The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-19

Seventh avenues, north, contract was awarded prematurely for asphalt paving to the Nashville Roofing and Paving com pany, which is owned by the Bitulithic company, and that the citizens would have been greatly prejudiced by the work being carried out, as storm sewers were still to be laid. The sworn evidence shows that in the ordinance providing for this contract a provision was made TOT the laying of the necessary storm sewers. which would have been put in before the pavement and that the interests of the citizens in that neighborhood would have been protected.
 It has been charged that the petition for asphalt paving on Fifth avenue was lost sight of in some mysterious way and was never considered. and that the contract for bitulithic pavement was given out and assented to by property owners in some cases because petition for asphalt paving could obtain no con sideration. It has been shown in evil dence that this petition was not lost, but was presented to the street commit tee, and the matter discussed and dis posed of, in accordance with the views of the aldermen forming such commit tee in the regular method of conducting such business.
 On Fifth Avenue.
 It has been charged that expensive bitu- lithic pavements have been laid on Twen- ty-eighth street and avenues connecting with Norwood in which some aldermen were concerned to bring into the market outlying property at the expense of the people who had to pay for the pavement. It has been proved in evidence that the Birmingham Realty company was the owner of fully one-half of the frontage affected by this work and petitioned for it, and that there was no opposition made at the meeting of the City Council at which protests or remonstrances should according to public notice, have been made; and that in awarding this work the City Council was following it's usual course of complying with the wishes or a majority of the property owners ar fected by the improvement
 It has been charged that the work upon the Norwood improvement has been slighted and failed to comply with the specifications of the City Engineer. special and careful inquiry and investi- gation, by cutting open the pavement at different places selected arbitrarily. proved that the work does comply with the specifications and has not been sighted
 It has been charged that misrepresen- tations have been made to citizens in cer- tain cases by aldermen and In other cases by representatives of the Bithulithic
  work, and that citizens have in conse- quence consented to such Improvements when they would have objected to them if they had really known how much 1t would cost It has been shown in evil dence that in some of these cases there Is 8 discrepancy in the memory of the wit nesses as to what was really said; and that m other cases only the straight cost of the bitulithic itself was discussed, vuif yipU all the Qddi- tional costs which have accrued to prop erty owners.in some cases for grading, in others for storm sewers, or for re-setting curbing, and for the cost of advertising and inspecting. In some cases also the owners of corner lots have omitted to take into consideration the expense of their share of intersection of streets and alleys. We have not found in patient examination of the testimony any evil dence of deliberate misrepresentation as to the cost.
 For Less Money.
 It has been charged that the city of Birmingham was paying a higher price than other cities throughout the south for the same material or class of pavement. It has been shown by the evidence that on the contrary the bitulithic pavements have been laid by the company in Bir-. mingham for less money per square yard than in any other city in the south, and so far as we can learn for less money than in other cities in the United States or Canada.
 It has been charged that the pavement could be laid for less than N per square yard It has been proved in evidence that at the present price of s1S0 there is little if any profit to the contractors, and that unless the price of labor and material should go down, the9 company will scarcely be willing ot undertake fur ther contracts in the city at the same fig ure.
 It has been charged that an unfair dis criminaton has been made against other paving companies by specifying the name "bituithic" pavement, as this name is copyrighted and the pavement itself is produced by a method which is patented. The evidence shows that the bitulithic pavement has been expressly specified in certain cases by the property holders who petitioned for it; and that in other cases the city engineer has made his specifications Intentionally as broad as possible to admit of competitive bids be- ing made. We have gone very fully into the character of the different classes of pavement, namely bitulithic, asphalt and wooden block, and we do not feel it in- cumbent upon us to offer report to the City Council on the different characters of pavement and their respective merits as such information is already at the com mand of the council in the hands of it's engineering department. We have found City Engineer Kendrick to be thoroughly Versed in the merits of each class of wors, and feel unanimously that his decisions and recommendations have in every case been entirely fair and conscientious, and for the best interest of the city as a whole and the citizens who are called upon to contribute to the cost. We would state, however, that 1t Is entirely mis- leading for any one to draw comparisons between the cost of putting down mix ture of chert or slag macadam with a tar binding material, and the bitulithic pavement, which Is an artificial stone of 961a per cent density and only 3h per cent of porosity.
 It Is. in the opinion of the committee, worthy of careful investigation as to whether or not a cheaper class of pave ment might not be laid upon streets in purely residential districts or those where by reason of grades heavy traffic woui not be likely to go, and we recommend that this subject be taken up between the city engineer and the various paving con- tractors.
 More Brick Than Bitulithic.
 It has been charged that the fact of all the paving work going to the Bitulithic company was itself an evidence of dis crimination or favoritism. The evidence shows that more brick pavement has been laid in this city this year than bitulithic pavement, and that the percentage of brick pavement Is growing faster than the percentage of bitulithic.
 One witness who claimed that his as-