Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-17
MAPPED OUT THE WAY.
City Attorney Moreland's Plan for
Street improvements.
SEVENTY PETITIONS TO COURT
For the Appointment of Viewers to Assess
Damages and Expenses of Sewers.
PEOPLE PAID UP ARE GIVEN CREDIT


City Attorney Moreland, after weeks of
hard work, has the street improvement
question in good shape for the rapid fulfill
ment of the new legislative enactments. To-
day he will go into court with petitions for
viewers on the 55 streets where, assessments
have not been collected. With tho 45 Pc
titions of the same nature filed last Saturday,
this will make about 100 improvements upon
which immediate action is to be taken. The
courts are expected to set apart couple of
days in the second week of next month to
the consideration of the petitions and the
appointment of the viewers.
Attorney Moreland expects test cases will
be decided promptly when presented in the
local courts and that the appeals will be
made and shaped up in time for presenta-
tion to the Supreme Court by the first of
next November, thus securing a decision
from the higher body before the end of the
present fiscal year This, Mr.. Moreland
thinks, will be making as much speed as can
possibly be expected, and If it should hap
pen that the new laws are not sustained the
city's offices will be prepared to make
proper provision for the payment of the
claims In speaking of the situation yester-
day, he said: -..
Plans of the City Attorney.
There will be presented to court 20 peti-
tions for viewers to assess costs, damages
and expenses of constructing sewers alone.
Now, all these sewers are in the East End
but three. These cases are all in Common
Pleas No l. 1t was believed best to have
one court take charge of this character of
improvement, because the sewers form a
complete system and are mutually inter
woven or Immediately connected with each
imn0rtnnt &
known as the Thirty-third street sewer. 1t
is intended to drain n watershed of some
l,S00 acres. Much time will necessarily be
consumed in this case, and in my Judgment
it should be in the hands of separate
board of viewers. There are two other
main sewers upon which prohablya separate
board will be appointed, but the others are
ordinary pipe sewers, and will not require
great work to settle.
1.-THE cases OF grading, paving and curbing
in the old city and on the Southside will all
be presented in Common Pleas Court No. 2.
There are about Is of these cases, including
BOggs, Shiloh and Wyoming avenues. j sup
pose these cases will be in part bitterly con
tested. There is not u particle of equity in
them, whatever the law may be. Boggs and
Shiloh have not paid a dollar for any of the
work, the petitioners even refusing to honor
their own work by recognizing their obl1ga-
tion to pay. However, my experience is that
the ordinary citizen thinks it all right to get
whatever he can from the public and pay
just as little as possible.
Separate Boards Not Required.
"The cases for grading, paving and curb
ing in the East End are all to be presented
in Common Pleas Court No. ). There are
some 20 cases involved, and they can very
generally be considered by one board, or
two almost. do not believe that the act
-contemplates a separate board for each im-
provement, as some folks seem to believe;
for, if it did, the cost would be so great that
the city could far more economically pay off
the whole list of improvements without at
tempting to collect Il cent You can easily
see how Board of Viewers, appointed to
assess the cost and damages ON Il street,
could while Il whole month on the work and
get their s. each per day, and that sort of
thing carried out on the 100 or more improve
ments we are now working would cost
the city just about $, $50 per day, and i'll the
end more than half the work done by the
viewers would have to be gone over again
and just double the expense. We believe
that the courts will favor our plan of select
ing only few boards, as l have indicated.
getting men of experience, who will go
through with the work with full justice to
every property holder affected and the city
as well. .-.
"After the petitionsa are filed the Court will
fix Il time, say about July g. to hear these ap-
plications formally. Notice must be given 4
by hundbills, at least ten days before the
hearing, and advertisements must also be
inserted in the newspapers. At the time
fixed the Court proceeds with the appoint
ment of the various boards of viewers who,
after appointment, enter upon the duties
prescribed. 1t is likely much time viii be
occupied, all the lines are to be noted,
testimony taken, plans prepared, reports
made, names of owners given and very much
OF detail work performed. g. ...,
ut is likely that the city will furnish q
place for these boards of viewers to meet,
and in which all records can be kept, wit
nesses and interested parties heard, etc. 1t
will never do to have these boards rowing
everywhere, or fixing any place and time
which may be suggested. The boards will
be clothed with large powers; they are the
judges between the citizens, and have a
large duty to perform, namely: ascertain
damages and fairly and ratabIy assess par
ties peculiarly benefited. But as their work
will unquestionably be assailed from time to
time, it is important that records OF all their
proceedings should be carefully kept, in
order that the viewers may explain i'll court
the reasons for their action.
Will Need a Competent Clerk.
"To do this properly it Will be neces-
sary to have n competent and skillful
clerk. No doubt the city will furnish
such clerk, AS all expenses of these
proceedings must be borne by the city.
1t will also be necessary to have one or
two persons to serve notices, post handbills,
and make returns and affidaVitS. This, too,
will be at public expense.
''In fairness and IN justice every dollar of
this money should be assessed upon private
property and paid into the city, because
there is not one of those improvements that
has not honestly benefited private property
to the full extent of assessments made.
"ln several cases the old Board OF View
crs fully completed the assessments, and
many persons SO assessed Lave paid. And
will say that all such can rest ensy Us to the
future. They will not be compelled to pay
Il cent more. There are many persons,
know, who would willingly come in and pay
if they were not afraid tnat new Board of
Viewers might mean new and Il second as
sessment upon them. They would relieve
the city greatly if they would only discard
this fear and come in with their money.
The new Viewers will be asked to credit
every owner of property who has paid his
assessment. 1t would be grossly inequit-
able, even if legal to make IL re-Issessment
against those who have voluntarily paid.
Those Paid Up Will BE Credited.
"If a property owner should come now and
offer to pay his assessment his money would
be received, receipted for and full credit
given him. No other or further assessment
could be made against him. The records
show all payments. We shall have sched-
ule ut the proper time so as to see that no i'll
justice is done the owners who have paid.
ut will require all summer to do this work
and probably much longer. You have no
conception of the labor already expended in
this preliminary work, and it is but drop of
the whole amount. We will press our cases
for a test as quickly as the law will allow,
and am glad to say some OF the gentlemen
at the bar are willing to expedite matters so
that we shall know where we stand.
Every completed piece of work relating
to public improvements will be included in
the list of petitions TO be presented to the
court. These'petitions are filed now to save
months of time. If the Supreme Court
affirms the validity of the remedial legisla-
tion under which we are proceeding, we
shall have nearly all these cases in shape to
proceed with the collections. Of course, it
Is not contemplated to take any more to the
supreme Court than sufficient to test every
phase of our new acts. Should we succeed
we shall be able to pay into the treasury q