The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-06-27

mat houses follow macadam pavements,
and for this reason have consented to
approve ofsa limited number of Improve
ments of this nature during the coming
year The people Of This city must remenl-
per that where streets are 7unpaVcd. the
fault Is with the property owners and not
with the officials, and that when a street
IS once severed and paved its mainten-
afice 9Ecomes q charge upon the city for
ever. The proper maintenance OF the paved
streets has been accomplished by the di-
version OF one-half Of the annual license
Street Account for several Years past'
and without the imposition of a general
Lax upon property in the annual levies.
irary nature and assessments are levied
Tor the repaving and resurfacirg Of streets
as often as such work is done, or the cost
tensively the Improvement Of streets is
progressed and the greater number of
mlles or paved streets that are added an
nearer becomes the time when the license
funds VIII be insufficient to maintain our
paved streets, and "a new solution of the
problem of their maintenance will have
TO pc found. While that day is as yet
some time distant it seems TO my mind
that t Ene 1jca It comes fr95 the the solution will se
a capital fund for the purpose and a pro-
portion of the cost assessed upon the pro-
perty owners benefited. For that reason.
II for no other, the proposition made by
the property owners on Danforth avenue
to pay one-third of the cost of resurfaclng
their street for the paving of which they
nave already paid Should. not De lightly
disposed of by our Board. 1t will estab-
fish a precedent and accustom the people
ggraauaily 70 what VIII sooner or later be
RBPAVpNG OF cGVs sTRRErs.
The city is to be generally congratulated
| upon the improved condition Of The paved
streets. This is especially true of that
part of the city formerly known as old
Jersey ensy Gity. ! 90 not recall e street, ex-
the additional exceptance Of Fifth and
Morgan streets, that are not in a more
improved condition than ever existed in
the past. Fifth street, from Newark ave-
nue. TO Coles street, and Morgan street,
from Provost street to the entrance to
i the = city dock DO < a., Are badly in need Of at
street, between Barrow street and Jersey
avenue, also shows considerable wear.
A change should be made in the specifi-
cations adopted by your Board for repay
ing. SO that they may be made more strin-
gent: While the work that has been done
n TINS line has not been Unsatisfactory
1t has not afforded as successful results
as we nave hoped for. The heavies traffic
upon any of our streets is upon Montgom-
cry street east of Washington street. and
on Grand street west of Washing
ton street. The problem as to what is
the proper action to be taken for the
improvement of these two thoroughfares
IS a difficult one and it would appear
that it is not one that can be settled this
year for the reason that the license
monies will not be sufficient to carry
out the completion of the good roads sys-
TENS and the Tepav.ng of those streets
together. | am convinced, however, that
much relief can be given on the line of
Grand street by having it swept every
night during the summer and the sue
ceeding fall. COmmunipaw avenue be-
tween the Boulevard and West Side ave-
nue., has been worn into poor condition
mainly on account of the lack of pro-
vision for sewerage and surface water
ilSnRSH Tho rnnDn1IS0ru ~ i'm nraxraraa ~
of that portion of the street by the con-
struction of a sewer lateral to the West
Sid avenue sewer, at the expense of the
abutting property, or by the construction
of a blind ditch or drain at the general
expense should receive attention.. The
traffic en- -ComInunipaw avenue and
Grand street, which has grown to such
an enormous volume since the establish
ment Of the trolley system, and es-
pecially of the Newark Plank Road line
is sufficient reason for giving this matter
considerable attention, as these thorough
fares have become approaches to the
city of a nature similar to that already
alluded to and the same reasons apply
to II as were used in regard to the i'm
the Pennsylvania Railroad.
NEW ROAD SYSTEMS.
The agitation fer a new bridge over
the Norris Canal on Pacific avenue will
br,ng more prominently forward the
question Of providing a smooth road
way from lower Jersey City into the
Lafayette section and thence TO connect
with the southwest. driveway. When the
latter drive was laid out originally 1t
was thought that BramIlaH avenue would
driveway and the Boulevard, but the
property owners have solved the con-
Meeting problem at that point for the
officials, by improving at their own ex-
Bergen avenue. So hat it may seem
eXpedient next year. Il O so during
this. to connect the asphalt in Varick
street with Grand, thence to Pacific. to
C-ommunipaw, TO Garfield avenue, thence
by way of Harmon street to Arlington
avenue. Much depends upon what your
Board e.ects to do during the open sea-
son now with US. The solution of the
the Opening and extension of C~arteret
avenue s. to s Paeiie avengs. q
venue ] am sure hat every one will
admit that the record of the present adj
ministration has been made. in so far,
that it can claim to have developed and
improved the city to a greater extent
than can be said of any of its predeces-
sors and even beyond what was deemed
possible in the beginning Of its career.
That being so, the use of the discretion
airy power allowed the city officials in
the matter of progressing petitions for
assessab.e improvements cannot be re-
garded as prohibitory to the improve
ul6Lt VI tie CITY, II lCT SOOQ reasons
these petitions are unfavorabiy acted
upon or denied. Your Board should de-
cline to declare your intentions to pro-
coed with improvements without careful
examination as to their merit. Petitions
for the sewering or paving of a portion
of a street when the whole or a greater
part than is comprehended in the petit
ton is without sewerage or unpaved,
should be denied unless good evidence
has been produced that a petition com
pretending the sewer.ng or paving of
the whole portion unimproved will be
unsuccessful if progressed to the hearing
stage. While the legal and incidental
xpenses of improvements have been
greatly reduced by the leg Station enacted
during the last two years, the fact re-
mains that these expenses which com
prise advertising, etc. and are incident
to the making Of every Improvement
aggregate almost the same whether the
improvement is a block or a mile in ex-
tent. So that by conservative action
on your part the cost of Improvement
may be materially reduced in such cases
BY the consolidation Of petitions for the
Improvement of parts of a street or nv
the extension of the scope of some. Of
the petitions presented to your Board.
The greater the area comprised in an
improvement the less costly is 1t for the
individual. and it should be the c;ty,s
care to prohibit the making of expensive
and q~uestionably benefic al Improvement
whereby the exercise of conservative ac-
ton the cost of the Improvement NAV
be lessened. 1t has been my intention
in this communication to lay before your
Board what appeared to me should be
the policy Of the city during the pres