Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-04-01
Only Possible System for Civ
ing Honolulu Permanent
Street improvements

Paper read before the Municipal
Research Club on Monday evening,
March %; the paper by special COM
rittee named to consider the sub
ject Of road and street Improvement
in HonoIuu.)
The Hon. William II. Mcclellan.
chairman Of the committee on ways
and means of the beard Of supervisors
of the city and county OF Honolulu,
presented a paper befofe this club
on December 10. 1919, clearly pointing
out the funds which the supervisors
might reasonably expect to be at the
disposal Of the city and county for the
year 1914. and how derived. This pa
per was a response to the interest
taken by the Research Glib in county
affairs and was inspiredI particularly
| by the interest taken by this club
and the public in general in the mat,
ter of good roads.
Mr.. Mcclellan wished D'prove that
before the board of Supervisors could
hearken to the popular demand for
good roads-or roads of any descrip-
tion-they must carefullycOnsider the
funds at their disposal and it is this
information that was particularly
placed before the club at the above
date.
Your committee was appointed orig
inally to criticise the etire report
hut later this was amended to apply
only to the road department. Your
committee understands that following
out the intended purpose of this club.
to criticize does not mean to pry
into the routine workings of the road
department looking for petty graft and
irregularities, but rather that we
should elevate ourselves Ior the time
being to the dignity of Slf-appointed
\ advisors to the present board of su-
pervisors and help them b solve, their
problems
Politics a Problem.
One of the problems bat presents
itself to the, critic is pbitics. Hav-
ing clearly stated our purpose to
shoulder the burden of he supervis-
ors. 1--WE might as we'll amit-as un-
doubtedly they will-thatpolitics is a
necessary evil of our chi sen form of
government, even Thought is respon-
stble for a waste of fund, principally
/ through the common labrer-who is
either unwilling to giv an honest
days labor to the government for the
daily wage or does not find it COM
1 pulsory to do so and th immediate
overseer or director of that labor,
whose ability is greatly inferior to
men employed In like cahcity for pri-
vate corporations Theseefils are not
peculiar to Hawaii. Tie monetary
loss due to politics is hlrl to deter.
mine but is universally omitted, and
any plan TO spend our avenues that
will minimize its influenIel will be a
corresponding saving of the.~eolfaty'
funds.
/ Mr.. Mcclellan pointed o. that $42S,-
600 might be available asthe county
1share of the general revehes: $225.-
600 from license fees, et9 $140.0a0,
permanent Improvement fuH: $4,000.
road tax fund, OF the ABIDE $42S. 900
and s225. 200. making $653Op, $500, $50
must be deducted before tRre is any
thing for the road deDartmdt to work
on. This leaves $123,410f the care
and maintenance OF roads br this en-
tire island.
Amounts Available.
OF this S23.410 there hre fixed
charges of s92.6S2. leaving S30. 72S for
the maintenance and uDke8 of roads.
II should be understood. hbEeVer, that
street sweeping and sDrinthg (which
he thinks properly should come into
the maintenance of roadsl B included
in the above fixed chargAI This is
the amount shown ia be a4ilable un-
der the most favorable cdn(tions and
we understand that shouId here be a
falling-off in the collections for taxes.
the amount available for he use of
the county would be corfeIpondingly
smaller.
In addition to the $40. Od for main
tenance and repairs the 6unty will
have $4,000 of The road Itax fund !
which we understand to b( available
flor either maintenance trIfor per-
manent improvement and d40. 900 in
the permanent imprpvemntfund. But
you must bear in hind that all this
money is not available fol building
permanent roads in the strictest
sense of the word!as BRIDGES. aque-
ducts, culverts, etd of a permanent
or quasi-permanent nature. are a le-
climate charge asinst this fund as
well as roads.
When you stop I'D consider that inf
Honolulu proper by within the con-
fines of |Koko Iad and Moanalua
and from the wa rfront to the Pail
there is probab1 the equivalent of
15osmiles of roads i'm the country dis
tricts. you will hlize how far the
SS0900 above me oned as available
for npkeep and $4,000 available for
building permane1 roads will 20.
/ Magnitude of Pro em.
Consider also tit to meet the de-
1dands of the futurI of Honolulu. many
OF the downtown lsiness blocks will
T. Iequire pavement paving costing
FAIlnIT cnlDANv nEI