The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-08-10
CITY TO RUN OWN
ELECTRICAL PLANT
City Engineer Ordered to
Look Into Cost of
Enterprise
STREET LIGHT POWER
First Consider Proposition Of
Lights for Northeast and
East Part Of the City

CITY Engineer G r.. GrlERs was
instructed 10y thc mayor ana city
commissioners al thch regular
meeting Tuesday morning TO invcsti-
gate prices ana prepare report on
the feasibility ana practicahiliy of
building and operating q munlcl-
pllly-pv nod electric light plant 30
supply electricity for street lighting
Grirg's first report tx 80 deal with
plant Of auru,i,ut capacity to ndc-
quatcly supply IN" northeast ana
cast parts ot the city with street
lights At present thcrc arc virtu-
ally mo- lghts In thos" gcctions
while nearly all other Fcctlon' OF
tho ,ltv are poorly lighted, the
northeast part Is considered tho
worst urf by the city commission.
Lruadmour addition b. another
Nacc that has been almost without
street lights. but street Commits
Monpr .. 4 Steiner pointed out that
Broadmpor has paving, which
makes the absence of lights there
slightly less noticonblo than IN IN"
northeast part, whore there is no
paving aud where IN wet weather
thoro IL an ahundanc" Of mud.
In suggesting a municipal light
cd out that ne did not believe city
should tend too much toward mu-
nicipal ownership, but that the
street patching gang under Com
missioner Steiner has patched holes
at cost Of 30 per cent lcsa thhn
would he charged by paving com
panica. and that Police Commis-
sioncr j. NJ. Adkison had effected
saving of $4,000 for the city by cs-
tablishing u municipal kitchen in
the police station. The city paving
gang has patched i,7N2 square
yards of pavement In l6 weeks, city
Engineer q. E. Griggs reported.
CiIc Topeka, Kansas.
The mayors proposal regarding
the lighting plant was endorsed by
the city engineer, who stated thht
Topeka, Kan, has owned its light
plant for more than % years aud
that It not only shows "A profit but
that Topeka * one OF the most
brightly lighted cities In the west.
There IL street light there every
two blocks he explained.
Dissatisfaction with the methods
of the Public Service company was
given by the mayor AZ his reason
for suggesting the lighting project.
According 10 steiner, there are l23
applications for new street lights
with the Public Service company,
which IL installing them with dis
tresing slowncss. steiner explained
that the cost of installing street
lights Ia heavy, and that after "A
light IL installed 1t must be oper-
atcd for perhaps several years be
fore the Investment is paid out and
II begins to show a profit. II n
number of lights could be installed
in one compact district, the lights
would show returns more quickly.
ne said, because by installing them
In quantities. the investment ls pro-
portionatcly smaller. lie assigned
This reason for the slownoss OF tho
Public Service company In comply
ing with the city's request. There
is plenty OF money In the city treas
ury to pay for electric current In the
additional lights demanded. he said,
and added that not "a day passes
without new petitions for street
lights.
Pv,scnt Lights Poor,
Commissioners Adkson declared
that many OF the lights now In uso
are inefficicnt--that they shed only
dim light over the space directly
beneath them ana tail to light up
the surrounding territory.
Tulsa's water system was men
toned by steiner us an example ol
profitable municipal ownership. IL
1t had been privately owned, II
would doubtless have been to the
corporation commission for an in
crease In rates. he stated. IA now
operated II Is supplying water at Il
lower rate than most other cities IN
the southwest. and is showing u
profit,
There are three paramount prob
lens confronting Tulsa now, tn,
mayor saltwater, sewers anc
street lighting. There are other
problems, he added, hut all of then
are less important than these three
Tho city engineer is to submit his
report on the proposed street light
ing system within the next few days