USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > Inaugural address of the mayor, with the annual report of the officers of the city of Quincy for the year 1908 > Part 14
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OFFICERS
Frank C. Packard, First Assistant Chief.
Daniel J. Nyhan, Second Assistant Chief.
James P. Dillon, Third Assistant Chief.
APPARATUS
The apparatus of the department consists of one steam fire engine in very poor condition; three combination chemi- cal engines and hose wagons; two combination ladder trucks; one straight hook and ladder truck; five hose wagons; one fire-alarm wagon, and three spare wagons; one chemical en- gine; one hand engine not in service and five pungs.
HOSE
We have in the service 13,000 feet of cotton hose rubber lined, (9,000 feet in good condition, 3,000 feet in fair condi- tion 1,000 feet in poor condition). I believe the department should be kept well supplied with hose in case of emergency. The life of hose is two years, after that it is liable to burst when heavy pressure is put on. I will call the attention of the Council to placing more hydrants on old line of pipes, as it will give better fire protection, also saving the city a great deal of money in using shorter lines of hose.
FIRE ALARM
The fire alarm service has been increased the past year by placing three boxes on the circuit. There are ninety fire- alarm boxes in service. This branch of the service needs the greatest attention so when boxes are pulled, they will work promptly.
315
ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE
Two hundred and fifty-four cells of battery, one six- circuit repeater, one Gamewell switch, six circuit switches, one ground-test switch board, one brake key, one mill, amp. meter, six galvanized meters, one quartered-oak switch board, one bolt meter, six Rogers propectors, one amp. meter, six resistance coils, one circuit braker, six double throw switches, twelve lamps on switch board, six test jars, one-half horse power motor for charging batteries, one rheostat, three switches, three automatic whistles, five Gamewell tower strik- ers, 1-18 inch gong. Frank C. Packard has two six inch gongs. Daniel J. Nyhan has one six inch gong. Hose no. 2 has one twelve inch gong; Hose no. 3 has one twelve inch gong; Hose no. 4 has one eighteen inch gong; Atlantic com- bination has one twelve inch gong; Houghs Neck has one eighteen inch gong; Wollaston Foundry has one six inch gong; Tubular Rivet & Stud Co. has one twelve inch gong; Old Colony St. Ry. & Power House has one twelve inch gong; Captain Hayden has one six inch gong. Charles Mar- tin has one six inch gong. Two extra gongs at Central Fire Station; Quincy Electric Light & Power Co. has one twelve inch gong. Chief Williams has one six inch gong.
HORSES
The number of horses in the department is twenty-four, which are in good condition, excepting three which will have to be replaced on account of their ages and poor condition. Their ages run from six to twenty-three years.
RECOMMENDATIONS
I would also recommend the purchasing of three new horses the coming year. The purchasing of a new steamer and remodeling the old steamer, which is in service today, my reasons for this are that as we are a wooden city, there is great danger of a large fire starting here at most any
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time and without more power than our hydrant service, it would be impossible to stop any large fire, as my experience in the fire business, the past thirty-five years teaches me that we can not stop a large conflagration, unless we have the machinery to do the work.
In closing this report, I wish to tender my sincere thanks to His Honor, Mayor Shea for his interest in the welfare of the department; to the Council for all favors rendered during the year; to the City Auditor and Treas- urer for all favors rendered; to the Chief of Police and officers for the manner they performed their duties at fires; to the Committee on Fire Department for the interest they have manifested in the business of the department; to my associates of the Board of Engineers and to the officers and members for the prompt and efficient manner in which they discharged their duties, thereby maintaining the reputa- tion of the department for efficiency.
PERMANENT MEN
NAME
Capt. Charles P. Costa 62
John Faircloth 51
Faxon Billings 42
James Connell 39
Richard Colbert 47
Herbert Griffin 29
William Lahey 26
Frank Genero 37
Michael Scully 37
Charles Anderson 37
Albert Mead 49
Andrew Scully 33
Jerry Lyons 56
John Deneen 37
William Carroll 29
Daniel McNiece 38
James Malone 44
William H. Gavin 55
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FIRES AND ALARMS 1908
During the year beginning January 1st and ending December 31st, 1908, there were 241 alarms, (91 bell and 150 still alarms).
Value on property at risk $384,860.65
Insurance on property at risk 196,250.00
Loss on property 23,871.27
Respectfully submitted,
P. J. WILLIAMS,
Chief Engineer, Quincy Fire Department.
Report of the Commissioner of Public Works
To His Honor, the Mayor of the City-of Quincy :
Sir :
In compliance with your request I herewith sub- mit the nineteenth annual report of the Department of Public Works for the year ending December 31, 1908.
