Omaha daily bee., 1901-01-08
NEW PAVING BILL DRAFTED
Legislature to Consider Measure Looking to
Improvement of 0mahas Streets,
TO DISPENSE WITH PETITION SYSTEM
city Attorney ConneIl Draws Up n
Bill which IL is Hoped Will
DO Away with ESpen-
sivc Litigation.

City Attorney w. J. Connell has prepared
bill which puts repaving upon the same
basis as original paving and is intended TO
do away with litigation concerning the. in
suficiency OF petitions The bill also pro-
vides that the taking up of stone paving and
replacing IL with other material shall be
considered repavng in the sense in which
the word is used in the measure. Another
change in the charter which the bill pro-
vides is that the cost of special improve
ments shall not exceed the special bene-
fits. This harmonizes the charter with re-
cent decisions Of the courts of Nebraska.
Copies of the. bill have been sent to
Senator Howard II. Baldrige and Repre-
sentative Vaclav Buresh and will be in
troduced in the legislature at the first op
portunty. In speaking OF the amendments
to the charter provided in the bill, Mr.
Connell said that they are of greater i'm
portance to the city OF Omaha than any
other measure which can be brought before
| the legislature and that he had embodied
these in a special bill and hoped that no
| other proposed amendments would be
coupled with them.
! These amendments will do away with the
| necessity of petition for repaving and Will
! require that paving and repaving be secured
! I'm exactly the same manner. The council
| VIII nave l0e TlBHl. uHutI lUt5e dDtuu-
ments, to order repaving without any petit
ton. A district will be created and the
improvement ordered" said Mr.. Connell.
"The public may protect itself by filing a
protest within thirty days and the objection
OF a majority Of freeholders who are af-
fected by the paving Is all that is necessary
to stop the work
| Eject is Immediate.
"The effect of this bill would be imme-
date. II would do away with the premium
which Is placed on fraud. perjury and forg-
cry under the petition system. There is nc
politics in this bill. 1t is a measure which
every taxpayers is interested in and copies
Of it may be found in my Office by persons
who care to examine 1t. 1t is bill which
will stand on its own merits, and hope
IL will be made a law"
Under the clause providing that the tax
ing up of stone paving and the replacing
Of it with other material may be considered
repavEg 1t would he possible to repavC
Farnam street and other streets which
have been overlaid with granite blocks
The charter as 1t stands at present would
not permit of such improvement.
At present the legal department is havinl
little trouble with the assessments made
for original paving, but hundreds of case:
are pending in which property owners seel
to defeat taxes assessed against them fol
repaving. The charter requires that a ma
jority of interested freeeholders shall sigr
a petition for repaying. After these peti
tions have been filed and the improvements
made property owners have denied thel
signatures. and in many cases taxes hav,
been invaldated by showing that some sig
natures were not authorized.
Decisions in cases OF this nature hav
been very unfortunate for the city, and tn
expense of miles of paving has been shoul
! dered on the public by scheming taxpayer
who found some alleged defect in petitions