USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1896 > Part 3
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
I would recommend that you arrange for an early conference with the City Government of Medford and the Selectmen of Ar- lington upon the question of the improvement of the banks of the Mystic River. If the cities and towns in interest should make a forcible presentation of their case to the Metropolitan Park Commission, I believe something might be done towards secur- ing a parkway along the banks of the Mystic which would be of lasting value to our city.
Another enterprise which deeply concerns Somerville is the extension of the Mystic Valley driveway or boulevard from its present terminus in West Medford to Powder-house square. This could be done at a comparatively small expense, and, taken in con- nection with Broadway and the Fells boulevard, would make a circuit drive of unsurpassed beauty and diversity.
The setting out of trees in our highways should be encour- aged, the trees already standing in our streets should be properly trimmed and cared for, and every request for the cutting down of shade trees carefully investigated.
It is a most propitious sign of the times that our people are carefully studying the problem of how to make the city more beautiful and attractive, and the women of Somerville are deserv- ing of particular commendation for their zealous efforts, of late, to rightly educate and direct public sentiment upon this important question.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Our city continues to enjoy remarkable immunity from se- rious conflagrations, a condition which may be partly due to the efficiency of our Fire Department. The department, in many re- spects, is in excellent condition. It is in the hands of capable and energetic men, who perform every duty assigned to them with intelligence and zeal. The members of the various companies show their interest in their work, not only by quick response and vigorous action when called out by an alarm, but also by the care- ful attention which they give to the buildings and apparatus under their control.
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MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
With the single exception of the hose house at the corner of Washington and Prospect streets, the Fire Department buildings are commodious and in excellent repair, and we need not expend much money upon them during the present year.
The fire station at the corner of Broadway and Cross street was completed last June, and immediately occupied by Engine Company No. 2 and hose wagon. It is an imposing and roomy structure, and forms a valuable addition to the Fire Department buildings of the city. The entire cost of the land and building was $28,010.68. At a future date it will doubtless be necessary to place other fire apparatus in the building. This, however, need not be done the present year.
Fire Station No. 4, at the corner of Highland avenue and Grove street, was enlarged, remodeled, and put in thorough re- pair during the past year, at an expense of $7,054.42.
A lot of land has been purchased near the junction of Hol- land street and Broadway as a site for a fire station, to meet the needs of the westerly and northerly sections of our city. This building should be erected as soon as the financial condition of the city will allow, as the district in which it will be located is not as well protected against fire as other parts of the city. I would commend to your favorable attention the recommendation of the Chief Engineer, that a hose wagon be placed in the house of En- gine Company No. 4, and for the transference of the chemical en- gine now in said house to the house of Hook and Ladder Com- pany No. 2. This should be done for the further protection of the valuable property in Davis square and other parts of West Somerville.
The suggestion of the Chief Engineer, that a new steam fire en- gine is needed, to serve as a reserve or substitute engine in cases of emergency, and while other pieces of apparatus are undergo- ing repairs, is a good one; but I fear you will not be able to ob- tain funds for its purchase and equipment the present year.
With the introduction of the new Metropolitan water supply, we are likely to obtain a much stronger hydrant pressure on the high lands of the city, and I would recommend that the Com- mittee on Fire Department co-operate with the Water Board in
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
an effort to secure a large storage reservoir at some elevated point in the Middlesex Fells.
The growth of the Fire Department during the last few years has been very rapid, and the expense of its maintenance has necessarily increased in corresponding ratio. The cost of carry- ing on the department during the past year, exclusive of the sum of $1,000 expended on funded debt account for signal boxes, was $60,926.75.
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
The regular police force now numbers forty-two men, and there is a so-called reserve force of six men. This reserve force was established in the year 1895 under a legislative enactment, the purpose of which was to create a small body of men who could be temporarily assigned to duty in cases of emergency, and who should be gradually fitting themselves to fill vacancies occurring from time to time in the regular force. Soon after the passage of the law, a reserve force numbering eight men was established, and almost immediately assigned to active duty. They have been kept in constant service down to the present time, and have really had the standing and received the compensation of regular offi- cers. Two members of the force have been commissioned as reg- ular patrolmen, so that the reserve force now numbers six men.
