The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-30
EXUM ADVOCATES
 BETTER PAVEMENT
Would Gut Down Expenses
 of Street Department
PAVE ALL STREETS
Does Not Think Commissioners Should Wait Until Majority of Property Holders Ask for Improve
 ments

An entirely new policy was an nounced yesterday by President Gull pepper Eum of the city commission and that is pave all streets in Birmingham with good pavement and thus cut down the s15,0O0 approximate cost of maintainence in the street department
 The head of the commissioners few days ago expressed in no uncertain words his objection and opposition to cheap pavement in Birmingham and said he was not willing to give the cit izens. anything at all unless he was convinced 1t was good.
 Tt is true,' he said yesterday, that I do not believe in this cheap pavement, and I have voted no against it num- bers of times. I intend to do so again. The streets of Birmingham at certain points bear light traffic and at other points bear heavy traffic. The com missioners and the city engineer should and will see that proper pavement is placed according to the traffic over it. But never again will l vote for cheap pavement in Birmingham.
 Should Use Moderation
 
 wildkover high priced paving material But >we should give the property owners something worth while, l think, or give them nothing. The offering of pavement to the commission at 9s cents a few days ago caused me to say that l was opposed to cheap materials. I think the pave ment on Thirtieth street. leading from Highland avenue, where the traffic is moderate is excellent. That pavement should be pleasing to all those property owners. It is a moderate priced material
 '1n addition to being opposed to cheap pavement I am in favor of being progress sive and not waiting on petitions to do paving work where in our opinion it is needed. The people placed us here to serve them the best we could and where We see a problem that is palpabe we should go ahead and solve it. The past policy of this body has been to demand a majority petition from the property owners before any streets were paved. That is all right in some cases, but in the city of Birmingham where it is suf- ficiently developed there should not be an unpaved street or avenue. l am for paving them all.
 That is not radical because I have enough faith to believe firmly that when- | ever we pave any street with a good | substantial pavement the increase in value | to the property will be vastly greater 1 than the slight assessment charged | against 1t.
 Would Increase Property Value
 We would not only increase the value Of every piece of property here if this | policy were carried out, but we would | do more than that. Our street depart- ment is run as economically, l am told, | as 1t can possibly be done. Yet we have | monthly charge there of about $l4,0eo or S15,000 That is tremendous as anyone | can see. l claim that if the streets we | maintain were paved the city would save | at least one-third of that per month or | perhaps half of that sum. One can i1i- stantly see what a tremendous thing | that alone would be, not to mention the | other values accruing from paved streets. E
 ''I am thoroughly in sympathy with all | movements to make better Birmingham i and greater Birmingham. We have just [ started here and we are destined p go | to still greater lengths. Nothing, how ever, in my judgment, will contribute any | more to our progress and prosperity than paved streets all over Birmingham"