Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-02-12
THE .rREErs OF WATERBURY.
A Brooklyn Boy Sizes Them Up
For What They Are


For What They Are.
Below we publish another of the prize
articles which fell little short of win
mig the premium. The writer, who is
Brooklyn district boy, has nothing to
be ashamed of. What the paper lacks
in style and finish it makes up in posi-
tiveness. 1t contains many sharp criti-
cisms, and the writer is evidently
believer in the press as an educator,
which is well
OUR STREETS.
Waterbury boasts of but few good
streets. From time to time money is
appropriated to repair the roads Men
are put to work on them, who scrape up
| the dirt and cart it away. dressing
of gravel or something Of the sort is put
on and the work is finished. This is
done from time to time, till the money
| is spent. Now what is the use of doing
| things in this manner? We must have
good, firm streets, such as will not be
cut up by the heavy wagons which pass
over them, and the only streets that can
not be cut up are those which are paved,
| Or have a good bed of stone. The only
| streets which are paved are Bank and
South Main, the former from Exchange
place to the Naugatuck depot, and the
latter from Exchange place to Meadow
| street. The streets in the center are
rough, dirty and uneven. Meadow
street, along the railroad track, is
generally six inches deep in mud.
Bank street between the Naugatuck
depot and uellmanns brewery is full of
deep ruts, and when person rides over
it, he Is jostled about in lively way.
| There is not one good street in Brooklyn.
The streets there are left till they are in
| such a state that they must be fixed,
West Main may be called good street,
but it isn't smooth by any means. 1t is
| one of the best streets for driving to be
found in town. The walks around the
| green are beautifully shaded by elms
and in summer the leaves on the trees
| around grow out to each other and
| form arches. North Main street gives a
person at the center good impression
OF it, but as we proceed up this impress
sion dies away. East Main street, one
of our principal streets, is unpaved, and
| during a rain storm the water collects in
good sized ponds, so that horses have to
wade through places that are altogether
too deep for public street, and that one
of the finest streets in town. Grand
| street, between Bank and South Main,
is very uneven, and if we ride over it
we must be careful in turning the corner
at Bank or South Main or be upset
Indeed it is not much of pleasure to
ride over some of our streets. 1t was a
| blessing to get Bank and South Main
paved, but Exchange place as being
nearer the center should have received
| first attention.
Indeed our city fathers often do things
| in laundering way. The newspapers
are constantly agitating the subject of
| fixing the streets and they show us how
money is spent for hardly any adj
| vantage at all. Some time ago a stone
crusher was bought. and though it gave
satisfaction it was soon given up and is
now wholly neglected. We know that
crushed stone, if properly laid, would
make better streets than VIC now have
Something must be done, or soon when
people shall speak of the Brass city they
will call it the "City of Bad Streets"
Most of our streets lying on
the outside of the city are good,
for either walking OF driving.
Take, for example, the Watertown
road. the cemetery road, and the high
Waterville road. They are we'll shaded
and have good scenery. The first two
lie along the Naugatuck river for a con-
siderable distance. The green banks and
woods on each side of the &C netery road.
1t is pleasant to sit on the banks and
watch the river flowing along. But it is
the outside streets alone that are good.
Tor our business streets atv in a deplor-
able condition. and we should be
ashamed of ourselves for keeping them
so. There are many smaller places
keeping their streets in better condition
than ours are kept, and they would be
ashamed to see their centers kept as bad
as ours is.
We may hope for better streets now,
for we have an energetic mayor and one
who takes an interest in public i'm
provement. The first thing to be done
is to pave Center square and East Main
street, and to fix the other streets In a
better condition than they now are. If
these things are done right we will soon
be able to call our city one of the finest
in Connecticut.
SICNARF ELIOFLIUG
Superior Court Judges.