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 1909 > Part 14
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HORSES
The number of horses in the department is twenty-five, which are in good condition, excepting three which will have to be replaced on account of their age and poor condition. Their ages run from six to twenty years.
RECOMMENDATIONS
I would recommend the purchasing of three new horses the coming year. Also the purchase of an auto combination engine to carry 1,000 feet of hose. 30 gallon chemical tank, and 12 rubber covers, to be stationed at Central Fire Station; this is what is called a "Flying Squadron" and answers all alarms.
324
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 City Council for all favors rendered during the year ; to the City Auditor and Treasurer for all fa- vors rendered; to the Chief of Police and officers for the man- ner they perform 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 discharge their duties, thereby maintaining the reputation of the department for efficiency.
PERMANENT MEN
Name Age
Captain Charles P. Costa
63
John Faircloth
53
Faxon Billings
43
James Connell
40
Richard Colbert
48
Herbert Griffin
30
William Lahey
Frank Genero
27 38 38
Michael Scully
Charles Anderson
Albert Mead
Andrew Scully
Jerry Lyons
John Deneen
30
Daniel McNiece
39
James Malone
45
James Gallagher 39
William H. Gavin 56
38 50 34 57 38
William Carroll
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FIRES AND ALARMS 1909
During the year from January 1st, and ending December 31st, 1909, there were 204 alarms, 83 bell and 121 still alarms. Value on property at risk $244,775.00
Insurance on property at risk 233,960.00
Loss on property 36,439.00
Respectfully submitted,
PETER 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 submit the twentieth annual report of the Commissioner of Public Works for the departments under my direction for the year ending December 31, 1909. The Budget appropriations, ex- penditures and balances for the Department of Public Works for the year 1909, are as follows :
ANNUAL BUDGET
Appropriation
Expended
Balance
Bridges, culverts and
drains
$2,500.00
$2,500.00
.
Clerical
780.00
780.00
. . . ...
Gypsy Moths Receipts
2,019.13
7,286.57 $1,468.44
Balance 1908
1,735.88
Miscellaneous
150.00
150.00
...
. . .
1,854.22
22,461.33
392.89
Removal of snow
1,800.00
1,460.72
339.28
Street lighting
26,200.00
25,539.44
660.56
Street watering
7,000.00
7,000.00
Repair Public Buildings Care of City Hall
6,000.00
Plus transfer
411.84
6,252.69
159.15
327
. .
21,000.00
Miscellaneous Highways Receipts and transfer
5,000.00
328
SPECIAL APPROPRIATIONS
Appropriation
Expended
Balance
Adams street drain
$125.00
$125.00
...
Arlington street
900.00
900.00
Arthur street drain
600.00
600.00
Bates avenue
2,500.00
2,500.00
Billings street
600.00
600.00
Botolph street drain
570.00
570.00
Brooks avenue drain
325.00
325.00
Brook road paving
8,000.00
7,741.43
$258.57
Cummings avenue
1,850.00
1,759.86
90.14
East Elm avenue
2,500.00
2,500.00
East Squantum street
8,000.00
8,000.00
Excise tax
7,575.68
7,575.68
. .
. . ...
Fayette street drain
1,160.00
1,160.00
Federal avenue drain
380.00
380.00
Fenno street
1,500.00
1,500.00
Franklin avenue
1,500.00
1,425.90
74.10
Granite street
3,500.00
3,500.00
Granite street drain
270.00
270.00
. .
Gridley Bryant school
plumbing
2,288.16
2,288.16
. . .
Hall place drain
120.00
120.00
.
20,000.00
Hancock street paving
10,000.00
10,000.00
Holbrook road
1,100.00
1,014.95
85.05
Lincoln school repairs
500.00
500.00
Lincoln school furnishings
1,500.00
1,209.93
290.07
Marlboro street
1,000.00
1,000.00
...
Merry Mount road
1,250.00
1,250.00
.
Murdock avenue
1,050.00
1,046.48
3.52
Newbury avenue drain
250.00
250.00
Newcomb place
2,300.00
2,085.41
214.59
North street drain
1,300.00
1,300.00
Norfolk street
1,280.00
1,268.74
11.26
...
. .
.
. ....
. ....
. ..
Farrington street
4,200.00
Balance 1908
1,653.47
5,853.47
. ...
. ....
.
Houghs Neck school house
20,000.00
...
. . ...
