The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-06-07

After a hearing relative to the wid
 ening of Congress street on the soutl
 sie, the committee on Streets ant
 Sidewalks made a report recommend
 ing that the street be ordered widenet
 on the south side. from Housatoni'
 avenue westerly to Main street. {
 width in addition to that already ex | istfng of not less than, 12 feet. Or | motion of Alderman Primrose who presented a plan for the widening or
 the north side the report was laid or l the table until a special meeting tt be held next Monday night for tn,
 purpose of acting on the matter. | There was considerable objection tt | tabling- the report by members of thu committee on Streets and Sidewalks | but Chairman McMurray withdrew hls objection as he said he did not care | to prevent giving his colleagues al
 opportunity to study the plan present ed by Alderman Primrose. which was | the idea of President Manwarlng o1 l the Congress Street Bridge Commis | sion.
 Aldermen Conlin and Jackson saii
 that the order did not signify that tht
 widening would eventually be carried out on the south side. but would lead I to an appraisal of the cost of the pro | ject so that a comparison could be l made with the project to widen on the north side of the street.
 At the hearing upon the widening 1 Alderman James J. Conlin led the | fight in favor of the project. He call | ed upon several large property owners
 whose holdings are in the vicinity ot l Congress street. John H. Lee of the | firm of Lee Bros, furniture dealers | said the south side was the best be- cause it would straig ghten out the street and be more on a line with the bridge Bernard Liebscher, the marketman i said that the city is going to have splendid wide bridge and it should have splendid wide street leading to it. He believed the south side was the proper side to widen.
 said that if the street is widened on the north side it will mean a crooked street to the bridge.
 Thomas Arnold, ST.. spoke in favor of the south side and was asked by Alderman OConnell if he would favor widening at all if it was going to cost $50 900 more to widen on the south side than the north. MT. Arnold said that now the city has spent $40O.000 for a bridge he would not stop for $50 ,00O in making a good broad street leading Up to it.
 Alderman Conlin said that widening on the south side had always been the idea of the people. He said it was proposed 10 years ago and that in 1906 Alderman King offered a resolution to widen on the south side. but nothing had come of it. He declared that the greater percentage of the people real iZed that the south sideSc2 the street was the place to widen.
 J. w. Drew, a civil engineer, who has addressed the council on several occasions. declared that the south side was the only side of the street to widen from an engineering point of view
 Attorney John J. Cuilinan appeared as counsel for Logan Bros. owners of the new four story brick building on the southwest corner of Middle and Congress streets, occupied by them as a storage for their wholesale business and a retail grocery business. He said that the location for doing busl- ness was one which could not be dupli- cated by the firm as a place to do business. It was an expensive build ing crowded with a great stock of goods. He said the relative value of the site because of it's advantageous location was second only to a Main street site. The proposed widening, he declared. would destroy the whole building. He added that he thought that in addition to the price the city building together with the cost of their moving. and the loss of business along with the cost of the slice of land taken from the Poli theatre site would make a sum that would amaze the public.
 Former Alderman Robert A. Hurley of the contracting firm of masons, Casey & Hurley, said he had thought at first that the south side of the street was the best to widen. But after talking to President Manwaring of the Congress Street Bridge Com mission he had become convinced that oif oo1r hi ie,<o oIyo it undertook to pay for the taking down of the Logan building to save the frame shacks that were on the other side of the street. He had seen the plan to move the stone pier under the railroad. viaduct that was in the north side, and with that out of the way he believed the project could be carried out best on the north side He called attention to the fact that even if the Logan building was rebuilt up- on the narrowed lot that it would have to be made two stories higher. This would require new foundations and steel trusting
 Attorney Cullinan said that the building stood on piling on soil that was once washed by tide water. and that to locate a pile driver there to build a new foundation wall for the remaining part of the building would be a very hazardous undertaking.
 George W. Peck of the firm of Peck 6 Lines, said that it seemed to him to be needless expense to widen on the south side. Under the conditions he would favor the north side.
 Louis Musante, speaking for the firm of Musante & Pastine. said that it would be waste of money to widen on the south side. He said that if the city could not widen on the north side it had better give up the idea of wid- ening in Congress street and widen Housatonic avenue, which needed 1t badly.
 Alderman H. H. Jackson wanted to know if someone did not represent MT. Sylvester Poli at the hearing. Alt torney Cullinan said he did, but that MT. Poli did not wish to be heard one way or the other. He said the theatrical magnate was indifferent about the matter although he would expect the city to reimburse for all the land it took at the same propor- tionate price he paid for it.
 Alderman Jackson asked Charles Fox the former owner of the Poli property if it was true that MT. Poli paid s2,000 a front foot for his Main street property. MT. Fox said that was some property that did not front in Main street for which MT. Poli had to pay as much for as he did the property fronting in the street.
 "HoW much did he have to pay front foot for the corner property?'' asked Alderman Jackson.
 "I don't think MT. Poli would like to have me tell that, replied the astute Mr. Fox.
 Thomas J. McNamara manager for the provision house of Mueller & Co.,,
 I,o