Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-03-20
LAST HOUR MOVE
TO MAKE CHANGE
Petition to Substitute Wood
Blocks for Asphalt in Sec
ond Avenue Paving.
DELAY WOULD BE EFFECT
Twentieth Street Property Holders to
Determine What They Want
Tomorrow.

! Word that some one Is still haunting
the Second avenue property owners in
an effort to have asphalt paving
knocked out and substituted with wood
block, has reached the ears of Mayor H.
NJ. Schriver, and this morning when con-
fronted with that fact, he said: "As-
phalt paving was the choice of the ma
iority. We acted on that choice; court
proceedings have been started. and
they are going through" adding that
the proceedings had gone too far now
to be interrupted. Nothing more than
a petition has taken form so far
a petition fathered and placed in
circulation by E. H. Guyer, who has
been the chief advocate of creosoted
wood blocks, and who seeks now to set
aside the proceedings and have the
material he favors substituted for as
phalt.
OBJECT OF THE PETITION.
Mr.. Guyer's petition, it is anticipated,
Will reach the board of local improve
ments tomorrow morning, when an at
, tempt will be made to have the sub
stitution of wood blocks for asphalt
made. Regardless of the purpose of
the petition, or of the respective mer-
; its of paving material, the main effect
of considering the belated petition
would be to put of the paving of Sec
ond avenue to another year. There is
no doubt about that, and it would de-
hn V1a hot he
set out last fall to accomplish. To
pave-that was what they determined
to do, and they began the proceeding
in time to get all of the preliminaries
out of the way so that at the last min
ute there would be no hindrance to
the construction of the work early the
coming season.
Ample time was taken to consider
the choice Of material, and while as
) phalt won, wood blocks had plenty of
supporters, with strong arguments, all,
= however, rejoicing in the fact that
there was to be no more brick, and all
conceding that, whatever the material,
all depended upon the nature of the
specifications and the manner in which
r the contract is to be discharged, rath-
er than anything else
Twentieth street property owners
have an opportunity to make a selec-
= tion of material for their improvement
: tomorrow. and in all probability. if
S there is hesitation, the board will go
: ahead as it sees fit. Mayor Schriver
:. further stated that the paving projects
= have been delayed too long now, and
!, that today. instead of just going into
= court, the contracts should be awarded.
'. HEAR FROM II. w. HORST.
! H. w. Horst, interested in both Sec
n ond avenue and Twentieth street pro-
l, jects, presented a communication for
! the perusal of the board of local i'm
l. provements to Mayor Schriver this
!. morning He makes so many wise and
= far-sighted suggestions that his com
= munication, which will be read with
l. interest, is published in full:
II Board of Local improvements, Rock
Island, ILL.,, March 20.-Gentlemen:
l. have today received notice of assess
: ment for asphalt pavement in front
j. of my property on Second avenue. In
- connection with the same would sug.
gest this. When specifications are pre-.
- pared and submitted to contractors
the following clause be inserted if al
= all possible, and if meeting with the
!, approval of the rest of the interested
owners on Second avenue, to wit: The
paving shall be removed and replaced
in the following manner:
No one block shall at any time BIZ
! shut off for traffic in its entirety, but
& the plan of tearing up and replacing
= say either the southern half of the
street plus the street car tracks, shall
- be removed and replaced at one time
leaving the north side of the avenue
open for traffic, or the reverse of the
avenue be taken in operation first.
realize that this may be somewha
more expensive than shutting of the
entire block and taking both sides o
the street, but believe that what lit
, tie additional expense would thereb!
be attached to the paving would b.
compensated far more by the fact tina
the public and teams especially woult
have access to that block during con
struction.
This plan has been followed in diff
ferent localities where just such con
ditions existed, to my knowledge, ant
has proven very satisfactory. / trus
u that the board Of public Improvement
q as well as the owners will see the ad
p Visibility Of this proceeding and insis
on having it followed. The advantag
es Of the plan are great over the othe
way of paving. The matter of admit
Al ting fire wagons also would come il
Isl for consideration.
u Being interested in the paving o
n Twentieth street also, and no materia
4 having been decided upon as yet,
would put in word in favor of asphal
\ paving, not only for making our thor
8 oughfares uniform, but also for othe
q reasons.
One of the main objections Q
IN asphalt by some of our interested cit
zens on Second avenue was the fac
that in order TO repair the same a yer,
N costly plant was necessary, and woult
n, be out of the question for any city O