Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-02-10
SUNS HOT RAYS.
Helped Ownsrs of Sidewalks to Get
 Rid of Snow To-Day.

This is good day for cleaning side walks and the police officers are put ting people in mind of the fact that they had better take advantage of the sunshine and thaw and hustle the slush off the walks. A good deal of this work is going on and before 6 o'clock this evening nearly all the walks in the thickly settled districts will be clear of ice and snow. To be sure, it must make Superintendent Hotchkiss of the street department mad to sec the scrapings of the side walks piled into gutters he opened in anticipation of a thaw, but it is hard to see how this can be avoided unless the city gets right down to business and carts the stuff off the walks in stead of Ielving into the drifts on the streets which might remain there without harming anything. It looks like throwing away money to have a gang of men at " york for weeks open people in town who own land ahutting on sidewalks turn out and push the Sslush off the walks into these openings in the gutters Of course the law states that people shall not do this, but how can they help it unless you want them to throw it into their stores. Of course it might be hurled into the street far enough to leave the gutters open, but you never can get everybody to do this. All this proves that the city would be money in by cleaning the sidewalks instead of fool ing with the gutters. which are sure to be choked up and need opening again when the people get at their walks. If the city would turn out with a few blows and the same num- ber of men it employs at the gutters the result would be much better for everybody. and it is a question if it would cost any more than the present plan which always leaves both the gutters and walks in q very unsatis- factory condition. Another thing the people cannot understand is why the policemen keep after owners of pri- vate property about the walks while the crosswalks are buried under snow. since the first storm. The officers are
 HUI tV pldihe ioE liis. Ilta nave tu do it and as one of them said today. were it not for the nagging of citizens about sidewalks and watching saloons on Sundays policeman would not wear out as soon as he does and he could accomplish enough to make up for it in other lines of duty that de mand his attention. The only argu- ment in favor of sticking to the pres ent method of caring for the streets and sidewalks during the winter sea son is that it was so from the begin ming and but few Connecticut towns have yet abandoned it. This is a poor excuse. A system that suited for all practical purposes in Waterbury tif- teen or twenty years ago may be far from what is needed now and the eN. pericncc of the past few years and the present one especially proves that this Is so in the street department. Changes have been inaugurated from time to time in tho other departments and old customs and methods pushed aside. but the street department prefers to he governed by precedent rather than take up anything that might be con sidcrcd an innovation. and as result the best man you can find fails to give satisfaction at the head of that part of our municipal government.