The Sunday morning news., 1891-12-06
The Brown Place Business-An
EXPLANATION

-
local questions.
The Brown Place Business-An
Explanation.
We like to do justice to the Street
and Water Board when justice is due
it. 1t has sins enough to answer for
without being blamed when it is
really doing good thing. Therefore
we desire to correct some rrors made
by the good citizens of Greenyille i'll
respect to the Brown place railway
crossings. and to ask the same good
citizens to temper their wrath and
make sure to get on the right track
before talking shot guns in such
CORY styl g as they did at their Friday
night meeting.
Now, in the first place, Brown
place, at the locality of the railroad
crossings, is not a public street. Brown
place runs as public thoroughfare
about as far as the Central Railway.
Thence down to the shore of the Bay
the city owns strip of land about
fifty feet wide, which was bought
some years ago in order that sewer
might be carried through it down to
the waters edge. The then City Au-
thorities might simply have bought n
right of way for the sewer, but they
got fee simple in the land
for very little more money
and SO they bought it out
right. The city ther efore owns a
strip fifty feet wide which may at
some future time be made a street in
prolongation of Brown place; but
which has never been so dedicated,
and which is therefore legally and
technically not street, and re-
mains subject to condemnation pro-
ceedings by railway companies for
railway use or for railway crossings,
except in the one respect that the
public right Of way for the sewer can
not be impaired.
Now two railways want to cross
that strip-the Lehigh Valley and the
National Docks line. The former
proposes to cross it with solid en-
banklnent merely protecting the
sewer by small arch or culvert im-
inediately over it. The city autliori-
ties say they will positively prevent
this. They will compel the railway
to cross by q bridge, recognizing
that, though the strip is not
now a street, the development
Of the city ten years from now may
make it of the highest Importance to
the public as thoroughfare and a
means of access to the waterfront.
This controversy is still unsettled, and,
until it is, it is premature for citizens
TO condemn officials who seem to be
doing what is right for the protection
/ of the public interests.
Next comes the question of the
National Docks Railway. This cor
poration. at the opening of the nego-
tiations with the city. reminded the
officials that as the strip Of land was
not dedicated to public use as
street, it could go into court and
condemn right of way over
it. The company preferred to deal
fairly, however. 1t offered to cross
the strip with twenty foot bridge,
leaving eleven feet head room, and it
further covenauted that whenever in
the future the strip should be publicly
opened as q street it would withdraw
It's abutments so as to leave the whole
fifty feet clear and would cross by
span of that length, making the
change without cost to the city.
Thus it will be seen that so far the
city authorities have saved the strip
as future street in the face OF some.
what adverse conditions. They have
very fairly done their duty. Their
critics would do we'll to let them
alone ON this score and find out some
thing in which they are really to
blame before jumping on them.