The San Francisco call., 1909-04-07
STREETS BEHIND ON
NEW WATER FRONT
Trip of Inspection Shows. Urgent
Need of Immediate Inn
prOvementS
harbOr Commission Escorts CITY
Officials and Others Along
the Wharves

Convinced that the state board of |
hsrbor commissioners has done every
thing in its power to improve the water
front Of san Francisco at a cost of
almost sS,0o0,0 00O. and that the city has
been derelict in not forcing the few
minor street Improvements necessary
10 make this vast work effective. the
members Of the board Of public works
yesterday gave assurances to Commits
sioner Stafford and his colleagues that
steps would be taken Immediately 10
bring about the desired result
At the invitation Of PresIuent staf-
ford Of the harbor commission, super
Nisors, members of the board of pub
lie works and representatives of the
different civic and commercial organ
izations yesterday inspected the work
eng done on the water front The
modern steel and concrete piers al
ready finished and those under course
OF construction. the stretch Of new sea
wall and bulkheads. the plans for
future Improvements and the excellent
condition OF the highways under state
supervision all served TO impress on
-.-e ebc-laAoES Lle utter lack OF civic
pride and business judgment which has
permitted street improvements which
VIII cost $4,000 TO stand in the way
OF tuil enjoyment Of these advantage
le visit Of the officials. however was
most beneficial as they determined TO
direct their energies not only to the
Improvement of the streets. but also
TO securing street railway facilities to
the new piers which viii handle the
entire passenger and freight traffic of
The orient.
The following officials and citizens
were in the party of inspection which
gathered at the ferry building yester-
day afternoon at e:3o o'clock: Harbor
commissioners W Y. Stafford, W. Z.
DennisOn and Phil :. Teller: Super
Nisors George i. Center. William Brod-
crick and Thomas Jennings; board of
public works. CharlessA. Day. John ID.
a.. McGnvray and MicHakl Casey; mer-
chants association, President Andrew
1 Davis. L. n King. Gustave Brenner
l. o. Upham. r. 5. Atkins and H A.
campbell engineer; California Promo
tion committee. Frank Y. Marvin, II.
BE-. Wiliiar and Edgar Painter: South
of Market Improvement association,
Joseph Rothschild, president; dray-
mems association of Civic league,
George Reuner
sTDEW ALINs BELOW GRADE
Starting from the ferry building the
large party Of officials Inspected the
sidewalks along East street which are
below the grade established by the
state engineers when the street was
paved. President Stafford called at
tention 10 the fact that in many places
the plank sidewalks are two feet be
low the street level and that in rainy
weather pedestrians are forced to walk
on the cobblestones.
The party was then taken to the site
Of the old mail dock at First street.
Instead Of tottering wharves at this
poinr the officials saw a modern re-
inforced concrete seawal and gangs
Of workmen and teams filing in the
space 0n the land side. Eventually q
strip several hundred feet in width will
l-e reclaimed from the bay at this point.
l'irst street viii be paved. and two
new wharves. numbers 34 and So will
be constructed. One Of the new piers
has already been contracted for, and
The contract for the other Will be let
ct the meeting Of the commission on
Thursday. Walking along the water
front the party inspected piers 3s and
50. which are under course Of construc-
tion. and the two immense Pacific Mail
docks. which the steamship company
leases from the state
In front OF all the wharves East
street has been placed in excellent con-
oitiOn by the state. 1t was here that
the commissioners called the attention
OF the municipal officials TO the deplor-
able condition Of Second. Townsend and
other street which are the only means
of ingress and egress TO the water
front
Pointing to the Manchuria and Chiyo
Naru. moored at the Pacific Mail docks,
stafford continued:
Gentlemen. there are two liners
vith a combined cargo capacity of
20 600 IONS and carving hundreds of
passengers on every voyage. We ac-
cOmmodate them at modern wharves;
ahere are ample warehouse facilities,
but how are the cargoes and passen-
gers TO be transported from the docks?'
p. Chairman Day q the board of public
works assured Stafford that he would
20. to the firm Of Pope & Talbot, which
owns the western half Of Second street,
and urge upon them the necessity of
improving the highway at once.
BIG PLANS DISCUSSED
stafford then outlined the commits
.sions plan TO install 8 belt railroad
sine. which viii be operated along East
street. carrying passengers to the
- steamship docks. He stated that the
plans for new ferry building to be
constructed at the foot of Mission
street would be adopted at the COM
missions meeting on Thursday, as well
as the plans for the new seawall. He
EXPRESSED the opinion that all of these
improvements. which will exhaust the
81 OO0 bond issue voted four years
ago. will be completed by January /.
1910
returning to the ferry building,
stafford called the attention of the Of
.ncials TO the work being done between
that point and fshermen's wharf
where a continuous steel and concrete
T.s4Tf-i4ead is befue installed.