The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-16
DEMAND 10 SHUT DITCH HOLES
HIGHWAYS DEPARTMENT .ASkED
70 HAVE IT DONE. IN

Park Raw Properly Owner 6ays Hes Tired
q Having Nis nishts pisregarAed.
and Appeals 10 supt. Cellins. who'll
Tr, 10 Move the ('hieS pitcher tn Act.
In response TO complaint nyade.1p the
Department Of Highways by a PAft row
property owner and baeiness man. Supt.
Jenies G, Collins Of that department will
to-day invite William Barclay Parsons,
chief engineer Of the Rapid Ira MI Com
mission. to turn his attention to the open
ditch in front OF the Post Office and find out
il il can be closed at once.
ibis particular part Of the ditch has bsaa
open since November.
The excavating in il has long been esss-
pleted. The framework and walls u tho
;bway beneath have long ago been put in.
Nobody. so far a. the property owners
who have to endure il and the padeetSians
il Inconvenience can see. has worked on
il for several weeks. But the ditch stays
there All that has been DOM for IT,
safety of the public 10 to put wooden
fence around it, This fence. dirty and
riokety. is now almost falling in. .f.
Now the contract between the Rapid
Transit Comnission and the Subway htild-
eFs contains this clause: ~
No open excavation shall b. naatntalasd
in front Of any property for period greater
than thirty working days. unless tbs consent
Of the owner OF such property shall be I'D
With the board. Should 1t be impossible to
restore the pavement within the space OF
thirty days. then. unless permitted he tho
property owner or by special vote " the
board, the contractor shall maintain hftdSe
or roof over such excavation. 80
None of the Park row property o31nen
has ever been asked for such consent q Ia
Of the Rapid Transit Commissioners gtvirg
the contractors unusual privileges along
Park row is to be found in the minutes Of
the commission. In fact, several Il tho
Commissioners who were asked about Il at
the meeting yesterday didn't seem even to
know that the contract contained such q
clause. Nor did most Of the property
owners till Chief Engineer Olney Of the High
ways Department mentioned the fact tho
other day to reporter and THE SUH printed
it,
The Park row property owner. who has
complained to Supt. Collins quotes this
clause and asks Mr.. Collins il he cannot
take some action to secure to city taxr4yers
their rights against the ditchera, without
forcing the sufferers to appeal ID the oonHts.
Mr.. Collins will try.
There is another clause in the contract
which says that the contractor shall be
responsible for all damage to adjacent prop
erty "or to any other property or right by
be done except such damage as shall arlse
from proper construction" Whether MAIN
tanning an open ditch for eleven months
when the contract says none shall be MAIN
tanned for longer than month is proper
construction, may yet be an interesting
point for the courts to decide.
The contract Gays further that the Rapid
Transit Board contemplates and the con-
tractor approves ]the most thorough and
minute inspection by the beard, its engineer
and their representatives and subordinAtes'
Of the work done by the contracton And
ito engineer shall draw the attention Of the
contractor to all errors or variations from
the requirements Of the contract.
-They say remarked thoughtful
citizen after reading the contract: that hell
evidently THINKS that Kind Of pavernsri
good enough for New York. Lord knows
*.lrs=e might III Re e'se along The ditef
side" y
As Chief Ditcher Parsons and bis assistants
don't seem to have discovered that the
thirty day limit for open holes Is being dis
regarded, it is supposed that they have
hitherto been too busy planning tbs new
system OF bitches which the upper, Broad
way merchants have now turned down
The merchants around Fulton street in
lower Broadway have discovered In the last
| few days that the wooden towers erected
| In front Of their stores are intended to carry
| the gas mains which will be dug out In eI-
cavating forthe Fulton street station. To
all appearance, il there should he crowd
at Fulton street and Broadway when the
returns are coming in on election night
down will 60 the wooden props for the gas
mains, in which case there will be . 6ne
mess. ., r..t
II was intended originally 10 adopt this
plan in the case Of the cross streets lower
down Broadway, but the merchants between
Maiden lane and Wall street have formed
a protective association and have enga ged
Charles G. Bates, consulting engineer,
to watch over their interests. The. ele-
be a continuous feature Of lower nrcad-
WAYS adornment. The merchants around
Fulton street have not orga nized for mutual
protection. -s".
After THE SUN had told how one Of the
gas main towers had been so placed y to
block the entrance to hat store down
there the contractors consented to move
the thing They placed 1t 90 that Il OBJ
structed the view Of the hatter's store
window. The latter sent for his lawyer.
you'll have to stand it, said the lawyer.
Tho Rapid Transit Board has practically
given the contractors their own way, and
as the city's paid engineers permit them
to do this sort Of thing you can't do any
thing"
and I can't even vote against Low
walled the merchant. -Tamnanyd let
EN- take the store and protect EN- In it.
if they made it worth while ~.
The contractors say that the gas mains
will remain on stilts--if the stills don't
fall down--temporarily," till the station
is completed. It is expected that this
means for a year at least
NO FAVORS TO ORR'S NEIGH BORS
Grou, Against Special Pay 70 Hfoa,klyu