St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-04-11
RAMPAGEOUS REARDON
He POstpOneS His Big Sensation
on the Sprinkling
Contracts,
But Roasts the City Attorney on
the Park Avenue Va
cation.

The meeting of the assembly commit
tee on streets last night was hardly up
to expectations. 1t was understood
that an investigation would be made
into the sprinkling contracts which As
semblyman ReardOn had referred to the
committee. When the con ractS were
taken up Mr.. ReardOn asked that the
consideration of them be postponed un-
til this afternoon at $50 O'clock. He
said ne would show at that time a
lot of crooked work had been going on.
He handed list of names to the chair
man of the committee and requested
that the persons mentioned be requested
to be present at the meeting today. The
names he handed in were James For
restal, Nick Feyen, Thomas Reilly, Pat
Norris and L. J. Preston. He also
wanted the president of the board and
the clerk to be on hand at the meeting.
The city clerk was directed to notify
the gentlemen mentioned of the meet
ing. The other batch of contracts which
were referred to the committee at the
request of Mr.. Reardon. were handed TO
him for examination. He said, in &C
cepting them, that it would be we'll for
somebody to look over the contracts in
the future, for in the past figures had
been changed so that prices paid were
larger than the bids. He could not say
as to these, but he would examine and
hand them in at the meeting today.
The resolution introduced by Mr..
Reardon for the repeal of the proceed
lngS in. the matter Of Vacatlng Park av-
enue was brought up by the reading of
an opinion from the corporation attor-
new. The opinion stated that question
! raised as to the legality Of the proceed
ingS could not be affected by the pas
sage of the resolution. If the proceed
ings were Invalid the resolution would
not make any change. The amount
| fixed by the council had been paid into
the city treasury and the record of the
vacation had been recorded in the reg
lister of deeds office. He, therefore, adj
| ViSed against the encumbering of the
| council records with resolution which
would have no legal significance. MIR.
| Reardon SAID there was no use of going
! further, but he had expected more light
! in the opinion. lie wanted all opinion
as to the legality of the proceedings
| taken by the council in ordering the
NdHdLIOli. IlG law uCpdl VI CilO
| city, he said, was of the opinion the
night the measure passed that the thing
was legal and now decided that it was
not. He wanted the blame put on the
corporation attorney where it belonged.
| The same man, he said, who announced
it was legal had been retained in the
| city attorneys Office, and now it was IL
legal. A resident and property owner
on Park avenue. who was present, said
| the vacation was an outrage. The prop
erty owners had went without butter on
their bread to pay three assessments
on the street in order to get it
graded and ready for bridge over the
tracks. Now the poor men were obliged
to hire lawyer to fight the matter in
the courts. Mr.. ReardOn suggested 1t
was all the fault of the alderman of the
ward. The remarks of the property
owners were not all complimentary to
the alderman. who he said was working
against the interests of the residents.
Further talk was shut off by the chair
| man announcing that the committee had
nothing to do i'll the matter. The ordl-
nance granting William Rhodes and g..
II. Ranney a lease to four lots on the
West side levee was taken Up and re-
ferred to the corporation attorney for
amendment. The objection of MIR.
Lghtner was that the lease did not pro-
vide that the buildings should be erect
ed within nine months. This defect
will be remedied.