The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-08-12
THE PAVING COMPANIES.


The question which citizens residing in
the Western Addition are asking themselves
is whether the Street Committee of the
Board OF Supervisors is going to aid and abet
the Street Department aud the paving COM
panies in their attempt to tax that part of
the city for their benefit. No one hopes
anything from Mr.. Gilleran and his depu-
ties.
An appeal to the Supervisors ought not to
be unfruitful Those gentlemen cannot all
be in the ring or in the list of stockholders
of the paving companies. There ought to
be enough of them to stand by Mr.. Ebert,
and to secure the defeat of the job.
The Street Committee consists nominally
of five members. but of these. two. Evans
and Jackson, have rarely attended CON-
mittee meetings. The business of the COM
mittee is transacted by the other three
Charles ". Tabor, the Chairman, who is
President OF the Guadalupe Dairy Com
pany; William Wilkinson, a dealer in boots
and shoes ut 1912 Polk street, and James w.
Burling, stock and insurance broker. whose
Office is at 419 California street. 50 far as
the public knows these are respectable citi-
zens. solicitous to win and retain the esteem
of their fellow-townSmen. These three gen.
tlemen have it in their power to defeat the
job concocted by the Street Department and
the paving companies, and the public are
waiting to see whether they will do so. 1t
is stated On their behalf that when they
authorized the pavement lately ordered they
were imposed upon, and acted in ignorance
of the facts. They cannot plead ignorance
any longer.
The law under which they are acting
which is so simple that any one can under
stand it-cOntemplates the control of street
improvements by 4 majority of the prop
erty-owners in each block. The control is
not absolute. Ii property owners in
block should resist the construction of a
sewer that is necessary for the convenience
of other blocks, power is vested in the Street
SUPERINTENDENT to recommend and in the
Street Committee to order the construction
OF the sewer without their consent. But
in matters OF pavements and other purely
local improvements, the design OF the law
was to let a majority of those who have to
pay for the improvements decide whether
or no they should be undertaken. Accord
ing to the spirit if not the letter of the law,
the department should only act en- a petit
ton signed by a majority of the parties in
interest. 1t is true that the protest of
majority OF the prOperty-owners against the
undertaking of improvements recommended
by the department only arrests proceedings
for six months. But after the expiration of
the six months the Street Committee has the
power to reject the recommendation of the
Superintendent. And it was felt by the
authors of the street law that they could be
trusted to protect their fellow-citizens.
1t will be seen whether this expectation
was well founded. If it is to be justified
the Street Committee Will have to reject all
recommendations from the department
which are not accompanied by an indorse-
ment from a majority Of those who will
have 20 foot the bills. If the committee
lives up to this rule the great job of 1891 will
be defeated.
Men of experience like MessrS. Tabor,
Wilkinson and Burlng, must realize the
hardship which would be inflicted on prop
erty-owners by the laying of bituminous
pavement on streets which are not severed,
and in which there are few gas pipes laid
A large proportion of the blocks which the
Street Department proposes TO pave belong
to this category. If the pavement is laid, it
will have to be torn up when the street is
severed, and when new houses are built it
will again have to be ripped up to lay gas
pipes. Such excavations do not perma-
nently injure pavement of stone blocks or
macadam. but they infict irreparable injury
on smooth asphalt pavement. Once torn
up it can never be what it was. Lines of
weakness arc established, which traffic con-
VertS into open holes