The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-05-30

pretense whatsoever, tearing up anv nublie
street; and this ordinance should provide that
application must be made to the office of the
Superintendent of Public Streets in writing
and diagram furnished showing the exact
space that it was desired should be
feet of such opening; and that the applicant
should be obliged to pay to the CITY at the time
the application was FLED the amount of cost
That is, the City should have its own EMPLOYEES
open and repave the space, and then we would
be certain that all streets once in good condi-
ton would be so maintained.
Now the next grave question is the pave
ment There should be in use in this CITY but
two kinds of pavements: First-The bitumen
pavement, which should be laid on all streets
where the grade would permit; and, second,
the basalt pavement, which should be used on
all steep grades, and posi- bly, on the downtown
business streets, where heavy trucking is es
sentlal. In laying all pavements, concrete
foundation should be used; and where basalt
blocks are used the crevices should not be
filed with crushed rock, as is the custom at
present, but gravel should be used, and then
tar poured on the gravel until it shows at the
surface. This is the method adopted in New
York City.
that contracts for paving the streets of New
York City carry with them a guarantee for
certain number OF years, and not more than rs
per cent of the amount OF the contract is maid
to the contractors; the balance is held by the
city, and at stated periods percentage payments
are made, provided, of course, the work done
has met with all the requirements of the SpeCi-
fications and contract; and that system should
certainly be adopted here. The contractor
should be obliged to keep the pavement in
good condition for three or five years.
A paper was read by the associations
consulting engineer, Ernest Mccullough,
upon 1.-THE causes and remedies for poor
street work"
M. S. Kohlberg informed the meeting OF
the City's financial condition.
A. S. Baldwin, IN response to the inquiry
as to the streets in most urgent need OF
repair and the cost OF the work, suggested
about dozen thoroughfares in the retail
district and the accepted blocks on Van
Ness avenue The cost OF the work he
estimates would amount to about 1862, 800
He introduced the following resolution
,Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting
that the interests Of the City at large and
especially the owners of real estate will be
subserved and benefited by liberal appro.
priation tor street improvements during the
coming year; and, be it further
Resolved That the Board of Supervisors are
requested to levy sufficient tax to assist in
the removal OF cobblestones and basalt blocks
from the retail business streets and all resi-
dence streets, and that fair proportion of the
cost of the illuminating accepted blocks OF
Van Ness avenue be paved by the City.
This brought out general discussion of
streets and street paving, and several ex-
pressed as their opinions that Market
street from East to Van Ness avenue
should have a modern bituminous nave
ment.
Mr. Kohlberg offered an amendment
that the Supervisors be requested in the
next tax levy to increase the rate of taxa
ton cents on the 500, this amount to be
used for street improvement and repairs
This was opposed by G. K. Fitch and
others. Mr.. Baldwin's resolution was
withdrawn in favor of one presented by
Richard Freud, which was accepted. 1t
was in substance that the directors of the
Merchants Association ascertain what is
the best pavement and the best sewer
system and exert their powers to have the
same introduced into the leading streets of
San Francisco.