The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-02-10
A DISTRICT OF MUD.
Deplorable Condition of the
Main Streets Of
Greenyil1e.
REPORTERS OBSERVATIONS.
Ocean Avenue impossible Eight
Inches of Mud on the
CrossWalks.

For over q year the residents of Greenville
have been grumbling about the condition of
the streets in that section and with a view of
ascertaining the true condition of affairs l
devoted two hours yesterday afternoon to a
trip through all the principal streets in the
celery district. When l completed my task
| learned one important lesson; namely, that
ordinary shoes are not the best footgear to
wear in the Greenville section and that the
in 'fraining-in-Londo style will wear con
siderably longer than if allowed to remain as
tailors intended they should.
| alighted from the Greenville motor on
which / was riding, at Danforth ave-
nue and my observations of Ocean
avenue as made from the rear
platform of the motor were sufficient to con-
vince me that the party OF parties who
named Greenville's main t~horoughfare,
sbuilded better than they knew" No more
appropriate name could certainly have been
selected than Ocean avenue. The thorough
fare was simply what its name implies-an
ocean; not of water only, but of sticky,
Shiny mud as well.
At Myrtle avenue, which, prior to the
| consolidation of Greenville and Jersey City,
was the boundary line of Greenville, the
ocean of filth began. The thoroughfare from
that point to the Bayonne boundary line Is
macadamized, but nobody, less he be Il
driver, could have discovered that fact yes
terdav. Had l had not seen the macadam
laid a few years ago, l would have given
odds of ten to one that the thoroughfore
through which | was carried is
nothing but a typical country road. The
only dry spot in it was the section between
the tracks of the Consolidated Traction
Company which has been paved, not by the
city but by the company.
A LADYS DILEMMA.
AS the car reached Myrtle avenue a lady
passenger signalled the conductor that she
wished to alight at the next corner, Wilkin-
son avenue. The car stopped at this point,
and the lady stepped to the platform. There
she halted and hesitated. In front of her,
reaching from the step Of the car to the side
walk, was a sea of mud SO deep that rubber
| boots would have been necessary to anyone
desiring to wade through it.
~ can't get off here" said the lady; stop
at the next corner"
But s'the next corner was worse than the
other, and the lady rode on another block.
Here another halt was made. The mud was
nearly as deep here as at the other places.
The crosswalks could not be seen. With the
exclamation, "Well, ] must reach homer
the lady picked up her skirts, stepped off the
car and sank into eight inches of mud.
| Through it she waded to the sidewalk, and
when she reached terra firma she breathed a
sigh of relief that could be plainly heard by
those on the platform of the car. AT no
place between this point III Danforth ave
nue. was there a dry crossing, except at
Dwight street, where some enterpflsing
| ~storekeeper had built a temporary crosswalk
of a few boards.
Even at Danforth avenue, which is the
most prominent street running at right
angles with Ocean avenue, in Greenville, the
| c~rosswalks were as thickly covered with
mud as the other portion of Ocean avenue.
At Armstrong place a large truck laden
with kindling wood while crossing the tracks
became stuck in the mud and blocked traffic
on the trolley line for over three-quarters OF
an hours. The delayed motors formed a
string nearly two blocks long.
OTHER Rec LIKEWISE.
1 alighted at Danforth avenue and walked
to Old Bergen Road. This street was SO
| covered with mud tina wagons could not
| pass through it. | next visited the New
| County road, and this was as bad as the
| street / had just left. Woodlawn and Full
ton avenues, Rose and Warner avenues,
Stevens avenue, Cedar street and Walker
| avenue, all prominent thoroughfares and
well populated, having no sidewalks, We're
almost impossible. A trip through them
would AVE been followed by ar hours hard
work with shoe and clothes brushes, so | did
| not pass through them.
So much complaint has been made of the
negligence of the Street and Water Commits
| sioners, that the Sixth District Citizens AS
ISOLATION will, at its meeting on Tuesday
evening, devote the greater part of the even
ing to a discussion on "How can we secure
better streets" All citizens and property
owners who are interested in this matter are
cordially invited to be present. and all will
be gwen an opportunity to speak on this all
absorbing topic.
Contractor Byrne will also receive the at
tention Of the citizen. The citizens say that
if Henry Byrne had cleaned Ocean avenue
but once in the past four months, the
t~horoughfare would not now be in the con-
dition it is.