Evening journal., 1909-02-20

when the owners OF majority OF the
linear feet frontage upon any street.
or section of street not less than 700
feet long. desires to have the street
paved, they may petition the Street
and Sewer Department to have the
work done and may designate the char
acter of the pavement. If the City
Council provides the funds necessary to
meet the portion of the cost which the
city is to pay. then that street. or the
section thereof shall be paved in the
regular order in which the petitions are
received. That is first come first /
served.
If. on the other hand. the Street and |
Sewer Department believes It necessary /
to pave a street. or section thereof. and /
the owners of majority of the linear /
feet frontage protest against the pave |
ment, the department cannot go on
with it except every member of the
department votes to do 1t over the pro-
test, and even then 1t cannot be done
unless the City Council provides the
necessary funds. SO that the protest
ing property owner has two sources
of influence against having the work
done; one through the department,
whose officers are appointed by the
Mayor and the other through his own
chosen representative in Council.
Again the bill provides extremely
easy payments to all. so that any one
may have the benefit of a good pave
ment in front of his property without
the cost being a burden to him. For
instance if he lives On a go feet wide
street. his pavement would cost him,
II he paid cash, S2.52 a linear foot, and
L.. f.. f..a4 4fsaIIs &c
he would pay $252 per year If his front
happened to be 20 feet. plus interest
on all unpaid installments. Not very
heavy burden surely for the benefits
given.
OH but you say that is a great deal
more than A. b. c. and ID. paid for
their pavement. Well is it? A. 3. c.
and D., and all the rest of us down to
u have been for years paying the in
terest, and a part of the principle, on
an enormous sum of money put into
street paving which has already
amounted to more than s2.52 per year,
and yet the majority of the alphabet
has no pavement, and under the pres
ent system that majority can never get
street pavement.
In 1887. when the Street and Sewer
/
there were rs miles of streets in the
city Of Wilmington opened to public
travel. of which 22s miles were paved
with rubble stone and granite blocks.
On June 80, 1905 there were 1913 miles
of streets opened for public travel Of
which SS.5 miles were paved with pave
ment of a permanent character. CThis
does not include macadam, which Is
not usually considered a permanent
street pavement). That is in 2l years
we had gained 1873 miles in new streets
opened, and 16.2 miles in new streets
paved, or actually nine-tenths Of a
mile. and yet there had been over
81. 1874. .5S1 expended by the Street and
: Sewer Department in making this
gain. 1t does not take a very bright
accountant to determine at once that
under the present system the majority
of the streets of the city of Whining
ton could never be paved.
Well. why not borrow enough money
at once and pave all the streets? DC
I you know that there is now an out
standing debt of s2.947. 900, which is
, per cent Of the total assessed value OF
, the city That II this debt is very
: much increased It means an increased
[ TX rate, which has the effect OF re.
2 dhcing the value Of your property
- whereas a good street pavement II
front Of your property has the opposite
[ effect Now which method do yoi
] think the better? an increased ta,
{ rate. or small annual payment o
e S2.52 for twenty years2 The frs
T. means an addition of $3.50 ner year ol
}, a 10 cent increase on a S2,500 assess
n ment ad infinitum, without any guar
y antee of a pavement; the other mean
{ S2.52 year for 20 years with a Ger
tainty of a pavement during all tn
Y period.
{ 1t is out of the question for tn
u Street and Sewer Department to paw
e a single street out of it's annual ap
c preparation. It gets the same amour
y per year as it got 21 years ago. S190 900
e and of that amount it spends s10S. .sS1.0
< for lighting. cleaning and repairing tn
streets and removing the ashes. leavin
e but S11,11S.94 for the hundred and on
Il other fixed expenses which are legiti
c mate charges on the department
" If, under the present system, citi
Y zen or body of citizens. appeal to tn
i Street and Sewer Department to paw
8 his or their street and the department
y fails TO do it. but paves some othe
i street. there is an immediate protes
that he or they have been discrimi
L mated against, and yet the departmen
& likely had several other appeals just a
y urgent. Under the system proposed
e the first who come will be first served
IS and the responsibility then rests wit
II the citizen himself and not with the de
y partment
There Is no other municipal &C
which has so seriously occupied tn
= minds of the officers of cities in tn
= United States as has the one providin
= for the payment of street pavement
- and every city. with but few excer
. tions, charges the whole, or a part q
the cost of paving the streets to IN
- abutting property The courts hav
- universally recognized the fact tina
the paving of a street is a special an
=, direct benefit TO the abutting propert
: which should bear the largest burde
- of its costs, and after all, is not thl
~ common sense?
~ Why, for instance, should a propert
Io located at Eighth and Union street
% pay just as much for the paving
10 Nandever avenue as the property abui
J. ting on the avenue? Or, why shoul
.r a property located on TatnaIl sire,
so between Twelfth and Thirteenth street
10 pay Just as much for the paving ,
IN Washington street between Twelft
20 and Thirteenth streets as the propert