Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-24
Lee & osgood.

Lee A osgood.
 HOW THEY FEEL ON
 THE SIDEWALK QUESTION The Misses Lucas Favor Good Walks
 But Consider They Have Been Dis
 criminated Against in Not Being
 Allowed to Cover Tagging With
 Tar.
 Concerning the eranolithic sidewalk
 which they have been ordered to lay in front of their property. the Breed
 building on Main street. the follow ing statement is made by Misses Nan cy E.. and Mary c. Lucas:
 We do not care usually to justify our acts by printed words, but we have decided to depart from our custom in regard to our refusal last fall to com ply with the order of the court of common council ordering us to lay a granolithic walk in front of the Breed nagstone walk. As we were mentioned in the public press last fall as the only citizens who had refused to join in the line of progress for new side walks. and as the time Is approach ing when the contest must be renew ed, we ask the privilege of stating our case to the public; more especially as we find many do not understand our position, and we think it is a matter | of public interest.
 Approve Good Walks. We approve of having the sidewalks of the city put in good condition There is certainly need of it. We are | the improvement should be made in a manner fair to all. We have laid l $500 square feet Ca total length of | 600 feet) of granolithic sidewalk in | the past four years Let those who | have .aid as much be the only ones to accuse us of being unprogressive; fl progress and granolithic sidewalks are | synonymous.
 When the order came for the Brssd i building walk, we went to the office of the chairman of the public works committee, Casper K. Bailey, to ip- | quirc about it, and were astounded td | hear that he had not examined the | walk and did not consider himself responsible for the order, although Inc | had signed 1t. He told us that we must sec the mayor. We saw the | mayor and told him we were willing l to level and repair the walk, but We
 were informed by him that he pre- ferred granolithic walks to hagstone and he would not be willing to have the order, changed. We informed him i that we had planned to Fover the fagstone walk on the Church street side of the Breed building with tar | as the fiagstones were small; and we asked if he would order us to replace that walk with granolithic if we did | so. His reply was that he would not order it. but he could not tell what What a position for the citizens if a | change of administration means a 1 change of sidewalksI
 FIasstones Better Than Cement. F1agstones are an accepted walk. Ir New York city are found such walks on Fifth avenue, on 34th street near the Park Avenue hotel and others toe
 numerous to mention. When the walks have been widened often cement
 has been used. laying it beside the
 large fagstones of the original walk
 Tbis is true in Boston we'll. These large faSstoneS cannot be obtained now except at a price prohiDitive to most people. We are informed by contractors that the price is 40 cents a square foot for the stone. We and others deplore the economic waste
 that has been committed in the de- struction of so many fine f1agstones in
 this town. Contractors have informed us that large fiagstones laid properly on cinders with a good foundation
 would outlast six of the granolithic walks Recently we were on Riverside Drive, New York, near 90th street, and were surprised to see the granoIithic walks. which were in perfect condition feW years ago, now cracked and very imperfect and uneven in places.
 We need not go out of Norwich to see this. The walk in front of the Boston store is already imperfect: the new curbing in front of the Wauregan is already beginning to disintegrate. Both of these were laid last fall. The walk in front of the Baptist parsonage on Broadway has a large piece split off at the seam. In an interview with the civil engineer he informed us that he had suggested ordering our cover ing our Main street walk with tar, but the mayor was not willing He wanted it granolithic- 4 person need not have been a keen observer during the past winter to have seen how much more slippery granolthic walks are than tar or f1agstpne. If the sur face is left rough to remedy their slippery character, then the ice forms in a dangerous coating and sticks to the walk in nodules.
 Tar over f1agstone makes a fine walk. The foundation is secure and the walk is not slippery. for the ice melts quickly on its dark surface. Always Willing to Level and Repair.
 We have always been willing to level or repair our Breed building walk, if needed: but that not being satisfactory we have asked the right to cover the Main street walk with tar. This re-
 
 also been informed by the mayor through our attorney that if we do cover it with tar the city will be obliged to rip it up" and fay gran olithic walk.
 Tar Walk the Best.
 The sidewalk at Breed building on the side of Washington square is a sharp pitch where a tar walk is the best. At this point the ffagstones were covered with tar many years ago by a former owner.
 With the sanction of the mayor we have already covered the small flag stones on the Church street side with tar. Now we are willing to cover the walk on Main street and thus have a uniform walk around the building. We prefer the hagstones but we are will Ing to eompromise by using tar. We note in the orders of the court of common council on Monday that small aagstones may be covered with tar.
 The walks around the Otis library, the Baptist church and the building -@