The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-01-08
LONG PETITION HAS
 BEEN SIGNED BY MANY
T. H. Motion, City Engineer kendrick, Alderman Stockmar and Wm. Hood Express Their Views
 About the Matter.

nue are up In arms against the proposed
 plan of paving that avenue. Petitions
 have been circulated in which various
 people either express their preference for | asphalt, vitrifed brick or bituminous
 macadam, but many have said they would
 rather have no paving than to have the
 last named.
 A petition asking the city council not
 to pave Fifth avenue for some time to
 come has been signed by the owners of
 property fronting about 2000 feet on the avenue. Their petition sets forth that
 the people do not want bituminous mac
 adam tried as an experiment and would
 rather wait and see if it proves satisfac- tory on Third and Fourth avenues before having 1t tried on Fifth avenue.
 The petition, the names of the property owners who signed it and the amount of property of each represents is as follows: The Petition.
 Birmingham, Ala. Jan. 6, 1904. l Honorable Mayor and Board of Alder men, City:
 "Gentlemen: The undersigned, who own | property on Fifth avenue, between Nine l teenth and Twenty-seventh streets, in the city of Birmingham, do file this as their | protest against the city council having
 said avenue paved at the present time, or in the near future, claiming that the
 macadam pavement on said avenue is already good and sufficient for all pur- 1 poses, and do not feel that any kind of
 pavement will add to the value of our
 several properties in such amount as will 1 justify the cost of said pavement, which | will be charged against the property l owners.
 We submit that the petitions which have been signed in regard to paving this
 avenue have been simply expressions of I preference between the kinds of pave
 ments which have been proposed by your
 honorable body for this avenue, 1t being | given out and understood that you have
 determined to pave said avenue with some | form of pavement, contrary, as we be- | lieve, to the wishes of the majority of the
 property owners on said avenue. Intrinsic Value. We understand that your authority for
 making the property owners pay for such public Improvements is limited to the
 amount of intrinsic value added to the
 abutting property, where such improve
 ments are made. We do most earnestly
 deny that our property will be enhanced | in value in anything like the amount which this pavement will cost, and we l shall therefore not pay for such improve
 ments unless forced to do so.
 We understand that you have decided l upon paving this avenue with bituminous
 macadam, to which proposition we do most earnestly file this as our protest, l claiming that if the avenue must be paved | against the wishes of the majority of the | property owners that bituminous fnaca- | dam should not be the kind of pavement | for the following reasons:
 "First-BitumInous macadam is a pat ented pavement and therefore becomes a monopoly. and 1t should be the duty of the city council to have fair and honorable competition for all such work, in order to secure 1t at the lowest possible cost to
 the property owners.
 Something New.
 "Second-Bituminous macadam is some thing new and has not been tried long
 enough to determine its lasting qualities
 "Thrd-In determining what kind of
 pavement shall be laid upon our streets,
 the council should take into consideration not only the original cost, but the expense
 thereafter for repairing 1t. where 1t be-
 comes necessary to remove it for the pur-
 pose of laying pipes and sewers from time to time. as may be necessary in the
 growth and development of our city It has been necessary in the past. and 1t will be necessary in the future, to tear up the streets for many purposes.
 'The original sewers are too small; the water and gas mains are too small; many
 of the supply pipes for gas and water leading into different properties, are de- fective, and 1t Is certain that in future
 additional improvements will be built
 along said avenue, necessitating additional pipes being put down. to those now in use for the present improvements. It Is all
 most certain that the steam heating sys- tenn already installed in Birmingham, will be extended so as to provide steam heat for residences on this avenue. It has been suggested, and we believe the council has granted a charter, to a cor
 norat,on for installing cold storage sys- tenn. which means that this pavement will have to be torn up for the purpose of lay ing pipe for this system.
 s.It ia also only question of time when telegraph and telephone wires will nave to be laid under ground. It VIII tnere1ore be seen that it is very much cheaper to
 have a pavement laid which can be taken in and replaced with the least possible exrense. We are in favor of a brick pave
 ment in preference to bituminous ma cadam, If we must pay for one or the other for the reason that the material in
 A brick pavement can be used over ana over again in mending and patching places
 which are torn up for the numerous pur-
 noses herein set forth. Not so with bi- luminous macadam or asphalt; to relay
 a navement of either of these materials
 will require entirely new material and
 expensive machinery to patch even the
 smallest kind of place. There can be no
 question as to the great economy of re- pairing brick pavement. as compared with either bituminous macadam or as-
 phalt. Respectfully submitted, Dora P. Francis, 150 feet; J. B. Dryer, 50 feet; R. N. Ingram. 100 feet; E. l.. Watts, 50 feet; E. L. Watts, A. l.. Henley and l.. l.. Motion. 100 feet; F. E. Jordan 100 feet; w. T. Smith, 50 feet; l.. l.. Molton 4S feet: Annie L. Henley. 102 feet Mattie H. Snedecor, 100 feet; Mrs. H. F.. Hewitt. 100 feet: Annie T. Brooks, 50 feet; John Ryan. 50 feet; L. D. Willis, 50 feet: J. A. Robertson, 50 feet c. E. Crenshaw, 50 feet; William Hood, 100 feet; J. E. Wilson. 50 feet; G. w. Shering. 50 feet; J. A. Downey, 50 feet; Mrs. s. A M. Purser. 100 feet; w. D. Cooper 50 feet; J. c. Kyle, administrator, 50 feet: J. c. Kyle. 50 feet; A. O. Kehm, 50 feet! Walter Dean and Daniel Collier. 50 feet; w. H. Dean, 100 feet; R. E. Middleton, 50 feet" Mir. Motion Talks.
 The petition is in the hands of T. H. Motion. who is agent for many of the property holders on Fifth avenue. He
 .tf