The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-05-29
Reply of Superintendent Ash
worth to the Grand
Jury.
WHAT THE CONTRACTORS SAY.
A Man Paid Good Money to Keep
the Streets In Re-
pair.

u llle OTdllu uTS duSHI luelT
tour of examination of the City's street
pavementS.
"Much of the work which they examined
and pronounced faulty was done under the
previous administration, and it is hardly
fair to hold me to an account for it. With
regard TO the work done since | took office,
l have to say that none of it has been ac-
cepted that was not up to specifications.
l visit every piece of work personally
before recommending its acceptance, and
see to it that it is all right. Besides, |
have inspectors on guard watching the
progress of all work, and 1 am compelled,
of course, to rely on their reports. l am
on duty myself all the time, get to my
office earlier than my deputies, and after
seeing the work of the office properly
started / go out, and remain out most of
the day looking after the street work.
Now" continued Mr. Ashworth, 81
will take up the criticisms they passed and
answer them. They say the work on
Hayes street between Fillmore and Steiner
is bad. | say that it is not. IL is very
good piece of work and fully up to the
specifications. The work on Army street
at Mission is under way and being care
fully watched, and if it is not up to the
standard it will not be accepted-that's all
there is about that.
"They say something about the cesspools
not being deep enough or the right size.
They must, be made properly or the con-
tractor will have the work on his hands.
The little street or cul de sac called
Elwood place is not up to standard, l
should say. 1t is not as bad as they have
painted it, and the property-owners were
satisfied with the Job, but will admit that
1t is not good job.
THE work on San Carlos place, which is
in had chana tho hifIToaD haui11o oil
gone to pieces, was done under the last adj
ministration. l have nothing to do with it.
1.-The same is the case with Bartlett
street, from Twenty-third to Twenty
sixth. 1t is in bad condition, but L am
trying to fix it up as best l can.
1.-The matchmaking of NJ street south
was injudicious, and the big cut there was
the most foolish thing 1 ever saw, but L
had nothing to do with having it done.
The property-owners wanted 1t and were
satisfied with the work. Two of them
came up while | was there examining it
and expressed themselves as satisfied. l
pointed out to them that the macadam
would be all cut up soon in the process
OF opening the street further. But that
has nothing to do with the job, which l
think is all right. When l went to inspect
it, 1t is true, | found some of the rock too
large on top, and ordered Hogan, the con-
tractor, to take that off, which he did.
get the Mayor to sign the warrant for the
pay for this work. That is wholly untrue.
Hogan came and asked me to see the Mayor
about it, but | refused. Hogan told me the
other day that the Mayor had never seen
the assessment for this work though |
signed and sent it to him in regular order.
Mr.. Gaden has a way, the contractors tell
me, of holding back these papers and de-
laying work as well as of making them
wait for their demands. 1t is the Mayors
duty to pass on these assessment papers
before the work is begun.
LAS for Mr.. Elder, who was so free in
his criticism, he is an old contractor with
whom [ had plenty of experience during
my former administration of this office,
and there was no man whose work l had to
watch more carefully and with whom had
so much trouble. Spite is at the bottom of
this attack on me-"
''They have way of delaying things in
the Mayors office that is both strange and
annoying. That Office can be used and is
used as an engine for expressing the con-
tractors, for reasons best known to them
Selves said Bookkeeper ]. B. Garland.
The contractors whose work was investi-
gated by Foreman Gagan and w. J. New
man, Edwin Danforth and Monson Rus
sell of the Grand Jury, made some very
good explanations yesterday IN regard to
their work. This was especially true of
Flynn & Treacy. Mr. Flynn said:
I'VE have been in business for six years,
and during that time none of our pave
ments have crumbled or given away, and
We defy any one to point out to us where
1t has gone to pieces through any fault of
material or workmanship. ANY work we
are doing now or may hereafter do we
guarantee to be up to specifications to the
best of our knowledge, and we are willing
to enter into an agreement with the Mayor
Board of Supervisors or Street Department
to keep it in good order for a term of five
years.
"The contract for laying the bitumin Gus
rock on Elwood street we sublet, and Sc
cured written contracts that two and half
inches or thereabouts OF bituminous rock
would be laid on our concrete foundation
The laying of bituminous rock is done by
men who are experienced enough to give
a smooth curving surface to the pavement
Experience has proved that concrete with
rough surface holds the bitumen much
better than with finely smoothed surface.
Some rocks may be higher than others in
the concrete, and when the bituminous
rock is spread over the concrete it will be
thicker in some places than in others. As
/ hold a contract from another contractor
that two and half inches or whereabouts
of bituminous rock sh ould be laid on Ell
wood street must believe the average will
show that thickness.
GAS regards the concrete foundation at
the junction of Mission and Army streets,
the proper quantities of all materials were
put in the concrete mixture. We put in
fully the required amount of cement. 1t
may be possible that the workmen did not
mix the materials as well as they should
have done, but in every business subordi-
nate employees frequently fail to do their
work properly. What was done when
was out there was done up to the require
ments. Undoubtedly more cement must
have been put in some places than was
necessary. 1t is true that on Saturday
morning we added some more cement, but
that we ran over a coating is not true.
Some heavy teams had passed over the un.
finished work and had loosened some OF
the corners. We repaired the damage
that was all. We contend that good av-
erage piece of work was done. The state
ment that there was nothing but sand next
to the railroad track is true. The railroad
company and not the City pays for two
feet OF pavement on each side of the track,
and for the company we contracted to put
In oasalt blocks, as was done on an adjoln-
ing job. The basalt blocks were lying
there to one side and we were nearly ready
to put them in. The sand was merely put
in there temporarily.
The cesspools were supposed by us to
have been correctly built. [ admit did