The herald., 1898-09-13
HAND SWEPT STREETS
MAY COME WITH THE IDES OF
NOVEMBER
WITH TIE new CONTRACT
Bids for the Work Present Remarkable
Comparisons-Salary Ordinance
Passed

BIDS for the new street sweeping con-
tract were received. opened and referred to
the board Of public works at yesterdays
regular meeting of the city council. They
will probably be under consideration for
some time. but judging from the tales which
| figures tell 1t looks very much as though
the next contract will provide for the ad-
vent Of hand sweeping in the paved dis
| tricts Of Los Angeles. 1t is improba ple
| that the contractors themselves sought to
bring about such a change, as the dividing g
of the work in two classes is obviously dis
tasteful 20 them, but the figures submitted
show that the combination Of hand and ma
chine sweeping is even cheaper than 1t
was estimated that machine sweeping alone
would be for the current fiscal year; there
fore If the change is made the contractors
themselves are entitled to the credit for
bringing 1t about.
The specifications under which bids were
submitted were divided into three classes,
A, B and c. Glass A provided for machine
sweeping Of the entire city; Glass B for
hand sweeping of the paved streets; Glass
fo- the machine sweeping of all streets
excepting those swept by hand. The bids
were as follows on each 1000 square yards Of
surface:
]. w. Holingsworth. .2sc soc Sic
Franklin & Alexander .14lsc 55c 1Slsc
Syclonss sweeping o.;2s,sc zs, o.,
H. r. Tibbetts. ..........231sc
| Under the present contract, held by j. W.
Hollngsworth. providing for machine
| sweeping of the entire city, the weekly cost
Is about $3.50. Hollingsworth's bid for the
new contract under specification A, which
| is practically the same as the old contract.
would make the sweeping OF the same sur
| face cost S46S per week. He evidently be-
| l.eves the work is now being done too
cheaply. Franklin and Alexander's bid
Is decided evidence to the contrary. Un-
der their proposal Of 14le cents for machine
sweeping Of the entire city the cost would
be but $2o1.50 per week for the same work
now done by Holl!ngsworth. This would
represent saving to the city of over $4,000
per year, should machine sweeping con.
tnue.
| In order to learn the cost Of sweeping a
part Of the streets by hand ard the others
by machine, specifications B and must
be considered together. The area in which
hand sweeping is deemed desra Bile takes In
the business portion Of the city, and con-
sists of 461 $50 square yards Of street surface
under specification B. The tie bids of
Franklin and Alexander and Ramsh and
| Marsh-55 cents per 1000 square yards
would make the cost of hand sweeping
s253.91 per week. For sweeping the re-
mainder Of the streets by machine, Frank
lin and Alexander are the lowest bidders.
| at 1872 cents. The area coming under
specification C would require weekly
expenditure of s23547 under this bid Add
ng 10 this the cost Of the hand sweeping as
| before mentioned and the cost of sweep
ing the entire city under specifications B
and is shown to be s4S9.3s per week.
As before stated, the sweeping under the
present contract IS costing the city $3.50 per
week. The Inauguration Of hand sweeping
as contemplated will therefore cost about
$40 per week more. The allowance for
street sweeping for the current fiscal year
IS s23,5Oo. OF this amount $1,000 will be re-
qu!red ia carry the old contract td its ex-
pirat!on in November. The new contract
would be in operation for thirty-two weeks
| Of this fiscal year at cost of SIS, $50, making
the total cost Of the years sweeping s22 $50,
or 1920 less than the appropriation These
facts dawn upon the council as an utter
surprise, since the amount appropriate
was considered wholly Inadequate, should
the hand sweeping be adopted.
| Hol!ngsworth's bids on specifications r
and would make the cost of the new plan
Of sweeping s666.95 per week, and he is re-
ported as contending that a contractor can.
not make reasonable profit at mucn less
figure. If this be true, where will Frank
lin and Alexander come out with their pro-
posal of $4S93S for the work? Their figures
are truly remarkable when compared with
the contract prices paid In other cities. San
Francisco, as an instance, paysi about 40
cents per thousand square yards for ma.
chine and 50 cents for hand sweeping.
Individual members Of the council were
yesterday Of the opinion that bids will be
accepted under specifications B and c.