329
Permanent sidewalks
8,000.00
7,938.43
61.57
Portable crusher
2,300.00
2,300.00
Quarry street extension .
1,900.00
1,900.00
. . . .
Scarifier machine
500.00
500.00
.
South street
5,000.00
3,509.63
1,490.37
Washington street drain . .
900.00
900.00
Whitney road drain
600.00
600.00
. . . .
1908 APPROPRIATIONS
Appropriation
Expended
Balance
Adams street drain
Balance 1908
$14.66
$14.66
. . . . . .
Beach street drain
Balance 1908
103.27
103.27
...
Bennington street drain Balance 1908
4.62
4.62
Centre street drain
Balance 1908
6.98
6.98
· ...
Coddington school building Balance 1908
12,095.41
12,083.35
$12.06
Coddington school furnish-
ings
Balance 1908
5,109.36
5,080.67
28.69
Elm and South Walnut
street drain Balance 1908
7.99
7.99
Lincoln school additions
12,000.00
10,049.94
1,950.06
Nightingale avenue
1,230.00
1,230.00
Prospect avenue drain . .
Balance 1908
252.11
252.11
. . . . . .
Ward 4 hose house concret-
ing .
Balance 1908
39.96
9.00
30.96
Ward 6 hose house repairing Balance 1908
461.00
461.00
. .
Ward 6 school house
Balance 1908
91.03
85.56
5.47
·
. . . ·
...
..
...
330
There were fifty-one orders passed by the City Council for work to be done under the direction of the Commissioner of Public Works authorizing the expenditure of $295,820.06 including transfers and receipts which may be divided as fol- lows :
Street construction $68,659.90
Surface drainage 6,600.00
Public buildings, construction and repairs 24,700.00
Permanent sidewalks 8,000.00
Crushing plant and scarifier 2,800.00
Water construction and receipts 50,597.28
Sewer construction, main and particular 47,033.75
Gypsy moths 2,019.13
Budget 85,410.00
The balance. of thirty-five orders passed by the Council related to pole locations, street lights, car tracks, acceptance of streets, transfer of balances, preparing of polling places, street names, etc.
ANNUAL BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS. BRIDGES, CULVERTS AND DRAINS
All the eight bridges for which the city is wholly or in part responsible with the exception of the Atlantic bridge have had minor repairs during the year and some work has also been done on the smaller bridges and culverts.
The larger of the bridges on Bates avenue has been en- tirely replanked and sidewalk repaired. The girders and other steel work will need painting during the coming year.
The smaller of the bridges on Bates avenue had a double plank top on ten inch steel eye-beams. As both roadway and deck plank were worn and rotted out they were replaced with a solid concrete floor entirely embedding the steel beams and covering them on top to a depth of five inches with a rein- forced concrete floor. As the floor of the bridge is on a slope the surface of the concrete was left somewhat rough to pro-
331
vide safe footing for horses. This work cost very little more than new plank and will make a safe and permanent bridge with no repair bills for many years.
The small plank bridge on Intervale street was giving away every few months under the heavy granite teams so that I replaced this floor with concrete in practically the same man- ner as the Bates avenue bridge with the exception that rein- forced concrete beams were used in place of steel beams which would have had to be purchased.
The short wooden bridge on Nightingale avenue has also been replaced by a permanent concrete culvert the entire width of the street with end -walls suitable to hold a fence when needed. The old bridge had to be removed entirely to allow the new culvert to be placed at the proper line and grade. The new culvert is some two feet lower than the old one which will allow for future improvement of this brook. The forms used in this work have been saved to use again when the Gil- bert street bridge is built.
The bridge to Rock Island is another small plank bridge which should be replaced by a permanent one during the com- ing year. This is the only way to Rock Island and the present bridge is hardly safe for heavy lumber teams or fire apparatus as the December storm both lifted and swung the bridge some two feet. It has been put back in place and strengthened in as good shape as it was before the storm. When rebuilt the bridge can be shortened so as to make practically a enlvert with proper provisions for the installing of tide gates at a later date when the water is excluded from these marshes. The mistake should not be made of getting the enlvert too high as the sub- draining of these marshes is only a question of time. The bridge should not be more than one-half its present length but surely twice as wide .
The small wooden bridge on the Squantum causeway is getting out of repair so that I should advise the filling in of this bridge instead of rebuilding thus saving cost of building and the constant maintenance expense.
