New-York tribune., 1912-04-01
OUR PAVING DENOUNCED
BY GAYNOR'S COMMITTEE
New York's Streets are Worst in
the World Is GiSt OF Most
Exhaustive Report.
STAMPS CITY UNCIVIlIzED
plames Conflict of Authority Be.
tween City Departments as
Chief Reason for
Defects.

The report Of the Mayors committee on
pavements submitted TO the Mayor to-day.
Is an epic Of vitriolc vltuperation and
compendium of all that is disgraceful and
unsatisfactory IN the condition of the street
ravements in this city. The committee was
appointed hy Mayor Gaynor last October st
the request Of Joint committee represent
ing the Chamber Of Commerce, the Mer-
chants Association. the Board of TRADE
and Transportation and the Automobile
Club Of America TO investigate the present
condition of the pavements in the city, eN-
anime into the methods used In their con-
struc.ion and repair and make such recon-
meudations as tile facts might warrant.
n summing up the present condition Of
the pavements the committee says:
II the condition of a citys psvements is a
fair gauge of its civilization, as has been
maintained by high authority, New YORK
must sank low IN the :, ale That its pave
inents are IN unmlstakabe evidence of pro
NinCialism there can he no DOUBT. Inc
ravements of the city are and probably al
ways have been very inferior TO those OF
the first Cla ss cities of The Old World. How
unnscessarily bad they are at the present
time can only he fully realized ny one VINO
has carefully compared them with the chief
cities Of Europe, and notably those of Eng
land and Germany.
The committee furnishes a list of SIX
teen reasons Why the pavements are so
bad. pointing out particularly that one city
department has 20 interfcred with another
In street work. and the responsibility has
been 60 divided, that there is no respons-
be head over public works in any Of the
horouehs, and the work has consequently
been sorely neglected. Specifications and
laf. II ar1fi
ouated. and the workmanship soveny and
careless. and there is an entirely Insult
fcieat supervision Of the work, the repor;
states The committee suggests four sepa-
rate amendments to the city charter ana
whatever further legislation is necessary TO
carry the recommendations of the commit
tco into effect
The principal recommends tion, with an
amendment to the charter to make 1t ef-
feCtive, provides for the establishment of a
paving board" consisting Of the chief en-
gineer of the Board of Estimate and APP
portionment (ThO shall act as PRESIDENT
and the engineer in charge Of highways OF
each of the boroughs, whose duty 1t shall
be TO stsndarize specifications relating 10
all work which has to do with the pave
ments throughout the city, to determine
the quality of the materials used and 70
establish such standards of workmanship
and methods of construction as may seem
10 them best calculated to insure pave
ments Of the greatest ultimate economy
and the most satisfactory service to the
public.
While the committee feels that SUB
stantial improvement will follow from the
immediate adoption Of its recommendations.
much in matters of important detail still
remains TO be considered, the report states,
and therefore the committee asks to be
continued in order to make such ether re-
ports as may be required.
Reason for Bad Streets.
The report offers a general reason for the
present disgraceful condition Of the pave
ments, as follows.
The conditions es enumerated have come
about partly through Inheritance and partly
through the general lack OF special knoWl-
edge of paving and the scant attention
which has been paid TO this important sub
sect by our technical schools Habit TOO,
has played important part. Our people
are used TO pavements of the KIND we nave:
and few of them realize how far eehlnd
the rest of the world we are in this respect.
Our engineers are not altogether TO blame
city officials have often disregarded their
provement made by them have yielded no
fruit for that reason.
In further terms of general condemnation
the report states:
Many OF our pavements, and especially
those which are much used for heavy
trucking arc in condition injurious alike
60 the health and economic welfare OF the
community: they are rough, uneven. Otter
broken and obstructed, expensive 10 clear
snd impossible to clean properly they are
inconvenient to use, excessively costly e
maintain. and are altogether serious
handicap on the prosperity of the city. TIC
continue the building of more Of the same
kind would he most unwise and wasteful.
Among the other reasons for the present
condition OF the pavements the committee
cites the following:
Lack of cooperation between the city
SUasxSy8xz~ussssssR1sss