The morning call., 1894-12-07
DIsGRACEFUL FERRY LANDINGS.
The Building of Them Should Have
Been Attended to Years Ago.
Improper Grades.

Mud inspires profanity. Profanity is
the only thing that will inspire some peo-
Die. The soft answer turneth away wrath,
but the harsh adjective maketh The delin-
quent Street Superintendent get a motor
upon himself sometimes. The Southern
Pacific is neither moved by soft answers
nor harsh adjectives; it becomes animated
only at the sight Of hard coin. Win some
body swear at the Street Superin tendent,
pay off the Southern Pacific, or try to do
something 10 secure good crossings over
the streets opposite the ferries?
1here are many varieties Of mud, but
The ooze that sQueezes through the basalt
blocks that pave East street in spots be-
tween Folsom and jackson streets is of a
composition that would cause any ordinary
analyzing chemist TO sink deep into the
city front slough of despond. Such mud
Is curiosity. Strangers say it is, for
only yesterday pilgrim from the East
exclaimed that he had never seen any
thing Ike 1t except on the Virginia cross
roads. Your pay your ten cents to go to
Oakland, Alameda or Berkeley and have
the privilege of seeing the remarkable
stretch OF marsh that lies between the
curbs OF East street.
Last summer people began to talk about
the paving that had been done on the
water front The well-informed remarked
that the grade of the street close to the
main ferry depot was too low. The north
end OF East street, bordering on the paw
Ing which slopes toward the Cliff House
and Ferries track, is higher tnan the
grade that forms the street at the junction
OF Sacramento, East and Market streets
Negligence on the part of the SuDerin-
tendent OF Streets and the failure of the
southern Pacific Company to place the
space about its tracks In proper condition
has proved disastrous to clean clothing
and neat shines. East street at the ferry
landing is in dirUler condition after the
storms of the past few days than il has
been for years.
Notorious is the botchwork in the pro-
viding of crossings and proper standing
room for passengers desiring to take the
streetcars. Though the public should
have been first considered, and not the
Southern Pacific, somebody in authority
has permitted the corporation to have it's
own way In the arranging of landings on
the harbor side. with the result that work
that should have been attended to before
foundation stone was laid for the new
depot has been neglected. Nothing but
mass of mud, broken timbers, sand, half
completed bltuminuuS rock paVementS and
ungreded streets, seemingly all jumbled
into one great mass Of slime and misman-
agemeDt, gFeets the man or woman who
comes or gees across the bay.
Men are working at a bituminous pave
d
formerly known a the sand Dunes"
The work is Improperly done. inasmuch as
the contractors failed to give the pave
ment sufficient slope 20 drain off the |
water. The Harbor Commissioners will
undoubtedly see that no money Is paid out
for the jon until it is performed in an in
tellgent manner. There is an error in the
grade where the Union-street cars drive
on 10 the asphalt at the entrance TO the
Tiburon ferry. In consequence, mud of
h. 81 &c khox
paving almost TO the very donr of the TICKET
office. The depots of the San Francisco
and North Pacific Coast road and the San
Francisco and North Pacific (Tiburon
route are scarcely approachable from the
foot of Market street unless one goes
around via the crossing from the south
side of Market street to the Oakland ferry
depot. then along the seawall, running the
gauntlet of teams and lodging Southern
Pacific freight and baggage.
Ar explanation is made Of the sink and
mud lake at the junction of Sacramento
East and Market streets by persons inter-
ested IN the octopus Cliff House road.
They say that the caT-tracks had TO take
dip" at that point to enable the grips of
the dummies to catch the cable before 60
ing onto the turn-table on the seawall.
This same cable roads system of crossing
the front is menace to life and property.
Not DAY of the week passes that some
one is not nearly run over or some wagon
run down in spite of the utmost vigilance
of a careful signalman al the Sacramento
street curve. A reporter has stood at the
corner of that street and counted nearly a
dozen narrow escapes from loss of life in
less time than an hour.
The prOpbesies Of Water-fronters have
come true. The winter storms have come.
mud is everywhere on the front, and the
outrageous management of the publc's
interest at the gateway to the city is now
standing out in evidence on the apparel of
every human being who is unfortupate
enough to have to cross the streets in that
part of the city.