The work of this department may best be divided as follows, viz:
FIRST-HIGHWAY DIVISION
Which includes the care and repair of existing public streets, the construction of new streets, the care, repair and construction of catch basins and drains, care and re- pair of certain bridges and all the natural drains with appurtenant culverts and waterways, lighting of streets and inspection of pole locations, watering of streets, removal of snow, setting of curbing, the construction of new build- ings, the maintenance of City Hall, repair and care of other public buildings, the suppression of the Gypsy and Brown Tail Moth, issuing of permits and other work in- cidental to construction is done from this division.
319
.
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SECOND-WATER DIVISION
Which includes the care and repair of the existing dis- tributing system of mains and hydrants and services, the laying out and construction of extensions to the system, the laying of new services, the reading, testing, repair and in- stallation of water meters and the recording, billing and committing of water rates.
THIRD-SEWER DIVISION
The construction of new sewers, the maintenance of existing sewers, the making of house connections or partic- ular sewers and the making of the proper assessments for the same comprise the work of this department.
There were thirty-four orders passed by the City Coun- cil for work to be done under the direction of the Commis- sioner of Public Works authorizing the expenditure of $216,- 683.55 including transfers and receipts, which may be divided as follows :
Street construction and drainage $19,453.52
Surface drainage 5,166.00
Public Buildings, construction and repairs 27,310.00
Gypsy Moths 6,661.81
Street Lighting 550.00
Water construction and receipts 30,532.22
Meter Installation 7,000.00
Sewer construction, main and particular 36,000.00
Annual Budget 84,010.00
The balance of thirty-four orders related to pole loca- tions, street lights, car tracks, accepting of streets, sup- pression of Gypsy and Brown Tail Moths and preparing of polling places.
In the expenditure of specific appropriations the aim has been to expend the money where designated in the order and to do the amount of work contemplated in the estimate of the same.
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In the expenditure of the money appropriated in the Annual Budget for the maintenance of highways and other city property I have tried to draw the lines in such a manner that a portion of it might go into permanent work.
Of course the actual amount accomplished in this direc- tion has not been as large as I have wished but at the same time the aim has been to remedy the defect and also remove the cause at the same time, that is, instead of filling a washout after every storm try and stop it from washing out.
Under the various divisions of the work will be found tables for reference and record of the existing permanent work in the city and also a schedule showing data regard- ing our accepted streets. This latter table I am having printed separately as we have constant queries regarding them and there are no lists in the office.
.
The following tables show balances from 1907, appropria- tions of 1908, expenditures and balances and following that a summary of the work done under the various appropria- tions.
ANNUAL BUDGET
Appropriation Expended
Balance
Advertising, printing and
stationary
$150.00
$132.51
$17.49
Bridges, culverts and drains
2,500.00
2,499.44
.56
Clerical
780.00
780.00
Edgestones and setting
500.00
500.00
Gypsy Moths
5,000.00
Balance 1907
647.54
5,647.54
....
Miscellaneous Highways . .
21,000.00
Receipts and transfer .
3,206.60
23,547.42
659.18
Removal of Snow
2,605.00
2,490.00
115.00
Repair Public Buildings & Care of City Hall
6,000.00
5,993.93
6.07
Street Lighting
23,400.00
Additional
550.00
23,867.24
82.76
Street Watering
7,000.00
7,000.00
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SPECIAL APPROPRIATIONS
Adams street drain
320.00
305.34
14.66
Bates avenue drain
254.00
254.00
Baxter street
1,834.00
1,834.00
Beach street drain
160.00
56.73
103.27
Bennington street drain
400.00
395.38
4.62
Broadway
500.00
Balance 1907
488.01
988.01
Centre street drain
220.00
213.02
6.98
Coddington school building
4,000.00
4,000.00
Coddington school furnish's
5,200.00
90.64
5,109.36
Elm avenue drain
1,200.00
1,199.07
.93
Elm & S. Walnut St. drain
848.00
840.01
7.99
Excise Tax
7.177.92
7,177.92
Grove street
2,000.00
2,000.00
Gypsy Moths
3,300.00
Receipts
1.791.57
-
State Reimbursement .
1,570.24
4,925.93
1,735.88
High school furnishings . .
3,000.00
Balance 1907
4.43
2,995.59
8.84
Lincoln avenue drain
435.00
434.57
.43
Lincoln school additions
12.000.00
12,000.00
Nightingale avenue
1,230.00
1,230.00
Prospect avenue drain
280.00
27.89
252.11
Repair School Buildings
1,260.00
1,260.00
Sea street
800.00
800.00
.
