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Show "lohese are the Walfo that Snot&f Bttilt" By a reckless disregard of the rights of property prop-erty owners and a carelessness in the supervision of sidewalk construction that appears to be almost al-most wanton, City Engineer George W." Snow has aroused a storm of protest among taxpayers in the eastern portion of the city where such have been completed, or are now being Inaugurated. The Democratic organ boasts of al&mt $100,000 in sidewalk improvements which shaW have been consummated under Mr. Morris (Ministration, but in this connection makes no $nment upon the dereliction of the city engines?- In the execution execu-tion of the work. Excavations several feet below the property line have been made, which with the coming of winter will be converted into impassable gulleys; trees have been arbitrarily torn down without the scant courtesy of a notiiication to the owners. The Council is to some extent at fault for these irregularities and assaults upon the rights of property owners, but the blame rests primarily with the city engineer, who is the city's direct agent in all sidewalk construction in the corporate cor-porate limits. It is true that the grade established by Engineer Engi-neer Doremus in 1891 is being adhered to by the engineer, but where by following that grade no public good is subserved and private property is unnecessarily Injured, it was the plain duty of the city engineer to so notify the City Council and to recommend either a less radical and harmful or a temporary grade. The case of the phenominal paving operations on the south and west sides of W. P. Noble's property prop-erty Is probably the most ilagrant of the many which have given rise to clamorous protest. In that instance the pavement on M street Is laid several feet lower than the BrJgham street side-Walk side-Walk pavement providing thereby a natural reservoir reser-voir Jn a season of moisture from which there will be no outlet. It may be claimed that the Brig-ham Brig-ham pavement was on ,a temporary grade, but what should have prevented the engineer from notifying the Council of what the result of conforming con-forming to the established grade on H street would be, and why,, in view of the present harm- WM ful results to Mr. Noble and pedestrians in gen- BB eral, could not a temporary grade have been rec- B ommended? B Another example of utter disregard for the H taxpayer was shown in the case of the grading in H front of the Hempstead property on North Main B street. That grade was originally established by B F. C. Kelsey, later re-established by L. C. Kelsey, m and concurred in by Engineer Snow, who refused H to change it, notwithstanding tbe evident damage H it inilicted on property owners on the West side, 19 where the property line Is from twelve to fourteen Jfl feet below the pavement now being laid. At the J9 time the excavating began In front of the Hemp- B stead property, the house was vacant, and the JH owners were consequently considerably surprised 9 upon observing that eight" popular trees, about one IB and one-half feet in diameter which had stood in jS front of the residence tor twenty years, had been )B hewn down, cut into convenient lengths and JB carted away. Later, when a protest was made to Jfl Mr. Snow by the owners, the only satisfaction jfl they received was the announcement that "the JB trees would have died anyhow." B In front of the Fifth East Street hotel an exca- IB vation has been made which makes the sidewalk IB look like a moat, and the fence and trees are '31 left high in the air. All this could have been eas- IS ily avoided by some slight conformance to the sur- face of the ground. Numerous instances of a j similar nature, where common sense and prop- J erty rights have been ignored, have already been brought to the attention of the City Council. M The net result of these alleged Improvements jl is the incommoding of the public, Injustice to m property owners, and a series of sidewalks of gro- J tesque ands unsightly appearance. It places the sjl city engineer in an unenviable position by re- M lleoting seriously upon the efficiency of his office. 9 It can only mean one of two things, that he is jfl indifferent to the rights of the taxpayers whom he Jfl ""represents, or that h has negligently permitted lm contractors to proceed with the work with but 3 careless and inadequate supervision by the engineering engi-neering department. Section 22 of Article 1 of the State Constltu- tlon provides that "privat property "shall not be taken qr damaged for public use without just com- snsation," and it Is fair to assume that the re-Pent re-Pent performances under the supervision of the Hlty engineer will fructify in a harvest of law-Kits. law-Kits. H The Council should make a thorough investiga-Han investiga-Han of this matter, particularly in view of the Ret that so much sidewalk construction is either R. progress or will be inaugurated before the close R the year. Such a scrutiny will probably result m. a revelation of either Incompetency or carelessness careless-ness in the ofilce of the city engineer. ' |