St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-04-05
A CHANGE OF MIND.
Property Owners and the
Widening Of East Sew
enth Street.
Original Promoters Now OPP
posed to the Projected
Improvement.
The Work Is Temporarily
Shelved by an Alder
manic Committee.
A Big Claim Against the City
by Forrestal Bros AS
signee.

The committee on streets from the
board of aldermen had another interest
ing controversy over the proposed
widening of East Seventh street, be-
tween Broadway and Rosabel street.
Lawyer Pierce appeared as the counsel
of the recalcitrant property owners.
John A. SteeS ct al, pr0prietorS of the
lots affected, sent strong remOnstrance
to the council recently against the pro-
posed Improvement. Mr.. Pierce was
given All opportunity to explain the p0-
Sition of his clients. He declared that
a number of the property owners. who
had previously petitiOned the council
to widen the street. have since vacated
their first choice, and now want all pro-
ceedings abandoned. They have recently
signed the rem )nstrance, and ask that
their respective petitions be withdrawn.
A large majority of the owners of the
property interested. he insisted, are
now opposed TO the improvement. The
board of public works has assessed the
property between Jackson and KittsCn
streets for benefits to accrue, or 5,052 feet
frontage, in other words. Mr.. Pierce
asserted that of this number of feet
3,71S feet frontage is represented by the
disSident. 1t was suggested that the
Assessments for Benefits
should have been extended to Wabasha
street and to the railway tracks, and
even then, Mr. Pierce claimed. while
the frontage would be 1886 feet, the
number of feet owned by the remon-
siratOrs would be 5,7S5%. The men
who had changed since the orig
inaI petition had gone before the
council had done so, it was reclted, be-
cause they had signed the petition I'M
der great misapprehension OF facts.
They said they had been assured that
the assessment would be from $40 to SIS
lot, but instead it really amounts to
from $50 to $3.50 Il lot. Several instances
were cited to show the condition of
things, and Aid. Bott explained, in re-
ply to Mr.. Pierce, that the law is such
that it is not a question of the number Of
feet a man owns. but the number Of
property owners that give bona tide pc
titionS. That IS to say. the man who
owns 25 feet has just. as much to say as
the man who owns a full block. Aid.
Gehan, reiterated this fact, and. while
he did not think it an equitable law,
the council cannot 90 otherwise than
to recognize it. Mr.. Pierce said
that the demonstrators do actually
own a major part of the frontage. Ed
Schumacher CLAIMED that it is COM
paratively easy thing to get up re-
monstrance against any measure. He
dared the suggestion that he could get
large number of those who are now
protesting against the measure to sign
a petition to continue the work. This
was most emphatically denied by sew
eral present. The board of public
works has already completed the as
SeSSment, and Aid. Sullivan moved that
the
Proceedings BE Annullcd.
Aid. Copeland wanted recommended
ton to have the board of public works
instructed not to proceed further with
the improvement until the council takes
further action. Aid Sanboru sec
onded Aid. CopeIand'5 motion and
straightway forced the issue to
a vote. The motion was lost.
4 to 2. and then Aid. Copeland dis
closed the fact that he had inadvertently
voted on the wrong side. and moved a
reconsideration. This led to a protract-
ed and spirited debate, but the motion
failed. The matter was finally compro-
missed by voting that the board of public
works postpone all action until reeeiv-
ing further instruction from the coun-
Gil.
The old Forrestal Bros claim bobbed
up once more. 1t seems that some time
ago the city engineer had stated that
there is a voted claim against the city
held by the inSolYeHt firm amounting to
So, 800 for extras. The matter came up
in the shape of bill presented by Pat
Keigher, assignee of tine affairs of the
bankrupt contractors. The bill reads:
Bubble masonry, 275 cubic yard at S. 81, 375 90
Timber, 143,097 feet b. a., at S9J
per NJ. ..-.:,...- :...:........... @,ool VI
Five feet six inch circular sewer,
University avenue, 16 ineal feet
sand,rock sever at the river, IL feet
cents. 1,595 90
Total .S6,G71 81
Less amount deducted on account of
pipe sewer not built i'll accordance
with the pro rata cost, (said de-
ductiOns having been agreed to-. 7l0 81
Balance. So, 361 Is
The whole matter was referred to the
corporation attorney and the city en-
gineer, neither of whom were present at
the meeting.
The old smoke ordinance that has
been pending so long was recommended
to pass. 1t is a curative measure, SO as
to make the law operative. The Grove
street bridge matter was discussed, and
the committee adjourned.
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