332
FORE RIVER BRIDGE
To provide some pretext for a fender pier two large dol- phins of eleven oak piles each have been driven at each end of the draw fender. The fender pier itself is only a skeleton affair and is now so frail that it moves back and forth with the tide. Both ends of it are smashed and the single string piece on the channel side is broken in many places and will have to be en- tirely removed, additional piles driven and a suitable stringer and waling strips provided. A walk six feet wide must be built on the channel side of this pier to provide means to land on the pier for belaying vessels. The fender on the north side of the channel must be built, not rebuilt, to properly protect the bridge piers which have twice been knocked out of place. It is poor economy to delay the painting of the bridge any longer but as this item alone is considerable and the balance of the work very expensive a special appropriation of twenty- five hundred to three thousand dollars should be made to pay for Quincy's proportion of this work.
NEPONSET BRIDGE
This bridge will have to be replanked the coming year as the wearing planks are getting thin all over and worn almost through in many places. Just how much will have to be done to the under or deck plank I cannot say but judging from the portions exposed during the year when repairs have been made this will be the most serious part of the replanking.
Two serious fires occurred on this bridge during the sum- mer which were probably set by electric wires but as I was un- able to place the blame the City had to pay for the repairs. The street car sprinkler provides an excellent method to wet the top of the bridge but both of these fires started under- neath.
WARREN AVENUE BRIDGE
Portions of the planking have been replaced during the year and the scraping of the steelwork has been started and
333
the bare spots covered with red lead preliminary to painting. As the steel is very light good care must be taken of this bridge especially over the main tracks of the railroad. The lower chord at this point should have some protective cover- ing as I find the steel has begun to corrode.
Not a cent has been spent during the year on the dozen or more small stone culvert bridges about the city which shows the value of permanent work.
One new stone bridge has been added this year at Cum- mings avenue, (formerly Everett street, Ward 6.) The side walls were carried down to provide for future deepening of the brook and a concrete roof placed on top. The end walls are about twenty-five feet long and are built three feet above the street grade to serve as a parapet wall.
EDGESTONES
This year the usual edgestone budget appropriation was omitted for two reasons.
First, Edgestones are permanent work and secondly the small amount possible for five hundred dollars was not enough to do any specific work and when scattered about the city it does not help the appearance of the streets to have small patches out here and there.
Under the special street construction orders and under the permanent sidewalk work the following stone was set :
5,796.4 linear feet straight stone. 509.5 linear feet curved stone.
200.3 linear feet curb inlets.
82 driveway corners. 545 linear feet cross walks.
The curb is bought by contract, set by contraet but the clearing up. regrading of street and sidewalk and furnishing of sand for laying is done by the city. The quality of edge- stone was better than the year before but there is still room for improvement. With constant supervision the setting is done very satisfactorily.
334
One-half the cost of the edgestone put in under the per- manent sidewalk appropriation was charged to the abutters whereas the edgestone put in under special street construction was not assessed at all. I see no reason why it should not be assessed on one street the same as another as the question of location and amount is fixed by the City Council in both in- stances and the abutters receive the same benefit in both in- stances.
At least two or three thousand feet of edgestones should be set every year under the betterment act on streets not in- cluded in the permanent sidewalk schedule.This is especially true of main streets, where turf borders cannot be main- tained on account of heavy travel or narrowness of the street. The curb holds a true edge on the sidewalks, defines the gutter and street grade and adds materially to the appearance of the locality.
REMOVAL OF SNOW
Until the last week of the year the snow fall was very light, but the big storm in December cost one-half the usual appropriation of the year.
The question of sanding the sidewalks is a growing one as people are demanding that more and more sidewalks be added to the list. The snow ploughs cover nearly three hun- dred miles on their routes and to sand all of these is out of the question. The aim is to cover the main routes to and from the railway stations, the business sections, the hilly sections and the routes to the large industries. More than this cannot be done without greatly increased expense.
The new ordinance requiring store keepers to remove the snow from their sidewalks has worked well. It means some extra expense to the City as this snow must be carted away to the dump.
335
STREET WATERING
The streets ordered by the City Council were watered from April 15th, to October 15th, as called for in the order and some watering had to be done before and after these dates.
During the first part of the season a compound called Terracolio was mixed with water and spread by the regular watering carts on all our streets.
