The New York herald., 1922-04-21
SMALL ITEMS HOLD
UP WORK ON SUBWAY
Hylan, Shifting Blame for
Transit Ills, Reveals Delays
by Estimate Board.
-
CITES SAVING OF $4,000
Tells Neighbors Of City Halls
4Watchfulness, but Ignores
Costly Dilatorincss.
CITES SAVING OF $4,000

Mayor Iylan. not eOuteht ~ iSs'
upon his long statement IN reply 10
Gov. MiIier's assault upo1 the city ad-
ministrations obstructive tactics. made
! special plea in an address delivered
Nv him last night i'm Brooklyn, before
the Fourteenth Assembly District I'm
movement Association. Surrounded py
his nejghbors, the Mayor sought TO eX-
Main why the Board of Estimate had
held up so pcrsistently what have been
called .'key'' contracts essential to the
completion of the Fourteenth street.
u,asteru District subway. He attempted
10 shift the blame for that delay upon
the Transit Commission.
Tho Mayor said IN part: The
presept delay with respect to the Four
feenth street line Is due chiefly to the
Transit Commission. a great many
OF the contracts have been returned by
The Board of Estimate to the commits
sion because of excessive prices Some
OF those returned contracts we're read
<crtised BY the commission and others
were not.
The prices in some contracts that
were net readvcrtiscd, averaged as high
as 35 per cent above market prices. II
S. the duty of the Board of Estimate
and Apportionment to see that the city
is not nulcted. We have performed our
duty in that respect, and insist that the
state Transit Commission do its duty
also.
Some Prices Are Cited.
Some Instances OF excessive prices
are item .aS for special work on track
materials. The contract originally sub
mittcd tn the Board OF Estmate on
April IL. 1921. by the Transit Commits
sion ciriried bid price Of s43,506. Is.
..tl1t ffsl III
ii hack. 1t has just been returned To us
with the new contract price Of s37.5o,
q ! ductien OF over $4,000,
'"rhc original contract price on Item
300 for station finish on the Fourteenth
street Eastern District line. submitted
i August. 1921. was Sc .A16. The
Eoard OF Estimate disapprovcd this fig-
TIRE, and new contract nag been re-
c,ived for $207.792. On item 299 there
: ias been a reduction Of $4,000 on al
item of $1,000.
"Other items that, have not been ac-
cepted by the Board of Estimate and
ALportionment because Of delay In sab
1nitting new contracts will result In cor
responding savings.
Five of these contracts are on to-
,,.orrow's Board Of Estima.a calendar.
Tour represent reductions as :, result or
tlle Board OF Estimates snsistence on
aeadvertising. The total reduction IS
S:e.6961O. On one other is al increase
from s57.067 to $5S.9ai.
According TO the Mayors own ng-
urcs the net saving effected upon all
t.ese readvcrtiscd contracts amounts 10
less than s35 900. In the meantime there
arr ten so-called key contracts, money
for which is vitality important to the
completion OF the Fourteenth street.
Eastern district line into Williamsburg
and up to Meserole street, Brooklyn.
That work is blocked until these con-
tracts are fulfilled. In the aggregate
they amount to less than 100000.
Failure OF the Board OF Estimate
to appropriate that 100000 is delaying
Indefinitely. as Gov. Miller said. work
ir which the city already has invested
$17.000,000. "and the interest running
upon this amount. at resent complete
less. is not less than $4,000 a day."
In his letter to the Board of Estimate
on April ) Chairman McAneny OF the
Transit Commission made a special APP
peal for the appropriation of funds 10
meet these ten key" contracts for
work on the Fourteenth Street Eastern
l.ne Those ten contracts in detail are:
FOURTEENTH sTREET-EAsTERN LINE.
Transmitted
to Board.
Contract Amount. 1921.
TTntreated ties and timber. sos 800 May ~
Cnaciat track work order 81. &c. 800 June 80