The Washington times., 1901-12-07
THE EXTENSION OF
TELEPHONE LINES.
A DIFFICULT PROBLEM TO SOLVE.
The Cemunny Forbidden 10 Lsy Con-
duits and Residents Want No
Polcs-PInyEsroun:l for
the city Children.

The extension OF the telephone service
in Columbia Heights ana the outlying
territory Of that suburb has assumed the
proportions Of large problem. Its so
luton yexes both the Board of District
Commissioners and the local telephone
company.
There is considerable demand for tele-
phones in that part of the District, and
under existing laws the company cannot
build underground coniuits for the pur-
pose. The practical solution Of the ques-
tion. at least until legislation is enacted.
is the erection Of overhead wires to sup
ply The demand. The residents of the To-
cality. however. are opposed both to the
poles and the wires.
Number of Applications.
The Commissioners have now under con-
sideration a number of applications from
the company. the granting OF which will
entail the very thing that the good people
of Columbia Heights object to. One of the
applications is for converting an existing
line POLE on Binney Street, between Four
teenth and Fifteenth Streets, into a cable
pole, higher than the line pole, and carry
ing tower and platform for cable box
and for the cable that would De strung on
that line
Another request is for permission to
replace a Western Union pole, nov used
by the telephone company. at the corner
of Thirteenth and Princeton Streets, with
a cable pole ffty-five feet tall, and carry
ing a tower and platform for cable box.
Another requests permission to erect
tz.nN-H
Spring Road and Lydecker Avenue.
Big Aerial Gable.
Another application asks for permit to
string q ffty-pair aeria! cable from the
present cable pole at Nineteenth Street
and Columbia Road to a proposed cable
pole at Eighteenth Street and Columbia
Avenue Still another application re-
quests a permit to replace line pole at
the corner of Grant Avenue and School
Street with a cable pole, and to string a
fifty pair aerial cable from the cable pole
corner Fifteenth Street and Grant Avenue
along Grant Avenue TO the proposed cable
pole corner Grant Avenue and School
Street.
Fairgrounds for Children.
The Columbia Heights Citizens Asso-
citation has heartily endorsed the recon-
mendation made in Major Sylyester's an
nuaI report that the Park Commission
should favor the establishment of play
grounds for children in the District The
association went one step further and rec
commended a tract of land for the pur-
pose along the Piney Branch, in the vi
cinity OF Fourteenth Street extended.
That a liberal slice of territory along
Piney Branch, in the vicinity named,
would have special advantages for the
purpose cannot be denied. There would
be varied landscape of rising hills and
wooded slopes, with the limpid waters of
Piney Branch flowing past in ceaseless
music. II would be an ideal spot In which
children could play in unstinted delight.
Spaces in the City.
1t would appear that the major and Su-
perintendent of Police had in mind GER
tain spaces in the city itself, where chill
dren could play, perhaps under the charge
of blue-coated guardian of the law to
protect them from harm. The spaces nat
ura1ly would be chosen with reference to
accessibility, so that the children could
find their way unattended, or practically
SO, to the Fairgrounds. In short, the idea
behind the suggestion OF Major Sylves-
ter was pleasant spots in which the chill
dren could play, accessible to all chill
dren. usat@.
This Is hardly true of the tract along
the shore y. Piney Branch. The nearest
street railway stops a half mile from the
place, and the children OF the city whom
it is most desirable to benefit live several
miles away. How the little ones would
get there is question which the public
spirited members of the Columbia Heights
Citizens Association have left unsolved.