The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-05-29
NOT THOROUGH
Mrs. Bowen Thinks Bergen
Avenue Should Be Better
And More Often
Cleaned.
Her TYPEWRITER REQUEST
City Does Not Clean Bentley
And Clifford Avenues,
Says She.

S. Bowen, of No. IL Bentley avenue,
when interviewed this morning by a
News reporter, on the subject of Town
improvement, and going to a secretary
| standing near she produced the following
typewriter document
9Th Town Improvement Committee of
the Woman's Club representing the
Eighth ward, request you to assist them
in their efforts to keep our streets clean
and free from all nuisances, especially in
front of your own house. Please empty
| .nents. into the ash barrels. and do what
| you can to interest the ~neighbors, includ-
ing the children, living on your block in
this commendable work.
MARY S. BOWEN"
"And do you find these typrewritten no.
| tees work better than the little pledge
cards?n was asked.
sYes, I think I get better results from
Them" said Mrs. Bowen. especially with
store keepers and in the tenement dis
tricts. You see they furnish an excuse
for interviewing these people. I go into
a store, hand the proprietor some of
these typewriter slips, asking him to in
terest his neighbors and customers. Then
I distribute the slips throughout the
building, in all the flats above the store.a
The pledge cards referred to begin with
the words, 81 hereby promise" and then
go on with about the same matter con-
| tanned in Mrs. Bowen's typewriter re-
quest. These pledge cards are used much
on the plan of any other pledge. One is
| signed by the tenant and handed to the
| Town Improvement, while the other, also
signed by the tenant, is kept by that
party by way of a gentle reminder. In
| some instances these cards answer every
| purpose, but in others it has been discov-
cred that people are perfectly willing
| to promise but object to signing their
| names or pledging themselves, and the
| typewriter request is Mrs. Bowen's way
| of s~urmounting the difficulty.
Mrs. Bowen is in charge of the northern
| half of the Eighth ward, from Commune
paw to Belmont avenue, while Mrs. w.
D. Edwards has the southern half, the
dividing line being drawn in the middle
of the street, pounded on the east by
Summit avenue and on the west by the
Hackensack.
..What do you think of the way the men
do their work."
in that answered Mrs. Bowen, Il
| think there is a marked improvement.
| The speaker then said that she had re-
| ceiyed complaints from Bergen avenue
that it was not kept very clean. But
said she, "they only clean 1t once a
month. and last time they did not do it
very thoroughly"
'sBut your street here looks beautiful
remarked the reporter, referring to Bent
ley venue
Eyes" said Mrs. Bowen, "this street is
| cleaned every day and twice on Saturday
but we pay for it ourselves. Each resi-
dent contributes so much per week to-
ward keeping it clean. And that reminds
| me I noticed the other day by the paper
| that Clifford and Bentley avenue had beer
Ecleaned by the city. | suppose 1t was tne
scheduled time for cleaning them, but the
| city had not touched either. 1t was I'M
necessary. Clifford avenue is kept clear
in the same way as Bentley
I'VE are very fortunate" continued
| Mrs. Bowen, when asked about the man
I'VE have a little lane at the back of oul
| houses here on Bentley avenue. so tha1
| all refuse is taken from the back. but IN
that matter, too, the men are improving.
Mrs. Bowen said that much credit was
due her assistants, who have taken
charge of the various blocks, as follows:
| Mrs. Willard Fisk, C~ommunipaw avenue;
Miss Bessie MacNaughton, Monticello,
| MoMaster, Harrison; Miss Jessie Nc
| Bride, Boulevard; Miss Montgomery
! Troop, Belmont avenue; Mrs. George r.
| Record, Bergen avenue; MISS Lela Hlndss'
Belmont avenue; Mrs. Otto Grouse, Harri-
| son avenue; Mrs. Charles Herr, Emory
| street. and Mrs. C.. G. Black, Boulevard.
| each lady, of course, being in charge OF
| one block.