The San Francisco call., 1898-03-24

on this basis of cost, although the rul- ine nrice for bituminous rock pave ment at that time was lo cents per square fOOl- ,.,oxr,or+s
 In the light of recent deVelopin,ellls ,7 if wouId be interesting to know II there u,os not a nrivate arrangement be- tween the San Francisco PaV1ng CoIh- nany and certain favored property Owners by which the cost to the latter was much less than 231a cents square foot. o. 1,,,.x, in ,,oetioation to determine whether the city was feeced, The Call presents tne names of the following property owners owners who paid for the work on the north side of Fell street:
 John Van Bergen by J. "; Van a1,,ax Bergen ie M I 4 Moidenhauer, Rizpah Phillips by c. n; Phillips. Margaret Nuser, CreSs bT snckman man
 English o GeoTge Mes Emma nans Joseph @ by Albert Joseph. George R. Lang, Sophie Lang lgnat| pa.. steinhart, l. seligman oy W lg4aod Handry Marian R Clement by R. P. Clement. c. H. Hasweli' Kate and Alice Dunne by J. Ii: RGssHeT, Rartino m Al Ar6nsohas. Edward May, T. F. schloss by R Schloss Clement Ruedier by A. Cellen' d 1fo9 k0nn Leon 6ay Dennery, @ J. + splro William Ross by F. Haywood Mrs. NJ P Cheesman py Shaih"assu E Surge and Annie E. Surge James Fisher. A l.. Schoeken Lillie Schocken' M. 6. Laven A. B. SpreckelS, l. Helel ne, peiSn' ,I WoIdenhauer, E. J. Duffy, D. M Phee. Henry Schmidt. H; Dedeky IT, M; so8 B. ssurge ssngfs C. SaroJ5 nId IT ,H Colby NJ. Heating, Rothschild & McHaffie. M. T. McGrath, w. Gruenhasen' An Unexpected complication grew o,1+ of the contract. When the work was done it was found, according to court decision in the Van Ness avenue case. that the Supervisors had no fIa CIIrD of Streets to enter into pr1Vate con- tract The fact was recognized, how oI,ar that the contractor had done the work and should be paid. To overcome the objection the Board of Supervisors on March IT, 1896, awarded to the same contractor contract to uo tne et woln at the figures above specified, after having proceeded in the usual manner to invite bids. Of course, when the work was opened to public competition the pavement had been laid, ana no contractor other than the one who had nerformed the work could carry out inc improvement without taking up inc pavement already laid. It is said that the successful bidder, after get ting his contract in due form, d1dpunch q few holes in the old work and put in new material as matter Of form. TO make the proceedings appear aDso- luteIy real the contractor on March 31, 1Se6 was allowed an extension of sixty days time to complete the work. On May 16 1896, proportionate as- sessment from Masonic avenue to Clay | ion street was issued. Under this the l contractor obtained from the city se423 62. less fees of $216 55. The assess l rnent was signed by Thomas Ash 1 worth. Superintendent of Streets, and l C l.. Taylor, Acting Mayor. The en- | gineer certified that the grades were | Correct. except that the crown of the 1 having was seven inches above official ] Grade It is doubtful if an assessment against private owners, in the face of sucb a certificate from the engineer,
 would have provided money to pay the 1 contractor The contractor, however. l had his own arrangement with the owners of property on the north side of l Fell street
 Another proportionate assessment of | s12 4SS 50 from Clayton to Stanyan was l issued. It was signed also by Thomas l Ashworth, Superintendent of Streets, and c. l.. Taylor, Acting Mayor. The
 engineer again certified that the grade
 was incorrect, the crown of the pave
 ment being eight inches above official
 The third and last assessment for s12. .9S3 was signed by Mayor Phelan. The whole amount collected from the
 city was S34, ,S94.
 It is said to be an open secret among
 contractors and officers of the city gov
 ernment that the property owners paid
 no such sum as this.