Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-01-18
ENGINEER CAIRNS
Spoke 10 Brooklyn Improve ment and Friends al Lycenm.

About 100 residents and taxpayers
 assembled in the Lyceum last even-
 ing to hear an address by City En-
 gineer R. A. Cairns. who had been
 asked by the Brooklyn Improvement
 society to make few remarks on
 the needed improvements of Brook
 lyn. It is not long since the tax
 payers of Brooklyn and, in fact, the
 members of the Improvement society
 were among the engineers most bit
 ter denouncers, but of late they look
 at conditions in a different light.
 The opening remarks were made
 by Jeremiah Devine, president of the
 society, who stated briefly the req
 sons why the society had been re-
 organized and what it intended to
 do in the future. He said MT Cairns
 had been invited to make an address so as to enlighten the members on subjects concerning which they were
 badly in need of information. The city engineer was then introduced.
 He touched upon those improve ments uppermost in the minds of the Brooklynites, the Liberty stret ex- tension, which has been hanging fire for years; the strengthening of Bank street near Stupidity" bridge No 2, which looks as though it will for ever be bane to this side of the city; the Jackson street layout, be- cause of which few property own CTS wish to collect half million dollars; the trolley to Town Plot, which apparently is just as far away now as it was in the time of Noah.
 The engineer, after giving his views of improvement societies, spoke in part as follows:
 'In connection with the trolley to Town Plot the layouts have all been made to a width of fifty feet from Bank street to James, through James to the new highway from James around to Washington ave- nue, Clark street and Sixth street to Bank street again. There remains the establishment of lines and grades for Bank street from Sixth to Highland avenue, and we should ul- timately have a fifty foot avenue from Bank street at James street clear to Highland avenue with no grade in excess of 8 per cent.
 For twenty years people in this vicinity have felt the need of thor oughfare to South Main street and the eastern section of the city which should be intermediate of Meadow street and Washington avenue. The extension of Liberty street from Benedict to Bank offered satisfac- tory solution of this problem of in terior communication and forty foot street was laid out across the tracks of the Naugatuck railroad in in 1SS3."
 After discussing the decision of the railroad commissioners which laid the burden of bridging the whole freight yard and thereby shut | ting off the plan, he mentioned the new sixty foot street and advocated | the pushing to completion of this | street at once.
 He related his plan of eliminating | the angles at the Bank street bridge | and making one long curve by build | ing a two or three span bridge across | the river. The only thing necessary | to carry out the plan was the pur- chase of the Daley property near the plan of which so much has been heard already, but for some reason nothing has been done on it, al- i though the Brooklynites have been assured a number of times that the improvement was forthcoming. In speaking of the layout of Jackson street along the Naugatuck river, he informed the taxpayers of the dan ger of big flood because the river bed has of late been narrowed con- by being filled in. In con- clusion he said:
 These are a few of the interest ing improvements affecting Brook lyn, now under way, or which should be taken up as soon as possible. No one can deny their importance or you for using every effort to realize them. So far as the in- terests of other sections and the financial resources of the city will permit, the present city officials are "sNh sous ID ohls oiAC DltNt | of advice which l might be tempted to offer, outside of the engineering field. That Is, that in Waterbury, IS in very other growing city. the demands of the citizens Tor Improvements in their physical always exceed the abil- ty of the treasury to meet the cost. Would it not be wiser to recognize this fact and instead of presenting too broad a schedule of hings to be done, to settle on some ; 'ew, or even one or two, and push hese until they are completed. Then take up others in the order of heir relative importance"
 There were several maps and . drawings on exhibition in the hall. Before the meeting adjourned the ( ingineer was given a rousing vote if thanks. t