The Anderson daily intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson, S.C.) 1914-1915, 1915-03-17
. 0 o o o o o o 0 o o o 0 o o
o PAY FOR CAR-LINE PAVING. o
o o 1000 5000 o o 900 0 o
Editor The Intelligencer:

step forward and does honor to the
citizens of Anderson. III ! thought
that the opinion l am about 10 express
would in any way delay or hinder paw
ing 1 would refrain expressing it,
There will be many who will not
agree with me. and II in their dis
agreement they will accord ME the
same respect for my view as | grant
TO them, then what | shall have TO
say will not cause any dissension in
our ranks. / am jealous. for more
paving, and TO make the bond issue
go as far as possible towards cover
ing the principal streets OF the city.
If in my view | am right we Will he
able TO pave few more miles OF
streets than we would be able 10 pave
under the present impression. The
commissioners are all good men and
| am sure will accept whatever view
their consciences dictate, and il l am
wrong, those who disagree with me
will please be so charitable as to
give ME credit for trying by plain
construction to stretch the paving ter
ritory a few miles longer.
/ refer to paving along the car
line OF the city. II is part of the
franchise that the car company is to
htcU lIC bllCCto iiSit VI
way in as good condition as the re-
mainder of the street, and this will
necessitate paving along the right of
way wherever the street is paved.
Now the question submitted to the
people was this: Shall the city of
Anderson issue bonds in the sum OF
not exceeding one hundred thousand
dollars (s100,000), the. proceeds there
OF . be used solely for the perma-
nent improvement OF public streets, or
parts of same, in said city. where one
half the cost of such improvements
Is paid by abutting property owners?
Yon will observe that one OF the
conditions of this permanent improve.
ment Is that one half of the cost OF
such improvements shall be paid by
abutting property owners. "A rea-
sonablc construction OF this would
mean that those who own abutting
property on the street shall pay one
half of the total cost of the paving, and
II does not say who shall pay the
other half. My construction is that
where there Is car line the car COM
pany shall help the city pay the other
half. The franchise under which the
car line is operated IS a gift of the
city at large. One OF the conditions
on which II is granted Is that IL shall
help the city to keep the right OF way
in as good condition as the rest OF
the street, and II is no more the con-
sent of the abutting property owners
than of any other tax payer or voter
In the city. But some argue that the
car company does it's own paving.
Carry 1t to the logical conclusion and
let each ahutting property do his own
paving OF Ia and the. result will be
TINT the city paves the rest. So you
have it as follows: the car company
paves its right OF way. each abutting
property owner paves IA of totGl
of 1-2 to both abutting property own
ers, and the city under its bond issue
payes the rest. Take street that has
no car line for an illustration. In
that case there Is no question but that
the abutting property owners pay one
half the cost OF any improvements and
the city the other half, and my argu-
ment Is that IL the car l.uc Is deducted
before the division is made between,
the city and the abutting property
owner, then the abutting property
owner does not pay one half OF the
cost of such improvement Remember
that one OF the conditions of the bond
issue was that the abutting property
owner should pay one half
The result OF this procedure would
mean that the city has III its control
not only the 100000 raised by the
bond issue, but the total amount of
the cost of paving between car tracks,
all of which they could use as their
half of the cost of permanent improve
ments. Can't you see that this will
give us a few more miles of paving?
Do we need It? Is 1t q hardship on the
property owners along car line?
We voted that they too should pay one
half the cost OF the Improvement and
IL the car line is expected they won't
do It. The franchise belongs to the
city and 1t is nothing more than right
that the city should use 1t In paying
for It's one half, and that the abutting
property owner should not have his
one half of the cost OF the improve-
ment reduced by this amount. 1t
comes down to this one point. Should
the city have the right to add the
benefits of the car line space to the
bond issue SO as TO increase its capital
with which to pave or. should 1t al
loy' It's franchise to inure to the bene-
fit only OF abutting property owners.
Ny answer Is that IL should inure to-
the benefit OF the people who gave the
franchise and that means the city at
large. Then al, abutting property
owners will truly pay one half the
cost of improvements. but not until
then,
/ have tried to condense this per-
haps at the. expense of failing to make
I,syself clear. do not want o con-
troyersy and will not have any.
have been approached by Q few men
who asked my opinion and j gave II to
them as I give IL now, I would not
nut myself In the wsy. of paving. and
do NOT !ntend that this shall be SO