Smith street
1,700.00
Balance 1907
93.65
1,793.65
. . .
Stone Cross Walks Balance 1906
29.68
29.68
. .
Ward 6 School House
800.00
Balance 1907
275.79
1,075.79
......
Ward 6 Hose House Repair- ing
800.00
339.00
461.00
Ward 4 Hose House Con- creting
250.00
211.04
39.96
Webster street
1.400.00
1,400.00
Whitwell street drain
1.049.00
1,044.01
4.99
.. .
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LATE 1907 APPROPRIATIONS
The following appropriations were passed by the City Council late in the year 1907 and were completed during the year 1908 :
Appropriation Expended
Balance
Bradford street
$600.00
$600.00 61,904.59
$8,095.41
Common street
1,500.00
1,500.00
Cottage avenue Balance '07
41.00
41.00
Crescent street
1,700.00
1,700.00
Cross street
1,000.00
1,000.00
Cushing street
500.00
500.00
Eliot street
500.00
500.00
Farrington street
2,000.00
346.53
1,653.47
Farrington street drain Bal- ance 1907
155.14
155.14
Glendale road
2,500.00
2,500.00
Glover avenue
1.650.00
1,650.00
Hunt street
1,800.00
1,800.00
Liberty street
1,500.00
1,500.00
Robertson street
900.00
900.00
Sumner street
3,000.00
3,000.00
. ...
Ward Six School Furnish-
ings Balance 1907
93.43
2.40
91.03
Wayland street
500.00
500.00
. .
Whitwell street sidewalk
Balance 1907
583.10
489.62
93.49
.
....
. .. .
.....
. .
...
. .
...
. .
.
BRIDGES, CULVERTS AND DRAINS
The annual appropriation for this work was smaller than usual although the work usually done by the Board of Health in the cleaning of natural waterways was trans- ferred to this department.
The work consists' primarily in the maintenance of the bridges in which the City is financially interested, the re- pair and care of culverts, catch basins and drains, clean- ing of brooks and ditches and the construction of new per- manent work to protect the highways and property.
1
Coddington school building
70,000.00
TABLE OF BRIDGES MAINTAINED IN WHOLE OR IN PART BY THE CITY.
When built
Construc- tion
Roadway
Length
Width
Roadway
Sidewalk Proportion paid by city
Atlantic
1906
Steel
Plank
120
64
22
7.5
25 per cent.
Bates Avenue . 1887
Steel
Plank
65
33
22.5
5.5
All
Bates Avenue . 1887
Wood
Plank
18
33
24
5.5
All
Beale Street .. 1853
Wood
Plank
33
35
30
5
All
*Fore River .. 1903
Steel
Plank
663
36.75
31
5.75
33 per cent.
*Hingham . .
Pile
Plank
430
26
26
0
5-24
*Neponset
1889
Pile
Plank
620
40
33
7
All
Warren Avenue 1900
Steel
Plank
182.5
10
10
All
1
*Drawbridge
324
.
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All of these bridges have had repairs during the year. The Atlantic bridge was entirely replanked with hard pine. By the decree of the Commissioners the maintenance of this bridge is borne by the three parties at interest as follows : New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, sixty per cent., City of Quincy, twenty-five per cent., Old Colony Street Railway Company, fifteen per cent.
I do not think the bridge will need painting during the coming year so there should be no expense connected therewith. The Fore River Bridge has been partially re- planked and will need a little more the coming year.
The fender piers will need extensive repairs and also new construction at an early date as they are inadequate for the purpose.
The fender on the westerly end needs to be entirely rebuilt and large fender dolphins driven. Twice during the year this end of the bridge has been damaged by vessels and this work should be done in the early spring.
The draw fender pier should at least be strengthened at the ends and fender dolphins driven. The bridge needs painting. The city pays 33 per cent. of the up keep of this bridge.
Both the bridges on Bates avenue will have to be re- planked next year.
The Beale street bridge looks disreputable but nothing has been done outside of keeping it safe on account of the proposed four tracking of the railroad.
As there are no records of the location, sizes or char- acter of many of our old drains I am trying to gather such information, which at times is very valuable, and tabulate it.
The right to operate and maintain drains of any kind through private land is a valuable one as such drains usually follow the natural waterways and to lose such a right means greatly additional cost in disposing of surface water.
Several of these rights have been reclaimed during the year and there are others which must be on record until improved or the right of way will be lost especially in the case of drainage ditches which abutters are filling up.
