Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-24

THE PITTSBURG
their garden truck. I told them that tho
| parties they wanted to see were Messrs.
Brown and o'Mara, as had NO jurisdiction 81,
their hands. They then said they wanted
| me to be present at the meeting to which l
assented, and agreed upon O'Clock as the
! time
Passing the Police Bureau informed Mr..
| O'Mara that committee desired confer
ence with Mr.. Brown and himself, and that
| was out at the time, but at the hour named
| Mr. O'Mara and he came up and met the
committee.
The Grocers' Strong Arguments.
The arguments advanced by the grocers
| were strong. They stated that times had
changed; that where nine out of ten people
once upon time bought their goods ut the
market it is just the reverse now. Grocers
are handling a great deal of garden truck,
which requires the fresh air to preserve 1t.
The only place they can get this is in front
Of their stores. The grocers first asked for
four feet, but Chief Brown suggested that
three feet would be sufficient until the 1st of
October. Mr.. Brown then proposed to Mr..
O'Donnen that he introduce an ordinance
into the next Councils allowing the use Of
four feet of the pavement for the display OF
goods, and he would do all in his power to
get 1t through for him.
had issued no orders in any shape to the
police bureau regarding the Sidewalks as
was reported in an evening paper. and was
interested in the matter only SO far as 1t was
not my custom to give verbal orders. NY
rule when l give an order Is to write 1t
plainly SO that its import cannot be mis-
taken. The letter I wrote to Mr.. Brown was
in the form of an earnest request, and was
particular that IL should be devoid OF any
appearance of an order. was not aware
that any informations were to be made and
knew nothing of them until informed OF the
intention of the police bureau through the
papers.
Looked Up the Ordinance.
When came into the Mayors office over
two years ago the first matter to which
gave my attention was sidewalk obstruc-
ton. had seen great deal of the way in
which the merchants occupied the side ewalks
to the exclusion of pedestrians and made up
my mind to have 1t remedied. / looked up the
law on the subject and after careful CON
sideration decided that sidewalks were
matter to be regulated by the police the
same as swinging signs. To satisfy myself
fully upon the subject, called In City At
said that the matter was undoubtedly sub
ject for police regulation. Being convinced
and having the law on my side about eight
days after had been in office had confer
ence with Messrs. Brown and Bigelow, at
which Major Moreland was present.. setting
forth my view. stated that the sidewalks
should be under the police bureau, and not
under the Department of Public Works, as
had heretofore been the case. Mr.. Moreland
expounded the law on the subject, stating in
pointed language that the police should
have the control
One of the reasons gave was that che po-
lice had large number OF men to look after
the enforcement of the ordinance where the
Department of Public Works would be
obliged to hire men to do the work. This
created good deal Of discussion, and was
bitterly opposed by Mr.. Bigelow, who did
not think he should give up his authority.
After a hot debate, Mr.. Bigelow reluctantly
conceded the point TO me, and agreed to
give up his authority SO far as regulating
the sidewalks was concerned, the obstruc-
tion of the streets caused bv buildings
being erected to be under his supervision.
Senator Finn as Peacemaker.
The next morning Mr.. Brown issued orders
to his men in accordance with the decision
of the conference and thought everything
was settled. That evening received a call
from Mr.. Brown at my home. on Logan
street. He said he had received a letter
from Mr.. Bigelow, saying he had reconsid-
cred his decision of the day before and
had decided to hold on to his authority
for sidewalk regulation. He even went so
far as to tell Mr.. Brown to have his officers
have them removed. I thought Mr.. Bige-
lows actions strange, as he had fully con-
ceded everything the day before, and told
Mr.. Brown to pay no attention to the letter,
but to follow up the orders given to his men
that morning.
The next morning 1 received a telephone
message from Senator Finn saying he
Ms Menaea oame in at Ses That hour with Mr. Bro~n
regulation. After some talk Mr.. Finn
let this matter drop" asked him If he did
not think my position was right, and he said
he did. "But" he continued, "you will only
sns sns sas dc to
iet it drop where 4 Is" told b I'm If there
was going to be any fighting it had Just as
well take place now, as was determined to
see in just what position we stood. told
him that he saw I was right, the
City Attorney said was right and any fair
minded man with common sense who read
more was to do. MIR. Finn. seeing that
was determined in the matter, turned and
said, swell. guess I'll have TO see Bigelow
and see what can DO with him" ne cyl
Bigelow came into my office and smoothed
up matters by saying he was perfectly sat
isfied with the manner in which had ar
ranged the affair.
Relied Upon the Police Bureau.
Since this have thought that the Police
Bureau has been taking care Of the matter.
All the letters have received complaining
the Police Bureau, where I thought they
would be attended to. learned this morn
ing in the conference from MI. O'Mara, how
ever, that all these letters have been sent to
Mr.. Bigelow's department., who has en-
ployed man named Schultz to look after
the distractions in the whole city. Mr..
O'Mara stated that he thought it was outside
his department. and did not care
to interfere. For some time past
I have been receiving these let
ters complaining OF obstructions on
on sidewalks, some very pointed and
bitter, casting reflection upon my admins
tration of affairs. l received an unusually
bitter one, exceedingly well written, on the
morning made my first trip to Liberty av-
enue. / made q careful survey of the side
walks on Liberty street and found them
fully as bad as reported to me.
On my return I called in Chief Brown and
told him that something ought to be done
about the matter. He agreed with me and
said that Bigelow ought to be notified. This
was the first intimation I had that
matters were not right. 1 then wrote a let
ter to Mr.. Brown requesting him to look
after the sidewalks and cited the points
brought out in our conference when first
went into office Mr.. Brown said he did not
care to interfere until Mr.. Bigelow came
home, and suggested my calling in Mr..
Schultz, who has been attending to this
work for Mr.. Bigelow. told him 4 did not
recognize Mr.. Schultz at all. He finally
agreed to take hold until Mr. Bigelow's re-
turn and issued orders to his officers.