The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-05-23
1t Makes Almost as Much
Difference, it Seems, as
the Old Case of
the Ok.
Al LEAST IN COUNTY ROAD LINES.
Engineer Harrison and His Critics
Meet Before the Bergen I'm
proyement Association.

the ronte OF the proposed county road
through the Bergen section. Mr.. Jacob
Rinele called the meeting to order and
requested Freebooter Nelson to explain
the present state of affairs in relation to
the county road.
''The Freeholders intend to visit the
places where there is a change re-
quested." said Mr.. Nelson, "and uutll
these investigations are made we are
rather in the dark. On our previous
journey over the line of the road, the
weather was bad and the outlook unfav-
orable. Until we have made an investi-
CATION we will be unable to give salts
factory results. There are objections all
along the line and of course we must
listen to objections and the more we re-
ceiye the longer it will take to investigate.
On the tour Of investigation we will
probably view the Wiley street location
first. The people in Greenyille appear
willing TO leave well enough alone There
Is only one place in Greenville where
there are any objections. There Is some
difficulty as to the terminus OF the road"
Mr.. Ward said that the Freeholders
could see the Wiley street part OF the
line in fifteen minutes He moved to ap-
point committee TO accompany the Free
uOlQcEo Oll tuclt tiSlbs anu urge Iue VIEWS
of the corporation upon them.
Mr.. Ringle called Mr.. Ward to the
chair, and took the floor to address the
meeting.
VALUABLE PROPERTY TAKEN AWAY.
Il feel called upon to say something
about the route here laid down. This
line takes away very valuable property on
Fairmount avenue. The way the line
now runs the property Is destroyed and
gore left. This is certainly so from
Jewett avenue to Montgomery street,
where the line strikes the property dag
onally. For instance take the bennett
property. The line runs through and
leaves Il worthless gore at each end or the
property. II the line took the prop
erty at right angles this would not
be. The line strikes my property
and curves two ways, taking the rear of
one or my houses with arches in front
aud the yards from the other FIVE Ny
next neighbor loses ali the land In front
OF mis- house except two feet, aud so on.
had map on which / had traced
straight line which ran between Mrs. |
Ely's property aud ST. PauPs Church. |
This took two houses on Duncan avenue |
and from there ran straight to Belmont !
avenue.
Il think we should take some action to |
straighten the matter up. If the Free |
holders think my line to be fniudicious, |
there Is Ely's line. which goes west of his |
house and takes Mcclellan avenue and |
runs without turning to Garrison avenue. |
TO Pavon1a avenue. to line where it Is |
proposed to run across the railroad. / /
think that either of these two routes Is |
more direct than Harrison's line. I don't /
see any sense in the talk that those people |
who have the cores can compromise with /
their neighbors. If the line is straight 1t |
will not make any CORES"
No one would object to taking prop
erty," said Mr.. Nelson, .'if the property |
IS cut straight through. In doing so |
some expensive buildings must be taken L
which Mr.. Harrison wished to avoid. A |
straight line would make the road mon
otonous. We need a few curves to make /
the road artistic. The question is, whose |
lot is TO be gored.
ECONOMY Mr.. HARRIssoN's OBJECT.
ECONOMY has been Mr.. Harrison's OBJ
Ject- Too many expensive buildings |
would eat up great part Of the appropri-
alton. Could Mr.. Harrison make the /
line straighter than he has without in
creasing the cost of the lands People OBJ
ject to cores. Somebody must have |
cores and it is impossible not to leave the |
property so. In this locality where you
are interested we may avoid taking valu-
able buildings. Houses cost from $5 900
70 10000 here. OF course it is possible
that houses may be moved.n
Il have made an estimate with Mr..
Harrison" replied Mr.. Ringle, "aud we
agree as 10 the cost Of his line and mine. |
he says will be $1,000 and which |
say will be $4,000 Outside Of my
houses the line will cost SIT 900 more than
his, but allowing me $1,000 damages my
line will cost only $1,000 more than his
and be much better. My road will be
much nicer, as it will run on the brow
of the hill"
'.It seems t, me-" said Mr. HaIback,
there is one thing the Freeholders ought |
to remember That is that the road is to
l&O lat .rNf nlf i l.. - /
laid out literally. 1t will not make much |
difference twenty-five years from now
whose property was taken, but it will |
show how the road has been laid out,
whether in valley or on the brow of the
hill"
This seemed to meet with the general
favor of those present Mr. RingIe said
that at the northeast corner of the pro-
] osed route and Fairmount avenue one |
could see only 300 feet. AT the corner of
his line and Fafrmount avenue one could
see half a mile. An abrupt turn would
be dangerous.
ENGINEER HARRISON TALKS FOR HIS ROUTE |
Mr.. Harrison entered the room at this
point and was invited 10 address the meet
ing.
''The line as laid out is the result of six
months work. he said. Naturally |
think it is done as we'll as possible. After
the maps were accepted by the Board
changes were made. You must RENE mber
tbRL the act allows for expenditure only
q. 900, 600. It is all very well TO say you
can go TO the Legislature for more money.
am allowed by the Court so mu ch
money to construct the road and can
construct road that is grade, give
eighteen inches of macadam, sewer, and
build bridges so that man can drive II
from one end of the county to the other
without getting his wheels into the mud
or breaking down.
"Of course | had to reckon the cost of
condemnation and cost of building a road
| have allowed myself $500, 600 for con-
demnatiop and with the rest eau Just
skin through. IL go to the Legislature
Tor more money will break my charge.
II you want two million road you should
have gone 10 the Legislature. As you get
near West Side avenue land becomes !
cheaper and the cost of construction
tearer and vice versa. The grade from
Fairmount to Duncan avenues changes
two feet in hundred. | followed the
old county road line of 1868 as far as
could, but on this line some expensive
have been put up. ,
sSome members of the Board of Free
holders represent constituents who con- |
sabute, though they derive no direct |
gain. ard their cry is economy. They say ]
save Each district wants all the money | /
'penQon It's portion OF the line. I must j