Evening star., 1940-01-14
0,319 Asked
To Supplement
D. {. Budget
$4,000 to Finish
Jail Addition
Biggest Item

SSSSA 'NS
Five items totaling $120,319.84 to
supplement the current budget have
been sent by the Commissioners to
the Bureau of the Budget for pos
sible inclusion in the urgent def
cheney bill soon to go before Con-
gress, it was learned last night.
Requests are for $64, 1000 for COM
pletion of an addition to the Jail:
$26,360 for the Fire Department to
begin consolidation proposed in the
recent fire survey under Assistant
Engineer Commissioner Patrick H.
Tansey; $4,000 to construct a girls
gymnasium at Calvin Coolidge High
School; $9,250 for a new number 2
precinct building at Fifth and New
York avenue NV, and $4,719.84
for equipment lockers for new per-
sonnel in the National Guard.
Notably absent in the requests
were funds for the equipment of
the Coolidge High and the Thomas
Jefferson Junior High, which were
among the principal items deemed
urgent by school officials.
The money for the Jail addition
administrative facilities, hos
pital, execution facilities an da
walled exercise yard-was made
necessary, 1t was explained, by the
fact that the low bid was consid-
erably in excess of the amount
already appropriated.
To Eliminate 10 Items.
A total of s250,00O has been al
lotted in last years and the cur
rent budget. but the low bid was
$325,0O0. Three low bids averaged
$328,000. Officials agreed, however,
to cut from the original contract
drawings some 10 items which
would lower the total cost by. $50 900
and enable completion, with $64 900
added, to the balance on hand.
The funds sought for the fire
department consolidation will be
used to add equipment to stations
which will be called on to double
up with other units; to change fire
alarms during the consolidation, and
to print a new running book" by
which the changed stations will
know what fires to respond to.
Specifically, stations affected by
the change will be No. S truck sta
ton, 34l2 Dent place NV, which
will house No. engine now at 1912
M street NV: No. 6 truck at 1888
Park road NV, to include No. IL
engine now at 3119 Fourteenth
street NV; No. Z truck at 4l4
Eighth street Sc. to include No. ls
engine now at 1901 Ninth street Sc:
No. 10 truck at BAT K street S.W. to
include No. 7 engine now at 93l r
street NV; No. 13 truck at l342
Florida avenue NE. to include No.
10 engine now at 1341 Maryland
avenue NE; No. 16 engine at 1918
Thirteenth street NV. to house No.
l engine now at 1643 K street NV.
May Be Used for Libraries.
DR.. George F. Bowerman, public
librarian, has asked the Commits
sioners to give consideration to pos
slble use of some of the abandoned
flrehouses as branch libraries, it was
learned.
The new police precinct will meet
a situation by which No. 2 and No.
. 13 are now crowded in a single pre-
cinct station. Funds for the con-
struction of the precinct on the site
of the old Abbot Vocational School
at Fifth and New York avenue NV.
are carried in the present budget,
the supplementary appropriation
being sought to cover installation
Of cables and other changes. The
building was formerly used as a
school storehouse, but school off,
cials 1ecently Notified the Commits
sioners that they had moved
supplies to new location in the old
Dennison School.
AS in the case of the Jail, funds
for the Coolidge School were found
to be inadequate. To prevent delay,
school officials decided to 60 ahead
with the money they had by elimi-
mating from the plans the girls
gymnasium. In the present budget
$4,000 is made available for the
gym, but the low bid was s83, ,624
and the average of three low bids
was 1888.
Under the Presidents program for
expansion of the National Guard.
the District unit has been allotted
$50 additional enlisted men. The
War Department requires that the
men keep their property in the
armory and not at home, thus Great