Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1906-05-31
COUNCIL Proceedings.

All the members of Council were present
at the stated meeting on Tuesday evening.
| After the minutes Of She last stated meet
| ing had been read and approy d, Mayor
Ladd's message yetoing the ordinance
known as the Railroad ordinance was read,
as follows:
May 2lst, 1906.
TO President and Members Of City Council !
Gentlemen hereby return the ordi-
nance, entitled 9 An ordinance granting
permission to the West Jersey and Sea-
| shore Railroad Company to lay, construct,
maintain and operate an additional rail-
road track at grade, on its right oil way,
over and across Broad Street, Park Ave
nue., Edith, Cooper, Hopkins, German
and Carpenter Streets, and Glassboro Ave.
nue., within the limits of the City OF
Woodbury.; and to provide for the abol-
ishing Of grade crossings at Cooper Street :
and Glassboro Avenue, passed at regu-
lar meeting OF City Council held May Is,
1906" without my approval, for the fol-
lowing reasons
! First. do not consider that the ordi-
nance as passed is TO the interest OF the
City. and depression OF the tracks on
Cooper Street would disfigure one OF the
most beautiful streets we have further,
upon examining the ordinance find no
reference to any plan that has been
adopted by City Council Tor doing away
with said grade crossings, but the whole
matter is In the hands Of the said Railroad
Company t do as they please, which is not
to the interest OF the city. Idonot believe
the Railroad Company, if they intended
to carry out their agreement, would &C.
cept OF any ordinance requiring them to
do any work Of this kind, at its expense,
without having proper plans filed and
adopted. The only thing in the ordi-
nance referring to this matter, is IN Sec
| tion 4, which reads, That the West Jer-
sey and Seashore Railroad Company shall
be required to enter into an agreement
with the City to depress the streets at
Cooper Street and GIassboro Avenue,
within five years. at its expense. 10
carry out this section, all the said Rail-
road Company would be required to do,
would be to d6press the streets named
under their right OF way only, as there is
nothing in the ordinance giving them the
right to enter upon any other properties.
| also take exception to Section 6, as it
is not in accordance with Section l9 the
City Charter, which provides that all or
dinances shall take effect after being
advertised for two weeks, &c think
the Section should read as follows Be
| it enacted, That no additional tracks shall
be laid at grade across any of the above
named streets, until an acceptance OF this
ordinance, in writing, shalt be fled by
the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad
! Company with the Clerk of the City OF
| Woodbury., said acceptance to be endorsed
g approved by the City Solicitor" A
| failure by said Railroad Company to ac-
cept the ordinance within thirty days
| after it becomes a law, all privileges
granted shall be null and void. 1t seems
to me that the City should grant the
privilege Of crossing the streets named
| to the Railroad Company, on condition
| that the Company will properly protect
/ the street crossings at all times (day and
night, commencing as soon as the addl-
ltionaI track is laid and used; upon the
/ failure OF the Company to protect the
crossings, the privilege granted shall be-
come null and void, and the tracks across
said streets can be removed by order OF
CITY Council, and streets placed in proper
order, at the expense Of said Railroad
Company, after ten days notice to said
Railroad Company to remove the same,
| and place the streets in proper shape. In
consideration Of said privilege being
granted to the said Railroad Company to
cross the above named streets at grade,
they are to grant and dedicate to the City
| Of Woodbury. for street purposes, all that
portion of their land lying within the
| bounds Of the street running from Cooper
Street to German Street, known as Green
Avenue, on the easterly side OF said Rail-
road Company's property. This would
be an Improvement to the City.
Respectfully.
SAML H. LADD, Mayor
The question, "Shall the ordinance be-
come Law notwithstanding the veto of the
Mayor, was put by President Kugler.
| Mr.. Cattell spoke briefly urging the pes
sage Of she ordinance. He said the people
should haye relief from grade crossings,
and cited an instance Of i've teams being
blocked for twenty-five minutes at Glass
boro ave. crossing
4 Mr.. Clark thought there was many good
points in the message, that should have
thoughtful consideration, specifying the
difficulty to sewers and ownership Of the
street at Cooper street crossing.
! Replying to Mr.. Clark, Mr. Cattell refer
red to the danger Of the third rail to chil.
dren, and insisted that now was the time
to secure what is right. The railroad says