police authorities must be invoked to |
enforce the order. In other words the action |
Of the meeting seemed to be to subordinate the |
Of Public Works to that of Public |
Safety.
Gratifying to All.