Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-11-21
KELLY AT IT AGAIN
Another Attempt to Get Cross Street
 From Bank to Benedict

t- Thomas Kelly, the baker. has again
 donned his war paint and gone into the fray with q view to compelling the city, officials to make move tow
 ards opening cross street from Bank
 street to Benedict street and give peo- pie chance to get to and from their work without running the risk of breaking their necks by clambering through the passway along the bank
 of the Naugatuck river Mir Kelly's plan is to have mandamus issued by the court ordering the city to go ahead and do the work, but some take the ground that the officials have dlscre- tionary powers in the premises and that Kelly will be knocked out in the | first round But even at that. action l of this kind would call attention to | the merits of the contention and prob | ably would have something to do tow
 ards hastening the work. which was ordered done years ago, but no admin istration had the courage to tackle it. When Thomas D. Barlow was elect ed mayor of Waterbury, NIr Kelly. who prior to that time was an ardent republican, but it appears he has since seen the error of his way pre- dicted the opening of the street before the expiration of the Barlow adminfs- tration, but in this he made serious mistake, for when MT Barlow stepped out there was no more sign Of a cross street at the place in question than there is to-day. But to be candid about this matter. Mir Barlow did make a move. and a practical one at that towards getting the slnews of war to do that work with. His admin isfrati0n made an appropriation of $10.000 for that purpose with the un- derstanding that succeeding admins trations would add to it from time to time, and when the amount necessary
 to complete the job was raised then
 there would be no trouble doing it.
 The next administration saw no Op-
 portunityl to spend the money and at
 the close of the year the money was
 recovered back into the treasury. not
 spent for something else, as MT Kelly
 is reported to have said. with the un-
 derstanding that 1t would be reappro-
 priated with an additional S5.000.
 which would bring the sum up to $15.-
 GOO. This was what the board of f..
 nance wanted. but the aldermen could
 not see any harmony in apnroprinting
 money that could not be used and af-
 ter a long fight the item was stricken
 out altogether This explains what
 became of the s10.O00 appropriated for
 Liberty street extension during the
 regime of the Barlow administration.
 After this. Daniel ]. Mahanar succeed
 ed in having motion passed in the
 aldermanic chamber instructiug the city attorney to appear before the gen
 eral assembly and have an act passed
 authorizing the city of Waterbury te establish q sinking fund for the pur ! pose of raising mouey for the pyten-
 sion of Liherty street to Bank street
 Mr Kellogg carried out the order and
 the sinking fund was established. hut
 there never was a dollar put into It.
 consequently 1t isn't worth much nor
 than one Of Kelly's empty four bar rels. If the sinking fund had been In
 existence when the S10,O00 was anllrn-
 priated 1t would have remained thera
 and no doubt additions would have
 been made to 1t since. so that the
 amount necessary to do the wcrk
 would have been raised long ago ar 1
 the public would be enjoying Dqehep-
 eft of the street, This would nntur-
 ally suggest the question. why didn't
 Mir Mahaney see that few thousand
 dollars were appropriated and put in
 the sinking fund after 1t was estab-
 lished? Probably the best answer one
 could make to this query would he. why didn't the people see that Mir Ma hanep was continued in the aldc-- manic chamber where he would Inc l.. a position to complete the work in which he had shown such a deep in- terest? But this is all ancient history.
 Why not take time ny the fOrelock now and do what should have been done the first year after the sinking fund was authorized? In few days the aldermen will meet to pass upom the estimates for 1906 and if they mean business about this Liberty
 street extension there Is nothing to prevent them from making an appro- prfation of S15.000 or S20O00 for it and let the succeeiliug administration follow suit. Under the conditions that exist at the present time this money would remain there until 1t was used for that purpose and iu that wayi the much talked of cross street would come much sooner than it ever will SO long as folks keep talking but doing nothing practical Everybody comedies the merit of the question, but nobody cares to take the initla- i tive. It might appear presumptuous for an ordinary mortal to advise ATr i Kelly. hut sometimes great men learn l a little from the suggestions Of fellow ] beings in humber walks Of life and 1 if Is barely possible that the baker | would do more towards helping his ] case by training his guns on the board of aldermen and demanding probably we should have said asking. | thar a liberal appropriation he made l this year for Liherty street. than he i will by rushing into the courts aud l opening mp a lot Of litleation that may 1 not amount to anything. except a big | all sropnd. Might it not 1 he well for AIr Kelly to pause before starting the machinerv of law in mo- tions His ahm Is right. hut whether his tactics are the hest or not Is a