Weekly journal-miner., 1920-02-25

Sir: l have been watching the i growth of the civic improvement ! spirit in Prescott, as outlined and . discussed in the columns of the "Journal-Miner," with keen interest and the specialization of this spirit into final action is, to put it mildly, ! very gratifying.
 The editorial in the February ,, ] 1920, issue of the "Journal-Miner" strikes the keynote of matter that should not be given an opportunity to rest and upon which especial em- phasis and pressure should be brought to bear, that is, the adoption of a constructive and well developed system of improvement and a plan of procedure. The development and improvement of a small section of the city should not be allowed to overshadow the primary and ultimate object to be obtained, namely, the improvement of the city as a whole. The improvements which are about to be made will be handed down to coming generations either as an heritage to be praised or condemned. Praise can be taken graciously and costs nothing; condemnation brought about through the pursuit of short sighted, penurious and immaturely developed policy savers much of eat ing crow, and posterity would be called upon for large outlay of funds to correct the mistakes of their forbears. Prescott has wonderful ba sic advantages to start out with on an aggressive improvement campaign with it's wide, straight streets, and praiseworthy results can be easily obtained providing the right foot is placed foremost.
 I was much chagrined at the policy adopted by the property holders on South Pleasant street in voting to adhere to the curb lines established on the northern section of that street after the fact had been developed that a mistake had been made in lay ing out this curbing The timewOrn adage that two wrongs can never make right still holds. The cost Of recurbing now. before the pavement is laid, will be considerably less than in the future and the cost of recurb- ing is almost negligible compared to that of pavement. The pursuit of policy such as that displayed in re- gard to the curbing on South Pleas ant street leads to considerable doubt as to the ultimate result to be attained in the improvements, showing as it does a lack of fore sight, constructive thinking, and con sideration of basic principles in the development of a civic policy which involves not only the expenditure of a considerable sum of money, but touches upon far deeper matter the establishment of a precedent based upon whimsical and fanciful reasons rathen than on a well defined and formulated system of future dc- velopment. The growth of few saplings, past mistakes, and similar illogical considerations should be eliminated in decisions regarding alignment, widths of streets, etc The pursuit of such a policy, as stated in the editorial mentioned above, will lead into difficulty after difficulty: property holders on each street or section of street will demand the privilege of formulating the policy for their particular unit, and the people of Prescott will have imposed upon them the caprices and fancies of all manner of construction. Pres cotfs ultimate appearance will be that of crazy patchwork quilt and not that of well laid out and devel- oped city as it has every right to be. The future correction of mistakes such as are about 10 be made, if the present policy is pursued. can only be made at considerable additional cx- pensc.
 How can the adoption of such policies as those displayed in the case of South Pleasant street be cir cumventcd and precludcd, in order that the ultimate result may not be a patchwork of alleys, boulevards and streets of varying widths, align mcnt parking spaces, etc, in an otherwise well laid out city: There is to my mind but one reason: Employ competent municipal engineer, either i'll all active or consulting Ca pacity (preferably the former) and pay him an adequate salary to de- vclop several alternative construct i've plans not only for present i'm provements, but for improvements that will necessarily follow in the fu- ture. Certainly, in view of the inn provemeuts to be made now and in the future in water supply dis tributiou. sewage collection and dis posal. lighting, paving, etc, neccssi- tating as they do the expenditure of a considerable sum of money, the procurement of technically trained engineer with especial experience in municipal work, is not to be rcck- cncd as an unnecessary refinement