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The usual spring cleaning of brooks was done at con- siderable expense, the bulk of which was wasted in removing from the brooks debris which had been thrown in.
For drains and catch basins built during 1908 see Sur- face Drainage.
REMOVAL OF SNOW
The actual removal of snow during the year has not been an expensive matter but as almost every storm has ended in a thaw and then frozen it has been necessary to do a great deal of sanding.
This work radiates from the railroad stations through the main thoroughfares and then into the lesser ones.
There are thirty-nine snow plough routes, sixteen of which are covered by the city teams and twenty-three by private teams.
To do it early and do it consistently has been the object.
I would respectfully suggest that an order be passed requiring store keepers in the centre to remove all the snow from their sidewalks within a specified time, as is done in other cities.
STREET WATERING
The streets ordered by the City Council have been wa- tered from April 15th to October 15th continuously and after that date when absolutely necessary.
10.71 miles of street having car tracks were watered by the electric car sprinkler at a cost of $3,300.
As a rule these are wide streets so that the actual mileage is almost double the above amount.
With a competent man to handle the car more watering can be done for the same cost than with the horse carts.
11.6 miles of narrower streets were watered by five regular teams at $90 per month and one city team at cer- tain times.
More streets were watered for the same amount than in 1907 so that the assessment was slightly reduced being $.02 per linear foot.
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Total assessment of $3,644.18 was levied on 182,209 lin- ear feet and the same committed to the Assessors.
As usual there have been complaints on account of dust from abutters and from contractors on account of the small pay for the work.
On a dry windy day the street is dusty for twenty hours out of the twenty-four and for a portion of the rest of the day there is liable to be mud. It has been said that "The most common and the most costly way to prevent dust and to preserve roads is to sprinkle them with water." In addition to the $7,000 appropriated for this work there must be added the cost of 26,000,000 gallons of water, the maintenance of stand pipes and the extra cost of street maintenance due to the damage by the water.
These difficulties may be overcome at about the same cost and with much better results by several new processes of treating the road surface and I would suggest that during the coming year the city obtain an act enabling them to do this work and assess a portion of the cost on the abut- ters as is done under the present street watering act.
STREET LIGHTING
At the present time we have installed the following street lights: 168 are lights, 748 incandescent lights and 102 gas lights.
The Council made an extra appropriation during the year for street lights at Houghs Neck and under this order 71 gas lights and 19 incandescent lights were installed.
The gas lamps are hand trimmed and lighted, which is a great improvement over the clock system.
The electric lights have the new tungsten lamp and radial shade and this combination gives at least twenty-five per cent. more light.
The Company is installing these lamps all over the city with good results.
Houghs Neck is now well lighted and the lights have also been a direct benefit in several ways.
The lighting contract expires June 30, 1909 and I would
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suggest that some arrangement be made at that time where- by some of our main streets be lighted all night.
REPAIR AND CARE OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS
The amounts expended under this appropriation are tab- ulated below.
It will be seen that the cost of running City Hall is almost one half of the total appropriation leaving an average of about one hundred and fifty dollars for each of the other public buildings.
A portion of this amount has to be expended each year for the natural wear and tear especially of heating and plumbing apparatus and in the hose houses for stalls and floors.
In many of the buildings the flimsy methods of house construction have been too closely followed which means that things are giving out continually so that I have been able to do very little new work.
The new cells in the Houghs Neck Hose House and the new stall at the Ward Four Hose House took most of the available surplus from the maintenance.
The new boiler laws as amended by Chapter 563, Acts of 1908, required new safety plugs, gauge fittings in all our boilers and in some cases new safety valves and con- nections to boilers.
Several boilers will have to be retubed in 1909 which will cost about four hundred dollars.
The annual boiler inspection costs about one hundred dollars.
At the High School the State Police required new locks and bolts on all exit doors in the hall and fire exits, balcony and stage exit doors cut out and widened, all the exit signs enlarged and new system of wiring installed, a railing put around the balcony, fire extinguishers installed, stair rails provided and other work before a license was given for the hall.
A special appropriation was made by the Council for changing outside doors to open outward and provide proper
329
locks and bolts, put fire escapes on the Willard School and make other changes necessary for the safety of pupils in case of fire. This was money well spent although we have prac- tically nothing new to show for it.
The special appropriation for the Atlantic Hose House has put that building in good repair inside and out and made several improvements.
The cellar of the Ward Four Hose House has been dug out and concreted under the appropriation therefor and the drainage from the stalls which used to dump into the rear part of the building now enters the sewer.
