Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-10-24
ANSLEy CHARGES
CROSS INABILITY
To CLAYTON
Real Estate Operator Accuses
City Construction Chief of
Nepotism in Office.

dressed today an open letter to r. M.
Clayton chief Of construction, in which
he made charges of slaring incompe-
tency upon the part Of the construction
department of the city, growing out of
its work in Ansley Park He charges
that w. A Hansell, employed as a
sewer expert" and who is a nephew of
Captain Clayton, was responsible for
part of the inefficient work, and goes
into detail regarding the 'misfit sewer
system" laid out by Captain Clayton
and Rudolph Herring. an engineering
expert engaged by the city several
years ago.
Gross overcharge Claimed.
Part of Mr.. Ansley's letter follows:
Your department has rendered me
bill for $1,000 for laying a sewer from
sixteenth street to Peachtree Circle,
(Which would be Eighteenth street,.
which is at least twice the reasonable
cost for same. I have laid nearly $4,000
feet of trunk and over $4,000 feet of
lateral sewers in Ansley Park, and this
is more than twice the cost of any sim
liar pipe that 1 have laid
THE reason this pipe was re-laid was
because a property owner that was
building on his lot on Peachtree street
made a connection with this pipe and
covered this connection up within
few feet of his house. and before it was
connected a heavy rain washed shay
ings and pieces OF scrap timber Zone
piece threet feet long, into It and
caused it to become choked up where
the connection was made and naturally
caused it to break. Another property
owner put a heavy wall and a large
dirt fill over it without reinforcing It,
and this also caused it to break.
Nephew's Work Criticised.
You and your nephew. the city sewer
expert CD, had complained that be-
cause this pipe was laid at the natural
drainage point in this section. and
therefore had some slight immaterial
curves IN it. therefore it did not
meet the city specifications and should
be re-laid. Was the trunk sewer in
front of his home curved in order to
avoid sewer assessment in that block?
the reasonable cost Of same, it is no
wonder that the bond money is nearly
gone, and still there are miles of open
trunk sewers in the city limits,
When you and your friend Rudolph
Herring, planned the misft sewer sys-
tenn that you have put off on the city
of Atlanta, that you now admit will not
ftY1IN or
double system is laid, had Civil En-
gineer S. 2. Ruff and Major Bolton, the
assistant city engineer of Richmond,
Va, to make a survey and plan, show
ing that the plan made by you and Ru-
dolph Herring for the extension of the
Butler street sewer was wrong and
would not take care of the sewage with
in the present city limits, not to speak
of the watershed Immediately adjoin-
ing it on the east and north that will
be taken into the city limits, probably
within the next five years, and certainly
within ten
Developers An*agonized.
1.-THE sooner the engineering depart
ment learns to cooperate with the de-
veloper, in place of antagonizing every
plan for the improvement and beautify-
ing of our city, as you have done with
every development I have undertaken,
the sooner we will have a modern city
and get rid of the dissatisfaction of the
taxpayers at the way your department
is being run. The property owners and
not the contractors, should be taken
care OF.
The city has paved only two blocks
in Ansley Park in three years. and done
no repairing, but unless 1t comes in and
cleans up the streets and repairs them
within the next thirty DAYS l shall be
forced to do so at my own expense.
When l told you expected to devel-
OPP 400 acres Of land Immediately north
Of Fifteenth street that would likely be
brought into the city limits within hve
years. did you not answer that you only
planned to take care Of the present and
let the future take care of Itself! ls
not this policy Of yours the cause of
the present condition of our city?
e. why has the Jackson street bridge
been down for six years, and why dio
you dump the pile of refuse paving
stone on the present end Of Jackson
street and cause 1t to do my property
thousands of dollars of damage?
ELS the wood block paving material
laid by you up to the city specifica-
tons? Tom Wilson says 1t is not
What is the matter with the pavement
on North Boulevard?
Who are the experts in your office,
and where did they get their expert
ence? Is your nephew a sewer expert
and where did he get his experience
In doing work for the city, has he
proved to be an expert? Is not your
job getting a little heavy for you I'M
der present conditions?
The above are a few questions winch
the citizens Of Atlanta would like to
have answered.
Yours truly.
EDWIN p ANSLEY."