Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-03-28
RODMAN'S INJUNCTION
Well Known Doctor viii Try 10
Protect His Properly Near
Nulcaby School.

An injunction was served upon the
city to-day by DR. Rodman which il
fought out in the courts will bristle
with thrilling situations and will
give the public some inside informa-
ton regarding the ethics Of street
making and contract letting. The
public will remember that when the
site for the Mulcahy school was pur-
chased, the sale was made on certain
conditions, upon the recognition of
streets which had no legal existence
and which were afterward worked to
a partial grad before the board of
alderman had been petitioned for per-
mission to lay them out. This occur
ed while Mr. Kilduff was mayor and
Ralph Blakesee Martin Scully, Dan-
iel Mahaney and the late +. ]. Chess
son were members of the department.
Of public works.
! No particular notice was taken Oh
the street question until work on the
cellar had progressed SO that adjoin-
ing property owners commenced to
see that street to the building
would seriously damage their props
erty, and at the suggestion of Mr.
Scully, one of the principal sufferers
who was hemmed in on over two
hundred feet of property by a short
strip beginning at nothing and run-
ming out to twenty feet Mayor
Kilduff and the board called on the
ground and found workmen in the
employ of Mr. Tracy making what
is now East Lounsbury street Find
ing that he had no proper order to
do such work, the board ordered him
to forthwith discontinue and also re-
quested him to file a may showing
the layout of his proposed streets,
which he did later This let the cat
out of the bag and from that time
until the advent of the Elton adj
ministration when Lounsbury street
was put through, the fight was kept
up. Two years after Mr. Tracy was
ordered to discontinue making
Lounsbury street he was asked at a
meeting of the board of public
works how that street question came
to be in its present shape and replied
that he got the stakes from the en-
gineer and the other arrangements
were made by the school officials.
But even though work was or
dered discontinued on the streets
they were worked, by whom nobody
appears to know, so that when
Lounsbury street was finally ordered
laid out it had already been graded
almost two years prior to the passage
of the order. Scully hel dup the APP
proval of the Fairmount street pro-
ject until lasts fall, when largely
through the efforts of .lderman
Larliin, who looked up lie case and
saw that he was wrong, received
some measure of justice for him by
the purchase of about fifty feet
front of the hemmed in property.
But this was far from making good
the damage done. DR. Rodman was
chopped up to his Disadvantage, in
fact, everybody's lot was twisted this
way and that in order to conform to
the grade of an old layout Of streets
on the Tracy tract, but although the
doctor gave battle he was powerless
TO protect himself. Now the city
proposes to enter upon the Rodman
tract and the doctor comes forward
with an injunction issued by Judge
Cowell and dares them tc do 1t under
a penalty Of $4,000. But IL is a long
story. too long to be told in news
paper. In brief. II is case where
streets were opened without due
process of law with the result that
a lot of nice property was 'uined.