Los Angeles herald., 1906-02-20
CITY ENGINEER
IS FAR BEHIND
FOUR YEARS OF WORK NOW
CoNFRoNTS OFFICIAL
Department Has 225 Miles Of Sewers
and 25s Council Street orders
Besides Bridge Contracts
to Handle

Without more room and larger force
City Engineer Stafford declares that ne
cannot accomplish the work already In
his office in less than four years. In
making this declaration he filed state
ment with the council showing that the
amount of public improvements Tor
this year would nearly double that Of
last year and was far in excess of that
of previous years.
His request for more room was re-
ferred to the building committee, and
this committee will make an effort to
provide. suitable quarters for the en-
gneers department. In his report Mr..
Stafford said:
1.-THE volume of work in the engineer
ing department has assumed such pro-
portions that it seems almost impos-
slble to handle the work with our pres
ent facilities. We have work ahead Of
us which, without a single new order,
with our present facilities will keep our
department busy for over two years.
Doubles Sewer System
I'VE have approximately 225 miles of
sewers to construct which, when taken
into consideration that our present mil
cage of sewers is but 204 miles and the
largest amount of mileage constructed
In any year prior to the present time is
81 miles, is in itself sufficient work to
keep a large sized department busy for
the next two years. | have also in
view, in connection with the laying of
the sewer laterals, the laying of all
house connections to the curb line. so
that the street will not have to be torn
up every time a connection is made.
This itself increases the work very
largely.
1--WE have on our books 25S council
orders for street improvements which
have not yet been touched. Besides
that number there are 106 private con-
tract jobs and 1870 Vrooman act jobs
In which the ordinance of intention
has been passed by your honorable
body, but the work has not yet been
completed and accepted. OF the 25S
council orders which have not yet been
touched by this department 26 of them
are for paving with asphalt. These 26
paving improvements represent over 19
miles of streets, and when it is taken
into consideration that our present
paved area includes but 20 miles and
that we have been able to handle but
5 miles per year for the past two years
(Which is more than double the amount
handled in any one year prior thereto),
1t will be seen that unless the work in
this department is handled faster that
1t would take four years to care for
this work.
Besides this large amount of routine
work, would also call your attention
to the special work now under con-
struction, such as the outfall sewer and
the storm sewers.
Four Bridges, Too
1--WE also have in contemplation a
sum of 100000 for further storm sewer
work and approximately 100000 for the
construction of four bridges This work
should be handled by this department
as soon as the money Is available, and
for that reason l should have the de-
tail plans under way at this time.
"Our vault, which was constructed
about six years ago, is entirely made
quate to properly take care of our rec
ords, our records having been practi-
cally doubled in that time.
ITO handle this large amount of
work promptly and satisfa ctorily 1t will
be necessary to entirely reorganize this
department, and the first step toward
proper reorganization is more Office
room and more vault room. and unless
we can have this Immediately the i'm
plovement work in the city will suffer
seriously. AS soon as we can get ad-
ditional quarters we can add to our
force without practically any addi-
tiona1 cost to the general treasury, as
the earning capacity of the department
will be Increased to take care Of any
additional expense.
"In reference to the fees of this de-
partment, I report that for this fiscal
year they will be between $25.000 and
100000, and that for the last fiscal year
they were about $4,000 and for fiscal
years about six years ago they were be-
tween $4,000 and $4,000 per year. So it
will be seen that any additional cost
of the department would be borne by
the improvement"