ADDITIONS TO THE LINCOLN SCHOOL
It is expected that work on this building will begin early in the coming year as all the preliminary work is prac- tically completed at the present time.
The additions consist of four class rooms, two on each end of the building on the front.
CODDINGTON SCHOOL
Work was begun March 26, 1908 and the building is completed excepting for a few minor details.
ยท
EXPENDITURES ON PUBLIC BUILDINGS
School Buildings
Adams
$165.13
Coddington
101.99
Cranch
176.34
Gridley Bryant
186.88
High
370.43
John Hancock
80.20
Lincoln
118.29
Massachusetts Fields
76.06
Quincy
88.99
330
Washington 53.39
Willard
204.38
Wollaston
220.39
Old Quincy
4.92
Total
$1,847.39
Fire Stations ;
Central Fire Station
$332.69
Hose House, Ward 2
289.76
Hose House, Ward 4
233.94
Hose House, Ward 5
63.14
Hose House, Ward 6
134.81
Hose House, Houghs Neck
436.87
Total $1,491.21
City Hall
Lighting
$547.55
Fuel
382.86
Telephone
88.02
Janitor service
1,156.08
Miscellaneous
377.97
Total
$2,552.48
Other Buildings
Police Station
$50.94
Almshouse
73.69
Stables
91.77
Total
$216.40
Totals
$6,107.48
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HIGHWAYS
This is an important part of the work of this depart- ment and an increasing one, but from the city reports of past years I judge as the streets grow longer the appropria- tion grows smaller.
Maintenance
There are 77.6 miles of accepted streets of various -widths, the lengths of various kinds of road surface being as follows :
Miles
Paved
1.79
Paved and macadam
3.82
Macadam 13.20
Gravel and earth 58.79
Fully one half of the budget appropriation for main- tenance of highways is used to clean streets, gutters, catch basins, drains, cut brush, weeds, do small patching, repair- ing, paving, fixing sidewalks and other incidental work. I have tried to squeeze out of the other half as much semi permanent work as possible so that the same ground will not have to be gone over every year.
The budget appropriation for street maintenance gives an average amount of $270 per mile for this purpose which is very small indeed for city streets especially where we have such heavy traffic.
The cost for this item on the narrow state roads is equal to this amount after the roads have been carefully built in the first place whereas many of our streets have no good wrought surface. The addition of sidewalks to a road adds very materially to the cost of maintenance as the sidewalk prevents the water from running off the side of the road and so provision must be made for taking care of it.
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Standing water soon ruins a street surface and in our clayey soil the ground water has the same effect. A certain amount of permanent work to prevent this should be done under the maintenance appropriation and if this is done it means that many of our outlying streets receive no at- tention beyond the spring and fall cleaning.
Quincy has little good road building material although some of our neighboring towns have plenty of good gravel which makes a good road for light travel. The gravel in the city pit is not fit to put on any street and the gravel in the north end of the city is fast giving out.
The city crusher on South street turns out a very fair quality of stone at a reasonable price and has been worked continuously this season.
The crushed stone cost 71 cents per ton on the teams but the long haul to certain parts of the city nearly doubles this amount for stone delivered on the street.
There are thousands of tons of granite ready for crush- ing in South and West Quincy which could be put on the teams for one-fifth of the cost of our ledge stone. The No. 1 stone could be used for street work and the finer stone and dust is just what is needed in the city to build good dry sidewalks instead of those now built of our poor gravel, sand and clay.
For this reason I hope we may have a portable crusher during the coming year, it will give us very profitable work for men and teams during the winter, save its cost in two seasons of street construction, enable us to use crushed stone to build good sidewalks and clean up the stone heaps in various parts of the town which are a nuisance to the granite men and unsightly as well.
A piece of test roadway should be built entirely of granite and bound with some bitulithic or asphaltic binder strong enough to keep the granite stones from grinding on each other and if this is a complete success, as I think it will be, many thousands of dollars may be saved in future road construction by the use of crushed granite.
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REPAIR WORK
The first aim has been to put our main highways in proper condition and for this purpose 5,470 tons of crushed stone have been used not including that used for special work.
4,500 tons of this was used for permanent work includ- ing Adams street (three places) Washington street, South street, East Howard street, Beale street and Hancock street, making 2.7 miles in all.
Portions of Adams street, Hancock street, Independence avenue, Franklin street, South street, South Walnut street, Elm street, Elm avenue have been picked up, shaped and given a light coating of stone making 1.8 miles in all.
In many of these streets the puddles had been filled so many times to get rid of them instead of trimming the gutters that the street was entirely out of shape so that the principal cost lay in shaping them.
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