The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-11-23
FAULTY CITY WORK.
Board of Street and Water
Commissioners Had a
Busy Hearing
Yesterday
CHIEF ENGINEER ROWLBR'S LETTERS
City to Put Sidewalks in Repair
at Expense of Owners
Careless Contractors.
CHEF ENGINEER POWLBR'S LETTERS

What with improvements, petitions
communications and the passage of claim:
the Board of Street and Water Com
missioners. at their meeting, yesterday
afternoon, disposed of a large amount Of
public business and not of a routine char
acter neither. Before, however, they go
down to actual work it was necessary K
appoint a temporary clerk in the absence
of Mr.. G. I. Bouton. Mr.. William Toll
son was appointed to that onerous posi-
ton, and it was only a just compliment
to a very efficient public servant. VIVA
that gentleman does not now pertain
ing to the c~ut-and-dried routine. machine
work of the Beard is scarcely worth
bothering about, and the Commissioners
who are c%minently practical men, knew
that, and selected the right man fol
the place, and it is no soft snap to fill
the shoes 81. 4 man like George T. Bou-
ton. vvus ssrs7
One of the principal things Of note
yesterday outside Of improvements men
toned In another part Of today's
News" were the communications. Here
is one from Chief Engineer Fowler, Which
explains itself fully
Il have made an examination of the
8 feet by 4 feet oval brick sewer, in Mont
gomery street, between Hudson and
Greene streets, and find the top or arch,
at eight different points. has partially
fallen in, owing to the age of the sewer
and improper construction. 1t is positive
ly necessary that a large portion of said
arch be reconstructed at once, in order
tina Sheridan & Shea Company nay not
be delayed In the prosecution of their
contract"
In another letter Chief Fowler wrote:-
sTonnele avenue, between Newark ave-
nue. and St. PauIs avenue, is now almost
impossible for vehicles. This condition
has been brought about by the construe-
ton of a sewer with the necessary con-
nections. laying of water pipe, etc. Said
venue is the only outlet for traffic of the
west end business section. The %contrac-
tor for the sewer should be notified by
your honorable body, according to the
terms of the contract, to repair that part
of the street not properly refilled by him
under his contract. That part of the
street left in improper condition by the
Water Department should also receive
attention at once. In addition to the
above mentioned repairs, broken stone
should be placed along the water line
of the roadway"
Next a delinquent contractor came in
for a jacketting at the hands of Corpora
ton Attorney Douglass, who wrote as fol-
lows
THE proposal of William Byrnes for
building sewer in Sherman avenue, with
were received by me from the Chief En-
gineer, on October 6, 1897. The contract
was prepared, and on October 5 Byrnes
was notified, By mail. to come TO this
a. "a - -,,--+S1- 49, ~ --.-
of executing the contract. He paid no
attention 10 this notice, and on October
20 a similar notice was sent him. A few
days after this the Mayor came to my
Office. inquiring about the matter and on
learning that Byrnes had failed to exc
cute the contra, Il. expressed his Intention
Of notifying him hinself, which he sub
sequently informed me he had done. No
attention being paid by Byrnes to any
of the previous communications, I again
notified him on November IL to come in
within five days and execute the con-
tract. He has paid no attention to this
notice More than a. month elapsed since
he was first notified! Ifhave thought it
proper to notify your Board of his fail
ure, in order that you may take steps
to readvertise for proposals for the work
if you see fit SO to do
Then a batch of citizens were named
for their negligence in not repairing their
sidewalks. This Board decided that since
these taxpayers have neglected the re
P<&tC0 ~ IL S4QS ~ Il a. 4 <
repaired by the city and the cost must
be borne by the following Individuals
Nicholas Tappin, Warren street, Riley
Estate. Newark avenue; +. Pasne, New
ark avenue; NJ. O'Rourke, Newark ave
Rus; c. d. Clarke, No. 225 Newark ave-
nue.; j. Wildwood, Newark avenue; Es-
tate Of Ogden, Sherman avenue; Estate
n a. .n p s0E W. saelman a1 Ogden hsn'r a9ea ane:
Marcus Beach, Hoboken avenue; Nj.
Whipten. Thorne avenue; M. W. Fullan,
Glenwood avenue; M. Davis, Glenrood
avenue: John yanhorns. C~ommunipaw
street.
Among the Communications received
Was one from the Rev. John L. Scudder,
Of the Tabernacle. who desired the APP
pointment of Fl. l.. Griswold as an in
spector IN the improvement of Forrest
street. His pull will be recognized.
Mrs. Mary e. Ahrens, a property owner
of Fairview avenue, signifisd her willing
ness to dedicate the private sewer on
that avenue to the city. The asphaiting
will be begun Immediately by the Barber
Company, to whom the Board awarded
the contract; and they completed the mat
ter by appointing Charles Shaw. OF Dun
can avenue. a very competent gentleman,
az inspector.
Petitions were received for the change
of the grades of Garfield avenue from J.
Brooks and another change in Fourth
street near Newark avenue. Both were
allowed sEs asEf2ies5
will be gratified to know that the Board
was not "agine him.
Chief of Police Murphy called the
street lamps. Inspector John Boyd will
see to it that the Chiefs complaint is at
tended to.
TO remedy the damage done to the
Montgomery street sewer. the Board pass
ed a resolution requesting tn Board of
Finance to appropriate 81, 600 for the re-