The San Francisco call., 1898-03-29
Facts and Figures Show That the City Is Being
 Plundered.
New Work Throughout Can Be Done for Less Than Cost
 of Repairing.
THE BIDS WERE JUGGLED
How the Scheme Was Planned b! the Contractors and the Street
 Committee.

The universal desire of the people of San Francisco for smooth and sub- stantial pavements to replace the old blocks and worn-out macadam causes general approval of new street work. Tax-payers are inclined to accept any thing new as letter than the old, and have not been very particular in mak- ing inquiries to ascertain facts concern ing cost of new work or compliance with specifications.
 The disclosures recently made in The Call show that the Supervisors and the Street Department are letting out i'm portant jobs without regard to the pro- visions of the law on the subject The Superintendent of Streets takes 1t upon himself, at the suggestion perhaps Of some one of the board, to enter into private arrangement for important work in front of city property. The favored contractor goes to the property owners against whom one-half of the cost of the improvement should be aS- sessed and says: Sign for this inn provement and we will make the price low to you. What we lose on your half we will make up in assessment against the city'S half" Objection being out Of the way the Street Superintendent and favored contractor proceed to make private arrangement. When the law is invoked against payment for work so conducted and engineered the super Visors step in and authorize the lm- provement by regular resolution Of in tention, but this regular authority Is not given until the work has been per formed. The proposed public compeu- tion is therefore a sham. The favored contractor who has already done the work puts in a public bid at the prlVate +In1~ Pf V have been posted stay off. This viola ton of the law is known to the Mayor and Auditor but they do not seem to have the power to prevent the payment for work contracted or bargained for in this loose and unlawful manner.
 On other contracts let in an appar- ently regular manner the city frequent ly gets the rough end of the deal A recent job on Third street, between Mission and Howard, is case in point. The accepted bituminous pavement of this block needed repairs. It was pro- posed, therefore, that the bitumen should be removed and the concrete foundation repaired. The Board Of Su- pervisors proceeded in the regular fash ion, as the law requires, to invite bids. There were five bidders, to Wit: City Street Improvement Company, Finn & Treacy, Union Paving and Con- tracting Company, San Francisco Paw ing Company and J. J. Bowling.
 The lowest bid. $950, was that of J. J: Bowling. He also agreed to pay $75 bid was that of Finn 6 Treacy, $21OO
 I'd s1 for the old material. The Board Ii Supervisors on the recommendation of the Street Committee rejected all tha bids. Bowling told the Supervis- prs that he was mistaken on the prop osition and hence put in a bid lower than he intended. Whatever the in- side arrangement was, the fact stands that the Street Committee rescinded the resolution rejecting all the bids and adopted a resolution rejecting Dow ling's bid and then recommended the award of contract to Finn 6 Treacy for $2100. Bowling was perfectly will ing to have his bid rejected.
 Now, as a matter of fact, Dowling'S bid of $950 and $75 for the old material was a pretty fair estimate of the work required The repairs to the concrete will not cost over $50, which would leave him cents square foot for re- placing the bitumen. Counting one in- kersection and deducting the street rail- road company's space there remains to be repaved 15,760 square feet. Finn & Treacy's bid is at the rate of 15 cents a square foot, counting on the old ma terial to be worth g ton or $500 for the bulk.
 The Call Is prepared to show that new work, including the whole of the concrete bed, can be done at proht for 15 cents a square foot. The Call has expert figures to show that the Super visors proposed to allow for the work S1200 more than it is worth according to the ruling figures for laying down concrete and bituminous pavement. The Superin- tendent of Streets and the expert of the Street Committee must have known that the bid of Finn & Treacy was ex- cessive and that Dowling's original bid was about the rioht figure.
 The Call is convinced that there Is a steal somewhere in this particular job. The conclusion is borne out by actual measurements of the street and a most careful examination of the existing con- crete bed The concrete Is in excellent form and needs but very little repair