This material has a heavy asphalt base and when used on a hard clean road produces fine surface free from dust and if the road is kept covered binds the surface so tightly that the road binder is hardly affected by motor travel. As soon as the road has become thoroughly dry in the spring the pores should be filled as deeply as possible with two coats applied a few days apart and then the subsequent applications should be very much lighter and not less than ten days apart. This method would keep our macadam roads in prime condition but it will not work on our dusty dirt roads as the heavy asphalt binder on these roads cakes only the top of the dust and does not bind it to the road so that as soon as it is dry it is crushed between the wheels and the hard road beneath.
For this reason a lighter asphalt oil was used on the side streets with better success. This oil seems to dampen or dead- en the dust. prevents its blowing and when the road is clean and hard produces a fine hard black surface.
The first applications were 15 per cent. solution which were gradually reduced to 4 per cent. strength later in the sea- son. I believe a frequent application of a thin dust layer is absolutely necessary no matter how hard or permanent the pavement may be, because dust and litter are continually col- lecting from inside and outside the street limits.
One objection to the use of oil for dust laying was the of- fensive odor but this has been almost entirely removed so that this objection has been very satisfactorily met.
As this method of dust laying is superior to water and costs no more it will probably prevail for some years. I should advise the changing of the sprinklers on the carts to the " di- rect spray " so the amount delivered with the width of the road
336
treated can be better regulated. As a tank car is sufficient for two applications which may be two to four weeks apart some method of storage in an elevated tank should be found as un- der the present method the oil has to be pumped into the carts and the demurrage paid on the tank cars for two or three weeks.
The streets on which there were car tracks were watered by the electric car sprinkler. For the first month of the street watering season various dust layers were tried on these streets without much success owing to the fact that where the street is both paved and macadamized practically all the teams use the soft side of the road cutting it to such an extent that the dust layer could not hold down the dust.
Washington street with its large automobile traffic should be oiled and not watered whereas at the present time both the car and carts are used to water it with poor results. As the car track is on the side of the street the car sprinkler cannot wet the whole street and so the carts have to finish the work. This one street costs nearly a thousand dollars to water, (be- sides the cost of water) and the results are not very gratify- ing. To do this the electric car would have to be dispensed with as it has to be paid for by the season.
If macadam streets on which there are tracks are oiled it would leave 5.6 miles of paved and partially paved streets to be watered or oiled. Four or five carts can handle this work at a cost of twenty-five hundred dollars, leaving eight hundred dollars for the remaining five miles of the electric car route, which is insufficient for the purpose. An aditional appropria- tion of one thousand dollars would do this work properly, one half the amount would come back from assessment and the sav- ing in water would more than offset the other one-half. This additional appropriation of $1,000 would make a total of $8,000, to carry on the work of street watering.
337
The following table will show how street after street has been added to the list with no extra money to do the work :
1905, Streets watered by watering carts, 9.9 miles
1906, Streets watered by watering carts, 9.9 miles
1907, Streets watered by watering carts, 9.9 miles
1908, Streets watered by watering carts, 11.6 miles
1909, Streets watered by watering carts, 13.4 miles
STREET LIGHTING
Present installation amounts to 172 enclosed arc lights of 6.6 ampere, 824 series incandescent of 32 candle power, 103 gas lamps of 60 candle power. The number of lights added dur- ing the year were 4 arc, 76 series and 1 gas.
The electric lights burn from dusk until one o'clock on a moonlight schedule. The gas lamps are situated in such a manner that one-third of them burn every night from dusk until one o'clock, and the balance on the moonlight schedule until one o'clock.
Competition has "leavened the loaf" so that the citizens are getting for the same cost nearly forty per cent. more light than they were a few years ago.
Many citizens would like all night lighting which will mean an additional expense of about six thousand dollars a year or approximately thirty-two thousand dollars a year for lighting. All night lighting or even lighting until three o'clock, would be a fine thing but owing to the fact that in the last ten years the lighting appropriation has increased over eight thousand dollars and the highway appropriation de- creased four thousand dollars I think it would be well to give any additional amount to the maintenance of highways as it is not one half what it should be.
