Imperial Valley press., 1908-08-29
PROJECT TO GIVE MAIN STREET FROM RAILROAD TO DATE
 CANAL ASPHALT COAT.
WILL PRESENT ORDINANCE
Several Property Owners Declare For Permanent Street Improvement In- stead of Repairs That Can Only Be Temporary-Work May Be Done at Low Rate Now.

fTOm ueVelOpm6nCS or the past week, it appears certain that at the next meeting of the City Trustees there will be presented an or dinance of intention to improve Main street by paving by asphalt, from the Southern Pacific Railroad to the Date Canal, distance of little over 5000 feet.
 This project for the paving of Main street, from the Southern Pacific Railroad, between Third and Fourth streets, to the Date Canal, west of Seventh street, is live topic of dis cussion by El Centro citizens and gives another indication of the fact that this city is moving forward on metropolitan lines.
 Shall money be expended in the making of temporary repairs, that at best will have to be remade within few months, or shall the city make of it's main throughfare a first class paved street, equal to any that may be found in Southern California?
 This is the question that is receiv ing attention by the property owners of property fronting on Main street From present indications, within the next few months the present earth street may be converted into hand some asphalt paved highway
 Several property owners have indi- cated their preference for the per manent improvement, believing that in the end it would be an economical measure, and that such an improve ment would at once enhance the value of every piece of property on Main street
 Certain it is that some improvement must be made on Main street as soon as the agel ahnmilerc
 as the legal machinery can be set in motion. The street at present is in a distressing condition, full of chuck holes and with the gutters filled up with earth almost to the level of the cement walks.
 The first intention of Street Super intendent D. D. Pellet was to ask the City Trustees to empower him to have the streets earth surface disk ed up, rounded into shape, with a deepening of the guttCrs, and then to have the whole thoroughly saturated with water and afterwards to apply oil.
 But while this might make the best improvement for a limited time, the asphalt paving proposition presents such a quality of permanancy that it appeals to some of the property own CTS as the desirable thing.
 The machinery of California Muni- cipal governments provides for such work being undertaken through the formation of an assessment district to include the property benefited, and this must be accomplished through publication of an ordinance of inten- tion to improve the street, the post ing of notices, and then, after ten days period in which Objectors may file their protests, the passage of a final ordinance, advertising for bids and awarding the contract.
 It is understood at the present time asphalt paving can be done at lower rate than has been the case for sever al years A new paving concern has entered the field for contracts in the Southwest, with it's headquarters in Los Angeles, and it is said has won several large contracts in cases where the Barber Asphalt Company has been a bidder.
 Property on all residence streets in El Centro will be assessed for tree planting, if present plans are carried through and there seems little doubt that they will succeed But the Main street of the city will be exempt from this expense and this is a mat ter to be taken into consideration as some offset for the expense that would be entailed by paving.