The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1920-05-07
SAVE MONEY BY
PAVING THE STREETS

Editor Star: At the meeting of
the board of trade on Friday night
the discussion of the proposed bond
tissue for street improvement disclos-
ed a good deal of misapprehenslon OF
the facts concerning the matter. VI
course the public wants to be fully
informed and in the interest of the
bond issue itself it should be. For
the proposition should carry on It's
merits and it can only be carried
when the people know its merits.
The first thing that struck me from
the board of trade discussion was the
| fact that a great many people appaf-
| emily think that the $4,000 to be de-
rived from the bond issue is the entire
fun6'to be used in street improvement.
This is not correct. Two-thirds of the
cost of the street Improvement IS to
be assessed to the abutting property
owners, so that with bond fund of
$50, 900 the city will have available
$150,O00 for street improvement. The
assessments to the abutting property
owners will be in the form Of certlti-
Gates of Indebtedness which the coun-
ell has the right to extend over
period of ten years. Under the char
ter these certificates can be sold for
cash and the money paid to the con-
tractors, or they can be converted into
1 bonds and the bonds sold, or the GER
tifcates can themselves be delivered
to the contractors in payment for the
work. So the city will not have to
Il h. nf ho All
of the $4,000 fund to be derived
1 from the bond issue.
Another misapprehension seems to
be that the amount available will not
be sufficient to put through the entire
plan of paving which is proposed.
This no doubt is due to the express
sion in the report of the special COM
mittee of the council which stated
that the streets or portions of streets
manned in the report would be paved
so far as the funds available would
. permit. But a moments considera-
ton will show the error. In the first
place almost the entire length of the
streets proposed to be paced already
q have the lime rock base, which is a
suitable base for an asphalt wearing
: surface. The cost of constructing
this base is therefore eliminated. The
only work on the base to be done is
the work of scarifying and rolling it.
and this is to be done by the street
force of the city, out of the regular
budget appropriation, according to
the plan of the council.
The estimate of the board of trade
4 &ho vlon 81 oavSnO for
, the Dixie Highway and North Main
street was on the basis of So uer
square yard and called for $4,000
for this work. If Oklawaha avenue
, |, is included it will take an additional
4 $50, 900 on the same basis of cost. II
. has been seen that the cost will not
: amount to So per square yard because
the base is already laid. But assum,
ing that it would cost So a square
Iyard and 100000 to pave those
. lstreets with the heavier type of paw
ing, it would leave $4,000 to apply
on the other streets. / have not cal
lculatd the number of miles proposed
to be paved with the lighter type, hut
:, it is certainly under five miles, Th'
= three-quartsrs inch wearing surface
b is said to cost As cents per square
: yard, and on an average width O:
q thirty feet mile of paving woulC
e cost in round numbers $4,000. The re
mainder of the available fund woIlt
r therefore pave upwards of six miles o
II streets. When it is considered tina
d the heavy type of paving which tn
e council has been considering, one AM
n one-half to two inches. is said to cos
q only 80 cents per square yard, it vii
e be seen that the figures are even NOR
favorable to the proposition that tn
q fund of $4,000 will do all the worl
ie contemplated.
If It will take care of the propose
hi work, even taking into allowance tn
IS discount on the bonds. for it is hardl
N to be expected that the bonds woul
it sell for par. and will also take car
of the engineering cost to the city }
Supervising the work.
rs There is another feature whic
lg should appeal to the public. The cit
al is now spending upwards of $1,000
I'd a year in keeping up the lime roc
Id streets. We all know that after ever
ne rain the holes have to be refilled, an
IF in dry weather the dust is almost il
j. tolerable. The street force is keI
busy filling up the holes as fact q
:h they are washed out. The result