The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-09-24
AN IMPORTANT HEARING
HELD LAST NIGHT ON ALDER.
 MAN O'KEEFE'S RESOLUTION.

Proposition to Have City Buy HaIsted
 & Hsrmounps Property Discusstd-
 Great Benefit to the City Should 1t b
 Pnrciased-Its Many Advantages-
 City Engineer Kelly to Make a Report
 on the situation.
 One of the most interesting public hearings in the city hall for long time was the one last night to consider the resolution of Alderman O'Keefe, recom- mending the purchase of the Halsted & Harmount property on Water street, for the purpose of establishing larger and better equipped public wharf It was argued at the hearing last night that the property should be purchased for several reasons. One of these is that, this piece of land, which has big frontage on the harbor is the only piece bordering the harbor not now owned by private corporation and that if the city intended to have a public market SA eL PNDAlC " nall IL GOulu De lIlE OIlIy possible place on which to locate either of those two. It was stated that the price of the property now is as low as it is likely to go and that according to the reports submitted on the returns from the present public wharf 1t would pay for itself within eight years.
 Conrad Weiss was the first speaker of the evening. He is an alderman and was chief pusher for the establish ment of the present wharf. He said that the purchasing of the Halsted & liar mount property would give the city one of the best pieces of land about the har- bor, especially as it joins the property now owned by the city. He also said in the way of comparison, that the pub lie wharf had netted the city during the past three months the sum of $500 and that the merchants of New Haven had made over $500 during the same period of time.
 Joseph Manning said that he thought the proposition was a good one and that he hoped the committee would rec ommend the passage of the resolution to the board of aldermen. Director Coe of the public works department, hes aid, estimated that the public wharf pays 15 per cent. on the investment, and that the receipts were increasing all of the time. He also said that the present wharf was not equal to the demands for it's use and that to meet the require ments it was a necessity that a larger one should be built.
 The next speaker was Commissioner William A. Wright. He states that the government had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on New Haven harbor, and that New Haven had done very little in this line. ''The first wharf is a good investment" he said, ''and 1 there is no reason in my mind why another one would not give the same results"
 Adam Sattig stated that as a busi- ness proposition it could not be beaten and that he thought an extra half mill on the tax would cover the expense l Alderman TrEeman in an interesting little speech said that he greatly favor 1 ed the move to buy the property and l gave instances in western cities on the results of municipal ownership.
 l President Wallace of the board of l aldermen, T. B. Kelly, MT. Sullivan and ! John Foley were among the other speakers favoring the plan, and at the 1 end of the executive session which fol. lowed the meeting 1t was stated that l City Engineer Kelly would be asked tC 1 prepare figures and estimates of the | land of the Halsted & Harmount prop l erty, and to ascertain the necessary work to be done there. He will also be | instructed to figure out the exact status of affairs in regard to the East street | extension. The Consolidated road Sargent & Co.,, and the city have all claimed at different times the owner" ship of the East street sewer extension and it is up to the city engineer to find out just what the situation is. The committee did not take action on the resolution, but voted to hold another public hearing on Thursday, October 2 l when the report of Engineer Kelly will be heard.