While I cannot approve the somewhat adroit and circuitous method adopted for increasing our regular police force, I yet be- lieve that it is none too large for efficient and satisfactory service. If the appropriation for the maintenance of the department could be increased sufficiently to meet the added expense, it would, in my judgment, be wise to enlarge the regular police force by pro- motions from the reserve squad. If such a step should be taken, it might be desirable to add to the reserve force, the appointees to be reserve officers in fact as well as in name.
I believe the Somerville Police Department is, on the whole, composed of active and capable men, and I am pleased to com- mend its excellent work.
Several members of the department are considered by the Chief, by reason of their age and physical infirmities, to be par-
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MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
tially disqualified for active duty, and yet they are retained upon the force at full compensation. The older members, who have served the city faithfully for many years, are deserving of the most considerate treatment at our hands, but we are hardly justified in retaining in active service as a patrolman any man who is physi- cally incapable of performing all the duties incident to his voca- tion. The time is not far distant when a complete reorganization of the force should be undertaken.
If Somerville is to maintain its reputation as an asylum for the tramps of all the neighboring cities, some building other than the Police Station should be found for housing them. It is hard to turn these unfortunate specimens of humanity into the street, but I do not see how we can safely continue the generous policy towards them which as been pursued in the past. Some means should be devised for compelling the army of tramps which marches into the station each night to perform some service in re- turn for the city's bounty.
The cost of maintaining the Police Department last year was $55,691.62.
ENFORCEMENT OF LIQUOR LAW.
During the entire year only two or three complaints have reached me in regard to the illegal sale of intoxicating liquors, and these have been in every case, if my memory is not at fault, in the form of anonymous letters. To such communications I have not felt that it was my duty to give serious attention. A citizen who has positive knowledge of the infraction of any law, and is desirous of bringing the law-breaker before the courts, ought to be willing to stand back of the charges which he makes. I shall be glad if, during the present year, my attention is directed to any violation of the liquor law. I have but one desire and pur- pose in this matter, namely, to carry out the will of the people, as expressed by their votes, with unflagging zeal and inflexible im- partiality. My instructions to the Police Department will be of such a nature as to leave them no excuse for any lack of diligence in ferreting out and prosecuting the illegal sale of intoxicants in this city.
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
CITY HALL IMPROVEMENT.
Ever since the incorporation of Somerville as a city, plans have been presented from time to time for the enlargement of the City Hall, but each in turn was rejected and no real progress made. For many years past, owing to a lack of suitable room, every department in the building has been obliged to transact business under the most exasperating conditions. The relief so long desired has at length been furnished, and the several city officers and boards will henceforth be able to carry on their busi- ness in a convenient and proper manner.
I believe all thoughtful citizens are glad that the old City Hall has been enlarged and improved, instead of creating a bur- densome debt for the erection of a new building. Ample room has been provided for the various city departments, and the un- sightliness of the old building has been noticeably relieved. The erection of a new City Hall would have involved an expenditure of not less than $300,000, and the annual outlay for interest and sinking fund requirements on such a debt, together with the extra expense of maintaining a large and elegant building, would have been felt as a grievous burden for many years to come. This money has been saved by the prudent and sagacious action of last year's City Council, and can be hereafter expended for the erec- tion of schoolhouses, the building of streets and sewers, and for other improvements of the highest utility. There is no depart- ment in the City Hall which will not be fully accommodated, when the new addition is completed, and the old building re- modeled. While a new building would have been more elegant, and supplied a pleasing architectural feature to our Central Hill, it could not have served the actual needs of the several depart- ments much better than the old building in its reconstructed form. We have been able to remodel and enlarge the old structure at a comparatively small outlay; small, indeed, as compared with the cost of a new building. The total expenditure upon the old building does not greatly exceed what would have been required in a single year for payments of interest and principal upon the debt which would have been created by the erection of a new building.
