The Wilmington morning star., 1942-05-03

y
out Of town shoppers who once had
the right to park down town all
day long if they liked, Withholding
that space from others. Now, first
come, first served and no favors
shown. The meter hand tells how
long one can stay in any desirable
place, and the city police tel! us
how much it is when we exceed the
limit.
There is a new spirit in the police
force. They know they will be held
to strict account for their actions,
and that they will be supported
whenever they discharge thei1 duty.
They have acquired new manhood
without turbulence or servillty.
There is no ticket fixing. When the
cars are not on patrol duty they
are lined up in their places in the
City Hall area, each having its al
lotted place. The Council Manager
government has had all those un.
slightly sheds, etc, torn down and
a neat compound takes the place
of the buildings. The grounds
around the City Hall have been
cleared and beautified. While we
are thinking about traffic enforce
ment laws we might pause to rem
der thanks also for noise regulations
which are really enforced. We be.
lieve that it would be possible these
days to hear any kind of air raid
siren. 1t has no competitor to drown
it out. 1t is no mean accomplish
ment to reduce noise while increas-
ing the population, but that is what
has happened.
A start has been made in filling
in those wretched holes and cracks
in sidewalks which used to trip us
this repair work will be done. Mean
time eight blocks Of sidewalks have
been made and forty streets have
been paved. This work continues.
1t was wise precaution to widen
Seventeenth and Dawson streets
which are both large traffic arter-
les, and the road by the old Rock
Quarry which was dangerously mar
row. We should mention also
South Front street to the city linn
its which was graded and the should
ers sown with grass seed while the
city dump in this locality Is being
graded off to sanitary fill so that
it may become incorporated later
as a part of Greenfield Park.
Since war production has slowed
up plans for building new city mains
there are to be fourteen wells drilled
to supply fresh drinking water which
will help the situation measurably.
Any one who takes the trouble to
make comparisons will see that the
streets Of Wilmington are cleaner,
and trash and garbage collections
are better observed by the City De-
partment and the public at large.
Some Of us may have forgotten
that when this administration took
office nine months ago there was a
clamor on the part of some thought
less and impatient persons to re-
move all the plazas, monuments,
ETC., to make way for faster driving.
But we do not hear much about
those things today. We still have
our lovely Third street, we still have
our dignified Davis monument at
Third and Market streets, we have
our cherished old trees, our pleas
ant grass. Traffic ordinances have
been passed to force reasonable use
of our streets without abuse. 1t
has even been pointed out that larger
cities than Wilmington are planting |
lanes Of trees in the midst Of busy
as brakes upon the
Iawless and rockies driver
We have additional lists of i'm.
provements that have been made by
The Council Manager government,
out we content ourselves with a few
If them just to tell why we feel this
'orm Of government has proved its
worth and to congratulate Council
and Manager for their forward look
ing program, its present benefits
and its promise of even better things
to come.
A GROUP OF TAXPAYERS.
N. c.,
Nay 2, 1912.