-
338
REPAIR OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS
The amounts spent on the various buildings are tabulated below :
School Buildings
Adams
$191.96
Coddington
103.21
Cranch
168.07
Gridley Bryant
299.39
High
467.07
John Hancock
136.80
Lincoln
101.24
Massachusetts Fields
121.44
Quincy
102.28
Washington
84.22
Willard
353.95
Wollaston
137.11
Old High
74.91
Old Quincy
26.28
$2,367.93
FIRE STATIONS
Central Fire Station
$437.82
7
Hose House, Ward 2
29.80
Hose House, Ward 4
83.96
Hose House, Ward 5
188.11
Hose House, Ward 6
173.93
Hose House, Houghs Neck
8.00
$921.62
CITY HALL
Lighting
$517.50
Fuel
352.63
Telephone
77.14
1
1
339
Janitor Services
1,134.50
Miscellaneous 612.57
$2,694.34
Police Station
$56.21
Almshouse
174.15
Stables
38.44
$6,252.69
From these amounts it will be seen that nearly one-half of the appropriation is necessary for the running of City Hall. This leaves a little over three thousand dollars for the remain- ing twenty-two buildings, about one hundred and fifty dollars apiece.
One carpenter is kept busy all the time on repair work large and small and the entire balance of the money has to be spent on repairs of the plumbing, heating and ventilating sys- tems, repairs and replacement of electrical apparatus, boiler inspection, repairing roofs and the purchase of lumber and hardware. Practically every cent thus goes out of sight with the result that the walls, ceilings and floors of school rooms, paint and varnish work inside, window casings and frames outside, outside doors, porches and the entire exterior of our wooden buildings are in a shabby condition. The Adams school needs a thorough overhauling inside and out, the Hose house at Houghs Neck needs painting badly, window sashes, frames and casings need oiling and painting in almost every school.
The heating apparatus in the John Hancock school must be overhauled and perhaps even replaced.
Ten years ago the appropriation for repairs of Public buildings and care of City Hall was two thousand dollars more than at present and it was poor economy to cut this down and let the buildings get out of repair and then when they get very bad make a special appropriation. The present appropriation just takes care of the wear and tear from use and abuse and the extra two thousand dollars would keep the outside and in- side finish and walls in continual repair.
340
1 The sewerage system was extended to Willard street and a special appropriation was made to plumb the Gridley Bry- ant school. The old cremation system has been taken out and a modern system of eighteen closets, two sinks and slate uri- nals with proper ventilation has been installed. The wooden platforms were removed, wooden partitions cut off and re- placed with pipe standards, floor drains put in and the entire rooms cemented and pitched to the centre drain so they can be flushed with a hose.
The transfer of five hundred dollars from the sale of the old Coddington and Quincy schools for fixing the interior of the old portion of the Lincoln school was money well spent. This amount was sufficient to tint all the walls and ceilings of class rooms, halls, teachers and master's room, to clean and re- varnish all the interior finish, paint and varnish all the outside window sashes, replace missing hardware and refinish all the tops of desks.
HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE
The work done under the budget appropriation for main- tenance and repair of our public ways includes purchase of tools, wagons, etc., care of city stables and the cleaning of streets, gutters and sidewalks, sweeping of crossings and care of litter, cleaning of catch basins and street drains, such re- surfacing as is possible, the building of sidewalks for- new houses which are on public ways and other incidental work.
Beside the spring cleaning which most of the roads must have, there are eight men in the various sections of the city the year round doing small repair work. This amounts to noth- ing as far as road construction or even maintenance is con- cerned but it is a necessary factor in the work of keeping the street safe and clean.
One man is employed continuously to keep the permanent sidewalks and cross walks clean between Presidents Bridge, the High School and Quincy Adams station,
341
These two items alone cost over six thousand dollars with- out counting the teaming connected with their work. Add to this the cost of spring cleaning and fall cleaning of leaves and debris, the purchase of tools and supplies and the balance re- maining for resurfacing or new work is not very large.
Patching and resurfacing work is now done entirely with crushed stone on the main streets as it is much more perma- nent than our gravel. In the northerly part of the city good binding gravel answers very well for the lighter travel.
The pot holes in Adams street, Washington street and some of the other streets caused by the automobiles have been filled several times during the year with various mixtures. No. 2 crushed stone, binding gravel, sand and oil and asphalt and pea gravel have been used. The later mixture gave the best results but to keep all the holes filled with this material would mean a large expense. The use of oil for dust laying has helped the matter considerably and a more generous applica- tion of oil with constant small patching will hold these roads until such time as a successful antomobile road has been found. Washington street which was resurfaced a year ago was full of holes in the early summer caused by water and au- tos. These holes were filled the entire length of the street but the constant watering and auto travel have potted it again. Next spring it should have a light resurfacing and then be oiled during the summer.
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