Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-03-22
ARE WE GETTING ANYWHERE?

ARE WE GET ING PNrvVnE66s
It is to be hoped that the Board of Aldermen get some
OF the big problems now confronting the municipality settled
before the city goes bankrupt. With The grade crossing
elimination, railroad sidings on Washington, High and Front
streets, the purchase of the gas works property, the Amboy
avenue paving and other important developments all pend
ing at once and with nothing being settled, one begins to
wonder whether the men now in charge of public affairs
measure up to the task that is before them.
There are enough special engineers and special at
torneys engaged to do something pretty soon and until some
thing is done the expense to the taxpayers will continue TO
nile up. But instead of anything being settled the affairs
seem to become more and more involved. OF course, this
is fine for the experts and the special advisors who can con-
tinue to present their bills for the approval of the aldermen
at frequent intervals as long as the jobs last, but II is aWfully
hard on the already overwhelmed taxpayers.
Take the grade crossing elimination, for instance. 1t
was perfectly proper that the city should secure expert ad-
vice in this matter. Had there been a city plan, however,
there would have been no problem at all and the work proba-
bly, would have been under way by this time Lacking a
city plan when the railroad company put the proposition
up to the Board of Aldermen, the city has floundered about
in a helpless manner asking for adjournments and causing.
delays with the result that the project, apparently, is no
further advanced today than it was six months ago.
In securing expert advice the aldermen, in their wis
dom, decided that it was too much to ask the regular city
engineer, who is a Republican,, to get a competent man so
they employed Louis P. Booz, a good Democrat, to secure
the expert. Mr.. Booz was engaged a little over a month ago
and has already been paid $4,000 for his services. 1t is
likely that most Of this amount has been paid to the expert
whom Mr.. Booz engaged to look after the cHy's interests;
just how much Mr.. Booz retained for himself is not known.
But there is no reason to believe that the plans and
suggestions offered by the expert engineer who has been
engaged by Mr.. Bo6z will be finally adopted. 1t is understood
that the railroad engineers have turned down the plans thus
presented on behalf of the city. AS long as the deadlock
continues, however, Mr.. Booz will be able to present his
bills to the aldermen in order to pay the expert whom he
has misunderstanding, of course, as much of the fee as he
feels he is entitled to for his own valuable services in secur-
ing the expert. The Public Utility Commission probably
will be the final arbitrator. How many more thousands of
dollars Mr.. BoOz will be able to collect in the meantime re-
mains to be seen.
Then there is the Washington street matter in which
The Lehigh Valley railroad is endeavoring to lay tracks across
the thoroughfare in order to accommodate the industries in
that vicinity. This has got into litigation and here again
politics play an important part.
The city attorney who has been looking after the citys
legal affairs for several years under a Republican admins
tration suddenly becomes too busy, in the opinion of a Demo-
cratic Board of Aldermen, so a lawyer who is a good Demo-
crat is hired to assist the city attorney in this particular mat
ter, although there has been no request on the part of the
city attorney for such help. So far as known, this Demo-
cratic attorney has not yet presented his bill for his special
services, but when he does a willing Board of Aldermen will
readily give their approval and thus more thousands of dol
lars of the taxpayers money will go to help reward deserv-
ing party men.
The whole situation is bad enough at best, but there
would be some satisfaction if the city was getting anywhere.
The only results so far, however, seem to be much talk and
more bills. And the worst of it is, there does not appear
TO be any end to either.