The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-06-11
City Commissioners Are All Busy and Will Probably Air Subject at Tuesdays Regular Meeting
PUTS BIRMINGHAM
 IN SERIOUS LIGHT
 BEFORE BOND MEN
Injunctions Make It ImpOs- sible Even to Consider Sale of the Bonds at This Time
Ny RICHARD F. LUsSIER


 No decision has yet been reached by the attorneys representing the city of Birmingham and those representing T.. C. Mcdonald for the hearing before Judge H. C. Sharpe of the city court, on the two bills of injunction filed last Tues day against the issuance of s30oO,OoO in bonds by the city
 It is stated that it is unlikely that the hearing will be held within the next 10 days, and possibly two more weeks may elapse before the attorneys are pre- pared for the initial clash in the courts
 At the present time while the rival amps of lawyers are busy digging in lusty tonnes for information on the sub . ject at hand the three bond issues which met with favor at the hands of the elec- torate last Monday will be held in abey- ance until the legal techncalities are swept away. It also is stated that the mere action of filing the injunction suits has had such an effect on the bond mar ket that there is little hope of ever plac- ing the $2,000,000 in school bonds, the $5C0,000 in municipal electric light plant bonds the $500, GOO in auditorium bonds on the market for sale, and that, insofar as these public projects are concerned the work that has been done in the past will have to be done over again
 MAKE REPAIRS AT ONCE
 It had been the intention of the city commission to place enough of the school bond issue on the market this summer to insure the making of much needed re- pairs in various educational buildings of the city. This is now all set at naugft and Commissioner J. R. Hornady is in a dilemma as to how to meet the situa- tion which will arise in September when 20O0 more school children will enroll in the already overcrowded Birmingham schools than last September. Compulsory cducatio Is coming, which means more children for the schools-and no place to house them. The situation is regarded by the city commission as indeed one to be deplored
 As to the civic auditorium. this has been the pet project of every newspaper and civic organization in the district for the past five years. Two years ago a bond issue of $250,000 was successfully passed by the electorate to construct an auditorium, after a lively campaign but it was set at naught by a legal techni- cality. Now, practically the same incl dent is repeated on the $500 900 bond issue
 
 by handsome majority last Monday. A puzzle for the idle time of the voters is for them to figure out how many bond issues they will have to vote on before one of them is legally perfect that it will be placed on the market and the proceeds be used to construct an audi torium.
 LIGHT PLANT BOND ISSUE Regarding the s5OO,OOO bond issue for the municipal light plant this was ques- tion which brought on such a wide diver gence of public opinion that its fate in the contemplated court proceedings does not excite the sympathy attached to the school bonds and the auditorium bonds. The city commissioners feel, however, that the injunction proceedings were in- stituted primarily to destroy that par ticular issue though there is some diff ference of opinion among members of the backing the coup. But, withal. both Commissioners Weatherly and Barber comfort themselves with the thought that they still have the North Birming gha m municipal light plant in operation-and incidentally, in active competition with it's enemies. Additional machinery is be- ing installed at the North Birmingham m | plant daily and the city electrician an- nounces that the identification of the Weatherly viaduct and the city white way will be reality within the next | few weeks. | Thus it is seen that after all. even if the attack is possibly directed at the sSc0.CO0 electric light plant bond issue, the real sufferers are the schools and the city auditorium. WILL COME UP TUESDAY | Discussion of the injunctions will be 1 indulged in at the regular commission meeting Tuesday morning. Commissioner | Weatherly will have returned by that l time from Black Mountain, N. C.. and | the results of the commission investiga- : | ton into the unprecedented assault upon i the actions of the electorate in favoring | s. .O0c, ,OOO in bonds for public purposes will | be made known. It is expected and pre- | dcted that Commissioner Barber will give out an interesting statement at Tuesday s i meeting | Commissioner Hornady has already voiced his views in an interview and l through a formal statement. and he is