The Washington times., 1920-06-15
PROTEST VIDE
STREET PLANS
Commission Merchants Say
Change in Louisiana Avenue
Will Ruin Business.

Commission merchants having places
OF business along IIouisians avenue
between Ninth and Tenth streets
northwest. are complaining that the
Commissioners, II they carry out their
plans for the Improvement or Loulsl.
ana avenue. will put them out OF
business.
The plan for the Improvement of
Louisiana avenue calls for the paving
Of the street at a cost OF 100000. This
in itself, the merchants say, would be
good thing, but the plan goes fur
ther than the mere paving OF the
| street.
II calls for the cutting off OF tho
pavement OF about twenty feet, and
the tearing down OF the sheds. In
which most OF the merchants do busi-
ness. II will also do away with the
small stands that for years nave oc-
cupied about three feet OF the pave
ment from the curb.
PLAN PARKING IN CENTER.
When the plans of the Commits
sioners are completed. Louisiana ave-
nue. will present an appearance in
keeping with the parks to the south
OF it. The street will be paved with
| small granite blocks, after the man
ner OF B street. and the feature OF
This parking. the plans for which
are now being worked out in the en-
gineer's office, will occupy the center
of the street with the roadway on
both sides.
For years the merchants on this
street have used the greater part or
the pavement for the storage of per-
ish able foodstuffs, and their counters
have run out on the pavement, with
a shed overhead.
The buildings themselves have been
used for office purposee and the stor-
age OF non-perishable foodstuffs gem
orally. Under the present plans OF
the Commissioners. all the sheds will
have to be torn down and the coun-
ters moved back into the buildings.
MUST HAVE VENTILATION.
These buildings. one merchant said
! today. are not Mt TO store foodstuffs
| in on account OF the lack of ventila-
| tion. The houses. too, are dark, and
/ artificial light is used in them at all
times during the business hours.
Another merchant said that the
| rents now are high, due to the fact
that certain part Of the pavement
could be used for business purposes.
and that the owners took this fact
! into consideration in computing the
7
duced following the cutting of OF
some of the space used for business,
, the merchant said. he was doubtful IL
| he would continue TO do business on
the street
Without the pavement, he said. he
would not be able to handle certain
| lines of perishable foods. And. he
added. it might be a good thing for
| the city and the business men to move
! to some other location.
GRANITE PAVING IS SUCCESS.
: The plans of the Commissioners to
improve the roadway on Louisiana
avenue is part of the general plan
! they adopted about five years ago for
the beautification OF the market sec
tion OF the city. This plan started
with the paving OF street with
easily cleaned. Up to this time the
roadway on b street was in a bad
condition. full OF holes and sinks. and
il was impossible to clean the street
thoroughly with the cleaning ma
chimes and flushers.
An experiment was tried with the
granite blocks, as IL was thought that
they were the only material suitable
for the class OF business done there.
1t was soon seen that the turning of
heavily laden trucks did not have the
bad effect on the street that concrete
or asphalt materials had shown, so
IL was decided to use that material
all through the market section.
The work OF paving the street and
| putting in the center parking will be
started in a few weeks, according to
| the engineers office.