Imperial Valley press., 1920-01-26

| open mt all times for the discussion
Of community problems, hut that
does not necessarily mean that the
| Press endorses the communications
printed.
RI Centre. Cal. Jan. 2s. 1899
Editor. Imperial Valley Press.
Dear Sir;
Having noticed your article In hast
Saturdays edition OF the Imperial Val
ley Press captioned. Paving will cover
more streets in FL Centre" might
hope that the following viii find space
in your columns.
Being n resident Of FL Centre and
having at heart the welfare Of the city
and its people l would like 20 state a
few facts, and figures regarding paving
Wish to say that | have had several
years experience i'm the city Of Los An.
geles with all classes OF pavements and
know the game pretty well. Perhaps
you have read in the Los Angeles pa.
pers Of people signing petitions for
street Improvement work. not knowing
the class of pavement to be specified or
its cost and eventually having To bor.
row money from a bank to pay for
~ sVAhcHt lHdN was utSikifth iDE HtANN
trucking and carries royalty for ev.
cry ton used. I frankly admit that
there is no better pavement that could
be used where there is heavy traffic, es-
pecially nthis climate. But, why lay
q pavement that is made to withstand
such impact in a resident section.
Did You ever hear OF a paving com
pany sending men out TO resident sec.
tons to get owners to sign up for paw.
ing, and very often picking out wee
known resident in block to get his
neighbors to sign, the well known resi-
dent getting certain parts of his done
free?
Certain resident streets in Los Ange.
les are now paved with plain concrete.
without thin wearing surface of as
phalt in any form. Take the resident
section of San Pedro, Calf: a part of
which is Point Firmin," they have
plain concrete. And as to the widths
OF streets in resident sections, take the
Wiltshire district in Los Angeles-they
are making their streets from 80 to 40
feet wide by moving the curb out and
leaving a space between sidewalk and
curb for grass and palms or trees. This
width cuts down the paving cost, gives
plenty Of room for light traffic and is
not built to withstand heavy trucking
purposely.
A word in regard to having thor
oughly experienced engineers to inspect
the work continuously. We will say
that a contractor has guaranteed to put
in five inch concrete base. You can
rest assured that he won't put in five
and quarter inches but you might get
four and three quarters inches. Take
ten blocks Of $50 feet, from intersection
to intersection by so feet wide and we
we 22S,O0O square feet. Take 22S,OO0
square feet one quarter inch thick and
it equals approximately 176 Cubic
yards of concrete at say $12-that
would save the contractor about $4,000.
The base wouldn't be hurt a great deal
but the tax payer is not getting what he
paid for. These figures are minimum
cases l assure you.
Suppose the base to be five inches
and the concrete mixture, 1:2:4-that re-
quires about one and a half barrels of
cement average conditions) to a yard Of
concrete. Suppose the contractor man.
ages to leave out half sack of ce-
ment to every yard of concrete with ce-
ment costing about soc per sack-228-
900 square feet five inches thick would
be about 1921 cubic yards. At 40 cents
yard saved the contractor would
again be to the good. this time about
$1,40O and the concrete an inferior
grade.
The same saving can be done by cut
ting, or skimping the thickness Of the
yearing surface.
Although I am an engineer I wish
you to understand that / am not look
ing for a position but only hope that
the right pavement will be put where it
is best adapted and at the least cost.
Respectfully,
An El Centre Booster.