Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-04-17


the board vas iakcu as Il sign that
something might be done.
Some time after that work On tn
streets OF kaimuki was called off and
We, the aforesaid bunch of benighted
citizens, became GIsgTstrG With our
treatment. We olgat TO be ashamed
Of ourselves to let our disgust be
shown because We are probably the
only people in the Worli who ever got
Disguised with board Of SUPERVISORS
However, We penned the following Iet-
ter to the board:
Honolulu, March -, 1917.
To the Board of SupervIs irs, ~ AMI
+ County of Honolulu. -".- +
Sirs: Some months ago. being So
licited by the many residents living in
the valley reached VIA Fifth avenue,
Kaimuki, I petitioned the board of
supervisors Of this city anG county TO
do something III the way c. repair TO
that ''bridGl path" leading mahai from
Waialae read and known Cn the map
as Fifth avenue. Tls board did not
do anything to that thoroughfare,
claiming that there was 10 money Ia
stereotyped< phrase that is becoming
very tiresome to the public}, but the
late storm did, and it very much re-
sembles that picture in our old geog-
raphies that shows the comparative
heights of the mountains of the world.
The board did promise, however, to
send a couple of men out there with
s!edges to break off the projecting
rocks so that an auto might pass over
it without smashing its lifferentiai.
The men with the sledges have, never
appeared, or if they did they probably
came to the conclusion, as other street
repairers do in Kaimuki, that il look,
ed too hard q Job, so they go where
it is easier work. IT,. ....-
II the board doesn't hurry up aad
do something to that. avenue it VIII
get SO bad that the assessor can't
get up that way to collect the taxes.
Yesterday morning | noticed a gang
of roadmen working on that short
piece of road leading from King sire =
mauka by the old baseball grounds.
From what | have seen Of road con-
structioh in this city for the last 20
years consider myself as COOL a
Judge of road work as the next mai,
and ! do not consider that piece of
road in question to be in bad shape
at all. Ii Fifth avenue was in one-haf
OF one per cent as good condition as
the piece of road referred to above We
would have no kick, and would con.
slider ourselves lucky mortals. The
repairs referred to near the baseball
grounds will benefit nobody except
few 0rientals who live near the lower
end, while 80 to go white families, who
are spending thousands of dollars
yearly on improvements, enhancing
the city's value and beautifying it at
the same time, must needs wallow
through a bog known on the map as
Fifth avenue. 81 S.. IL
The eternal unfitness of things in
this city makes one feel like agreeing
with a communication in the evening
paper, signed Another Taxpayer,"
that it is about time to have change.
& Very truly yours, I ~. -
-. c. F.. MERRILL.
The above did bring a communica-
tion from the board to the effect that
the board had laid my eommunica,
ton on the table, -. -. i,
That was encouraging. 1t was evil
dence that the board had laid some
thing some place, even If 1t was not
on Fifth avenue. -
II In the meantime it was given out
that no more road work would be done
on the streets Of kaimuki. The money
for street work in that district hal
petered ort, presumably a good por-
tion Of 1t on streets contingent to Will
helmina Rise, where nobody lives, the
grass grows up through the street
work apd the dogs bark at "a stranger.
Fifth avenue continued to project
itself more each day into the skyline,
and a hroody, diseonsolate air seemed
to Spregnate the homes OF those living
beyond, all brought about by the de-
pIorable condition of Fifth ayeale, it
being so bad that their friends would
not drive their autos over it, and
walking FER it at night was out OF
the question, as the one and only
street lamp near the bad Lands" was
broken and useless. This condition OF
affairs was responsible for the follow
ing letter to the board: -.
Honolulu, March IS, 1917. 4
To the Board of Supervisors, City and
County of Honolulu. III. III.
Sirs: As you have done nothing in
the way of repair to Fifth avenue,
Kaimuki, and have not even lived up
to your promise to send men with
hammers to break off the projecting
stones, win you be so conlescending
as to repair the street light on that
street (which has been broken Tor a
couple OF Weeks so that the people
who have to putsup taxes to pay the sal
aries of the seven or eight clerks in
the county engineers and other coun-
ty offices that are seemingly clerk
ridden, will not break their necks get
ting over that street after dark.