Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1919-11-14
Wildwood Commissioners Deter
mined to Expend $4,000
on New Boardwalk
Refuse to Defend the Boardwalk Ejectment Suit, and
Litigation Seems Probable. Commissioner
Defiant as Usual

letter he scored the commissioners Be-
verely for their gross neglect to remedy
this periodical flooding by salt water,
which he pronounced as ''death to all
vegetable l1fe;" and as a 'menace to
his affable abode" 1t was really
touching to listen to his plant, couched
In polished but poignant thrusts at the
inetfieiency Of our commissioners in
failing to do one solitary thing to help
these stricken people. Elmer E. Han
sell also wrote protesting against the
same devastation. He is the owner of
the summer cottage corner Wildwood
and Park avenues. He reminded the
commissioners that 1.-THE worm will
turn, y and threatens to bring a suit for
damages against the city.if relief is not
soon afforded. He places his loss at
several hundred dollars from the effect
of recent foodings. Some one was
heard to suggest that instead of build
ing a new boardwalk on Beach avenue
why not construct it on Park venue.
An ordinance was introduced provi-
ding for an appropriation of $50, 900 for
the "purpose of building a new board
walk along the beach 'front.'" from
Cedar avenue southwark a distance Of
1900 feet to Montgomery avenue. The
length Of the connecting link between
the present walk and the proposed new
walk is estimated to be 628 feet. De-
bate on this ordinance was brief. D.
F. Hsllahan made an emotional plea
and for a second time pictured to the
commissioners a stream of gold flowing
into our city treasury if the walk be
built, and said he was led to believe
that the opposition came mainly from
three men, whose names he did not
mention, but he called upon them to
''tear off their masks and come out in
the open.n He used strong words, in
denunciation of these alleged obstruc-
tionists, as "brazen," subterfuge," and
a gross and cruel wrong" The viru-
lence of his attack upon the conserva-
tives robbed his plea of much of its
force, and the effect Of his glowing ar
guments was felt in some quarters to
be far from convincing. When this
speaker referred to the wonderful ad-
vance in values in the First ward after
the boardwalk was moved several
years ago Commissioner Hendee inter-
I
rupted him to state that Baker Broth
ers had filled in a large tract there by
artificial means. This bit of informa-
ton took some of the wind out of Mr..
Hallahan's sails when he realized that
nature had not unaided made all the
lots in the First ward front "ripe for
Improvement. Edwin M. Johnson
spoke in opposition to the passage OF
the ordinance at the present time, CIV
ing some very potent reasons for his
resistance to the measure. The Mayor
was understood to say that the coterie
of opponents, referred to Mr.. Hallahan,
only represented about tone mill on a
hundred dollars" and the Mayor was
in such a hurry to have the ordinance
passed that he forgot all about the legal
preliminary requirement of the filing
of a supplemental debt statement.
Attorney Hand had to abrutly check
the Mayor to prevent his taking this
wrong step. The chief financial officer
of the city supplied the statement,
which is now on file at city hall for
any one to see. 1t shows the net debt
OF the City of Wildwood with the pas
sage of this ordinance to be $53O,176.58,
more than half a million, quite a bur-
den surely. After this debt statement
had been read and duly filed the ordi-
nance was taken up and passed yester-
day on first and second readings by a
vote in each case of 2 to l, Hendee vot-
ing no. 1t must now be published for
Confipuod on r,onod