The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-12-07
THE ORDINANCE
WITHDRAWN,
Payements Will Not Have
to be Cemented Ones for
a Time at Least.

present the ordinance providing that side.
walks between Front and Sixteenth stresta
and Lombard and Broome bs paved with
| hagstone or cement In doing so he said:
1.-The subject OF paving the sidewalks with
cement or smooth hagstones is not new
| one in any sense" g
ut has beendiscussed on many occasions,
not only by this board Of directors, but by
former members; IN fact. II my mind
| serves me right, and am sure that u dee,
aformer chief engineer made this question
asubject Of special recommendation Ia
the department, and although improved
sidewalks were being laid by many of QUE
builders and others at the time 1t was no;
deemed advisable to promulgate al ordl-
nance making it obligatory to pave with
such materials.
"Ths board has talked over the subjec.
at several public meetings during the pre-
sent year, and while the matter was mp.
proved In q general manner. the detail q
prescribed districts regulations, ETC., was
not formulated until the present tins.
when gave notice OF the proposed resolu-
tion, only having first carefully examined
the situation, aud talked the matter over
from time to time with q largo number OF
our citizens AMI property owners, as well
as the builders, we recommended the In.
PRODUCTION OF such an ordinance for adop-
tion In the interests or benefits ..of every
person baving occasion totravel our strseta
viewod from standpoint Of safety from
persona! injury and annoyance to say
nothing Of the enhanced beauty OF on,
streets. =
There was and Is. no intention of work
Ing hardship upon any one, and when
you remember that at. the present tim,
nine.tcnths of our new sidewalks arc la;:
with this new material. IT certainly doe,
not appear that 1t would bs II hardship
upon any Of the remaining one-tcnth to b.
required to lay an improved Sidewalk:
Whenever the old one Is worn to conll.
ton necessitating Il new one; for you
must remember that the proposed resolu-
ton OF ordnance docs not require that
sidewalks in need Of repair shall DO torn
up and relaid with new material. lhey
would need only to DO repaired with this
same class Of material originally used.
am in favor of improved material for our
sidewalks whenever our city is ready an!
the notice o!this resolution was Jor tho
parpose Of properly obtaining tho Views o,
our citizens Gu the subject. Which views
are always desirable to q proper UNDER
standing of our city's interest"
II would lika to say" continued Mr..
Simmons. chat 1t seems to me some Of the
newspapers have the intention OF mislead-
ing the people. They have thrown out In.
situations not becoming gentleman, los
alone q paper. This matter OF uniform
sidewalks have been discussed from time
to time by this board. The reporters have
boon present during the discussions, and
there never was time when they made a
note ofany thing about sidewalks. The
board often has to make special request
that important matters DO published. *
"The problem Of uniform sidewalks Ia q
hard nut to crack. 1t ia not an easy mat
ter, as tho papers would like to make IL
appear, to go out and repair Sidewalks
Mr.. Simmons detailed tho mode Of proceed.
IRE Of having sidewalks repaired. aud
the amount expended on lsiiewalks must
be levied mi carried one year aud ten
days before it can be referred and collect
Cd. MIR. Simmons said does not receive q
sufficient amount Of appropriation to 60 In.
to the matter and have the money tied UP
In that way. The fixed expenses Of the dc.
partment are $1,000 month, out OF an
Of slOo, 600 year, and there
are special funds for special purposes, for
Which they must DO used only.
In conclusisn Mr.. Simmons said quito
number Of prominent citizens had congrat.
Aated him on the introduction of the or
finance and the position he had taken in
tho matter. IIIe declared he had no person.
Il interest at stake but on theother hand
10 believed ho was acting for tho public
good.
Both Messrs. Pratt and Webster thought
t proper to withdraw the ordinance under
he circumstances.