Morning journal and courier., 1893-09-07
PROPERTY OWNERS LIABLE.

 Says They Must Repair the Walks
 Tho Board of Public Works Win
 Not Accept the Opinion as Coming From the Corporation Counsel-The |
 Finances of the Board COnsidered-
 More Money Required to Carry Out l the Years Work.
 At the regular monthly meeting of the | board of public works yesterday afternoon l only four commissioners, Brown, Johnson, States and Maley were present. Mayor | Sargent presided. The opinion of the corporation counsel as to who was responsible for repairing the sidewalks in cases where they were dam aged by the recent storms was recently asked. but owing to the absence of that officer no opinion had been received until yesterday At the meeting of the board yesterday an opinion signed by Frank s. Bishop, the corporation counsel's law part ner, was submitted, in the capacity of acting corporation counsel. The opinion, however, was only received by the board l as the opinion of lawyer and not as that of the corporation counsel, the board de- cidiup that it would not be wise to establish the precedent of accepting an opinion from any one other than the corporation coun- gel himself.
 The opinion, which places the responsi- | bility for repairs upon the property owners, is ss follows:
 "The opinion which you have requested me to give involves the answers of the fol | lowing questions:
 1. Will the city of New Haven be liable l to travellers who are injured by defects in | ha | stoned by the late storm?
 l 2. At whose expense must defects in sidewalks occasioned by said storm be re- paireds
 First, The city is liable to any traveller who, in the exercise of due care, Is injured | by defect in sidewalk. The liability of the city begins as soon as it has had notice of such defect and has had a reasonable time in which to guard against or remedy the same.
 1 Second, The owners of adjacent proper ! ty must repair defects in their sidewalks l at their own expense. It makes no differ ence whether such defects were caused by l wear and tear or by the act of God. Sec tion 40 of the charter provides that "the board of public works of said city shall have the general superintendence, manage ment and control over all streets, side l walks, etc. Shall cauee the same to be
 
 pair" Section 391 of the ordinance pro- vides that every owner of land bordering | upon sidewalk "shsll keep such footway or sidewalk in safe and convenient | condition for the use of the public, and shall forthwith repair all defects there in in any way endangering or incom- moding the public travel upon the ssme." The next paragraph of the same section reads as follows: If such owner or per son shall neglect to repair such defects, it shall be the duty of the superintendent of streets to make such repairs, and the ex- pense thereof shall be charged against such owner or person in favor of the city," If 8 person thus charged does not pay the same, lien may be placed on his prop erty, in accordance with section 52 of the city charter"
 The finances of the board were also the subject of considerable discussion. The board has been seriously handicapped in consequence of the heavy draught made upon it's appropriation in consequence of the snow and wind storms. This year the
 board, with 8 much smaller appropriation
 to begin the year with, has had to spend ] $S, ,OOO more to remove the snow than dur , ing the year 1892. This expenditure made
 8 decided deficit in the working capital of the department. Upon the top of this ! came the two recent severe storms, and 1.
 will require st least $3,OOO to clear awsy , the debris caused by these storms. Some time since the board perceived that it would be impossible to attend to
 the regular work of repairing and keeping 7 l the streets with such deficit staring them 5 in the face. They accordingly asked the ] court of common council, in view of the extraordinary expense to which they had
 been put, to make an extra appropriation of $5, ,000. and this matter will be acted | IL zcc | to-day.
 ) Yesterday the board decided to ask fol
 a further appropriation of $3,000 to mee
 the expenses caused by the recent storm
 and petition to that effect was presented
 to the board of aldermen last evening. t Whether the appropriation will be mad - or not is question, but 1t was practicsll,
 decided yesterday that whether they ar l. made or not the repairs should bs kep
 up, even If in order to do 50 1t should be come necessary to allow the bills to accum . ulste. In connection with this, Superin
 tendent Doyle was instructed to keep !, force of not more than 26 men and twelv
 teams st work until further instruction , from the board. This is slight reduction T. from the working force of precedin v months, which has been twenty-four mel + and fifteen teams.
 ~ The passage of this motion was streru n | Ously Uppustu Uy CommlsslOuer NAlSy, Ol d the ground that at this time when othe cities and departments were endeavorin I to make extra appropriations in order t
 give employment to the worthy poor. tn v board was cutting down It's force an ~ throwing men out of work. Mayor Sargent in reply stated incense
 quence of the dual form of government 0 city and town, the securing of work fo n needy men lay entirely in the hands of th
 selectmen, and the city could only atten
 to municipal business, and the board 0
 public works could not do anything in rel
 erence to the matter.
 }: The opinion of the mayor was shared i l. by Commissioners Johnson, Brown an a States, and in consequence the motion wa passed.
 ' A communication signed by E. G. StoJ n dard, s. B. Merrick, F. H. Sperry, G. F @ Smith, E. O. Bennett, E R. Sargent an s about twenty others, asking that the var IT l afrapt rai1wavo nf ba oif fv xphi iob