The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-08-18
CONCRETE BLOCKS
 NOT EXPERIMENT SAYS PAVING BOARD
Commissioner Tells Council How Fairfield Avenue
 Was Paved.
Referendum Tn November On $1OO,OOO Bonds For Fire
 Dept. Improvements.

Under the charter provisions there is no obligation on our part, to have a hearing of property owners in inter est on the question of materials to be used in street paving. but such has | been our uniform custom. The wishes E Of property owners in interest were | requested on the paving of Fairfield | avenue, from Main streeteto Park ave- | nue. and from C1inton avenue to the | railroad viaduct All of the property l owners expressing an opinion as to l the type of pavement desired, favored wood block, and this was laid on the entire avenue except where the steep grade rendered it unsuitable, and ex- cept5 where special work of the Con necticut GO. made 1t more desirable to lay other pavement. Of course we do not in all cases consider 1t advisable to conform to the property owners in interest, as to the kind of pavement to be laid on a street, but, their wishes are considered and if feasible and practicable are granted"
 Tn this paragraph. part of a rather leng thy conmu munication which the paw ing and sewer commission sent the common council last night. lay it's ex- planatton of how the concrete blocks were laid in that portion of Fairfield avenue from State street to the rail- road viaduct The communication was sent in reply to a resolution of the
 
 derman Malcolm MzlcFsayden. F. J. Bowling, large property owner in the section mentioned and foreman in the street department, has peti- toned the common council to have the assessment against him aibated on the ground btlat he was not given op- portunity at a public hearing to ex- press his preference for permanent pavement laid in front of his prop l erty. Alderman MaeF'ayden said he wanted the information so that the claims committee might be prepared pears to press his petition for the abatement of his assessment
 The communication said that it had been the custom to assess for perrna- nent pavement at ratio of one-1alf against the city and one-half against the property owner. In this case, however, the property owner had been called on to pay only one-third of the cost.
 The commission said similar pave ment in Dixwe1l avenue, New Haven, and elsewhere had been investigated before a decision was made, that the cost was s1 per, square yard less than wood or granite blocks and 68 cents per square yard less than asphalt blocks. The communication concludes kas follows
 Your. cornnaunication states that certain property owners are asking. for the abatement of their assess ments If under the conditions above stated, you deem it proper to make a present of free pavement to prop | erty owners on this portion of the street we have no desire to endeavor to influence your action or shape your i course but we deem it our duty to state that in our Judgment there is no l just cause for such discrimination in l their favor.
 s1t7.-,,,,,f ,-.1sal,I, s.,,,,-,... 1,.,., and our own personal observation confirms the fact, that concrete pave. nents have been constructed and are now being constructed, under the3 SUI pervision Of state highway depart l nents in various states, our own 1 of. concrete is likely to prove one of | the3A most important factors in efTl- cient economical and durable road l building. To the best of our knowl- 1 edge and belief, as a basis for road l building concrete is, is no sense of the l word, an experiment. We believe it's worth has been fully proved"
 The communication regarding the desire of State Highway Commits sioner c. J. Bennett to lay asphalt pavement on a concrete base in Brook1awn avenue from Rooster river bridge to the Brooklawn club, was | read The council considered this a l permanent pavement and voted to hold a public hearing on the matter Fat the next meeting of the council, l September 8th.f
 ] The order of the day was the pro posed referendum on $100,0oO bonds for g. new Manual Fire Alarm system in a | freproof building and a new fire house and equipment in the North End was called and the council voted to sub init the matter to the voters at the fall election on Tuesday. November 1 3rd.
 A comm unication was received from City Treasurer Moses M Manwaring
 calling attention to a bill of the Ldb-
 erty National bank for $22 r. This
 was a commission charged in connec-
 ton with retiring of some of the mu-
 nicipal bonds now outstanding. MT. aNanwaring recommended that a check
 be drawn for the amount in favor of
 F. w. Hall. assistant cashier of the First Bridgeport National bank, who will forward it al. once He also rec commended that the council take steps to retire the bonds in the future with out paying fees, which are likely to l increase. The council voted to pay the bill and referred the matter te City Auditor Kea.ting to find another medium for retiring the bonds,
 Two petitions from Noble avenue property owners requesting that bitu-
 ninous macadam be laid in that thor
 oughfare over the present naacadam
 and that the pavement be laid with
 out extra assessment to the property l owners, were received. One was signed
 by Alderman Meaney and others an6
 the other by Daniel F1tzroy and oth-
 CTS.
 Petitions of John Renchi to estab-
 fish a bowling alley at 634 Bostwick
 Joseph Frankel for bowling alley al
 380 Bostwiek avenue, and Dr. Benja-
 min w. White, to tear down an old
 building and erect a. hreproof garage l in the rear of AT State street were
 granted by unanimous consent.
 The usual number of petitions foi l street lights and for the changes ir
 curb and gutters were also submitted | There were number of petitions fol
 the abatement Of personal taxes.