The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-10-29
What Mayor Lee Offers in Defense
 e of His Conduct
To The Editor of the Farmer:

To The Editor of the Farmer:
 The Democratic party through their official paper The Bridgeport Evening Farmer, has submitted to me certain questions which 1t says the electors wish me to answer. I will answer
 them as follows:
 Question l. Is it not true that the gives to the New Haven, Railroad Company, the right to fill in and to
 use for railroad purposes, some eleven acres of harbor?
 Mayor Lees answer: The discontin- uance of the city harbor line does not give to the railroad company the right to fill in and use eleven acres of har- bor. It is land which the railroad company owns and has owned before this controversy arose. If the city or Bridgeport wishes to include these flats within it's harbor line, 1t will be necessary to pay the railroad for land in thes same manner as it compelled in. the same manner as it is compelled taken for streets or any other public purpose. I al Informed that the value of this land. ass opraised by disinter- ested real estate experts, is approxi- rnateiy s175,000 So long as am Mayor of Bridgeport the public fund will not.
 with my consent, be- used for the pur- pose of purchasing mud flats, com |pietely out of water at low tide, ana
 oeVered at high tide only to sufficient entent to allow the passage over them of row boats.
 Question 9 Is it not true that the
 discontinuance of the same line gives
 to the Locomobile Company of Amer
 ica the right to fill in some 25 acres of harbor opposite Seaside Park? Mayor Lees answer: This is not a true statement The Locomobile Co., has the same rights of filling in which
 any owner of 2he same tract would have under the laws of the State of
 Connecticut.
 the Park Board announced that this
 would be an injury to Seaside Park,
 and that the Council must pass legis- lation to prevent the injury occurring? Mayor Lees ansewer: I have no . knowledge of MT. Flames making any
 such statement as this. only Know that the action of the common council in fixing the present line, and leaving the line of the lower harbor open to future adjustment, was taken with the
 express sanction and approval of the president of the Park Board.
 territory which the Locomobile Co.,, may fill in, substantially the same granted to them in 1905, by the Gen.
 eral Assembly in the bill for which you voted? not understanding as you
 ofterward said what it meant? g. Is the grant to the Locomobile Co, practically of the same territory which the legislature had given in 1905 but took away in 1907, upon the repre- sentation of leading citizens of Bridge port that great injury would be done to Seaside Park if the gift should not
 be repealed:
 Mayor NLee's answer: In reply to these questions would state that do
 not know whether the common law rights of the Looomobile Co., as com
 pared with the rights under the legis- latior. of 1905. I only know that this company has the legal rights of any owner of shore property, no greater or no less. If the Locomobile Co.,, has | the legal title to these flats, and it | is necessary to use them for the de- veloping or protection of our park system, they can and should be ac- quired in the same manner as the property of any individual. 7 In the disposition of this matter of the low CT harbor line I am satisfied to reply upon the judgment of the President of the Park Board who has signified his approval and whose devotion to the interests of the city is too well known to need explanation. Q Question 6. What injury could the Locomobile Co.,. do to Seaside park under the law of 1905, that they cannot turned over to them by the repeal of the city lines?
 Mayor Lees answer: The answer to this question is covered fully in my
 answe. to questions 4 and 5.
 Question q Was the Locomobile Go. of America represented at all of the
 public hearings in favor of the repeal of the city line, and did the president Of the Company names one of the committees that afterward attempted to adjudicate in favor of such repeal? Mayor Lees answer: I do not know whether the Locomobile Co.,. was rep resented at any public hearing or not. do not know to what committee
 reference is made. I only know that have not, nor would I under any cir cumstances appoint to any committee "a man suggested or named in the in terest of a party litigant.
 Question 8. Do you know who draft ed the little joker legislation which compels Bridgeport hereafter to pay
 damages when harbor lines are laid? Question g. Do YOU know how the original draft of the little joker got
 among the charter amendments in pened that after you had described the little joker as a clerical error it ap- peared in Hartford in the sa me form in which it existed in your office, and
 became law without any effort of yours to prevent? -
 Mayor Lees answer. Both of these questions are based upon assumptions which, display an inexcusable oisre- gard. This amendment is not a little joker. It was introduced by Repre- sentative Clark. This amendment changes in no way the legal liability to pay for land condemned for harbor purposes. It simply restores to the charter provision which had existed in the old charter and which. in the opinion of the city attorney. submitted
 on Feb. 15 1909, had been inadvertent- ly omitted in the revision of the chart CT. The amendment simply provides that when land is to be taken for the purpose of laying out a harbor line. the same provision as to notice shall
 be given to interested parties as is provided in the laying out of a street. see nothing unfair or unjust in a
 provision which requires a notice to individuals whose property is subject
 to condemnation. and the opinion of the city attorney. to which I have
 made reference, indicates the necessity
 of such a notice before a legal line can be tablished.
 Question 10. Do you believe that the electric light investigation should be continued?
 Mayor Lees answer: The committee of investigation has already obtained a reduction of $5.47 a light and has se- cured the offer of a form of contrac ct which substitutes for the hitherto long term contracts. and agreement which