The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-06-19
Omen the Streets at once.

Why is it that the council refuses to open
the streets in the southern part Of the cityl
This question is being continually asked,
but no satisfactory answer is obtained. The
growth Of the city is INSTRUCTED simply be-
cause of the want of available streets to
desirable building lots.
1t is a curious condition of affairs that
there is but one east and west street, Gwin-
nett, that extends entirely across the city,
and that street ends near the powder maya
zine, just outside the city limits. Do the
members Of the council ever think how the
city's growth is retarded by the condition
of her streetsl If they do it would seem as
il they would bestir themselves and begin
at once the work of opening streets. They
must know that the streets will have to be
opened at some time. and that the longer
the opening of them is delayed the greater
the cost will be.
Does anybody doubt that the opening
of the streets would be followed immedi-
sJely by building boom? Il was only q
few years ago that ths. portion Of the city
south of Hall street and east Of the park
was virtually a swamp. Through the
efforts of one man, the late DIR. ]. J. War
ing, all Of that locality was reclaimed by
system Of grading and drainage. He was
member OF the council at the time, and peo-
pie said that he was using his position to i'm
prove his own property. But whatever his
purpose was no one can deny that what he
did was a public benefit. He did
not receive much immediate benefit,
but others did. The property that
was his is only just now coming into
market, but the fact that tina tsection of the
city is largely built up aud pays thousands
of dollars annually into the city treasury in
the shape of taxes shows that his
Judgment was correct, and that he was a
level headed and progressive citizen. Had
he lived people would now commend his
foresight. They would be ashamed of hav-
ing attributed his public spirited course to
selfish motives.
A development similar to that south of
Hall street and east of the park would soon
be witnessed in the southern part of the
city if the streets should be opened and
other necessary improvements made. In
Atlanta streets are opened away ahead of
buo Vi buO SOWdt huo Al AdAhocas
City hills are leveled and valleys filed in
order to make streets Shall it be said that
these cities are more enterprisiDg than Sa-
vannah9 Money is spent freely in those
cities to remove obstacles to their growth.
Here in Savannah there are no hills to cut
down, no valleys to fill. The only obstruc-
tions to opening streets are those controlled
by individuals. And the council weakly
waits the will of these obstructionists,
hoping, perhaps, that eventually these OBJ
structioniSts themselves will open the
streets.
Such policy is a mistaken one. The
thing for the council to do is to take hold of
this street opening business with a strong
hand. Let committee be appointed with
authority to take the proper steps to deal
with the street opening business as it should
be dealt with. The waiting policy has been
tried long enough. 1t is a losing policy,
and is doing the city incalculable damage.
Action-prompt and effective action-is
what ia needed