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MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
I should have been pleased to see a stately and magnificent City Hall standing upon the crest of Central Hill, if the city had been in a financial condition to justify such an expenditure. The time has not yet come when Somerville can afford to incur a debt of not less than $300,000 merely to provide an imposing piece of architecture. We need the money for other and more practical purposes. We need it for necessities, for those things for which the city is at present suffering, and for the lack of which our citi- zens have long complained. We need it for the erection and equipment of public school buildings, for the increase of our Police Department, for the extension of our sewer system, and especially for the improvement of our highways. I trust the day is not far distant when our financial condition will be so strength- ened and improved that we may add pleasing architectural fea- tures to our Central Hill Park; but this ought never to be in- dulged in to the extent of impairing our credit or crippling our public service.
SOMERVILLE HOSPITAL.
The Somerville Hospital is already firmly established in pub- lic favor, and its field of usefulness becomes broader with each passing year. Its tender and humane ministrations are extended to all our people, regardless of class or condition. Such an in- stitution reflects great credit upon our city, and stands as a fitting monument alike to its noble founder and to the generous-hearted men and women who annually contribute to its support. No words can measure the service which it renders to afflicted and unfortunate humanity. Day after day it wages its silent and beneficent warfare with disease and pain, winning the love and gratitude of those whom it rescues and restores. While it is a private institution, and the City Council cannot lawfully appro- priate money for its use, I yet trust that its appeals for funds to carry on its work during the present year will meet with prompt and liberal response from our philanthropic citizens. It is also to be hoped that the benevolent men and women of Somerville will not forget to make the hospital an object of their testamen- tary bounty.
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
ARMORY BUILDING.
The members of our local militia company feel that some steps ought to be promptly taken for providing suitable armory and drill-room accommodations for their organization. There is much of reason in this claim. Their present quarters in the Police Station building are cramped and inconvenient, and the space which they occupy is needed for other purposes. Every citizen of Massachusetts is justly proud of her volunteer soldiery. They have stood as the embodiment of unwavering loyalty and heroism in the perilous days of the past. We look to them as our protectors against whatever dangers may threaten in the future.
It is gratifying to know that we have in our city an infantry company of excellent character and efficiency, and we ought to do all that our financial resources will fairly warrant to encour- age its members to maintain the present high standard of their organization. This company is composed of men who are not only proud of the State Militia to which they belong, but they are also loyal, in the truest sense, to the city in which they dwell. I do not believe they would either request or desire the immedi- ate erection of a costly armory building if they were convinced that injury to the city was likely to result from such an under- taking.
It is an absolute requirement of the statutes of this Common- wealth that cities and towns shall provide suitable armories for the military organizations within their respective limits; but no particular person or tribunal is named as the final judge of the fitness of the accommodations provided. I assume that our Somerville company would be satisfied with comfortable and con- venient quarters, even if the rooms were not in an elegant build- ing.
Near the close of the last municipal year plans for an armory building were procured by members of the City Council, acting upon their individual authority, and these plans will come before you for adoption or rejection. They provide for officers' quar- ters, storage of military equipments and property, memorial room, apartments for the local Grand Army Post, and a public
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MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
hall and drill-room combined. In the erection of this building it is designed to utilize the old engine house at the corner of Highland avenue and Walnut street as a part of the edifice.
While I cannot now take time to discuss these plans in de- tail, I will say that they seem to me in many respects objection- able. They provide for a building of varied uses, when the statute expressly states that "Armories provided for the militia shall not be used for any purpose whatever other than the legiti- mate uses of the commands occupying them." The erection of such a structure would, in my opinion, entail an expenditure of not less than $75,000, and the maximum yearly rent which the state is allowed to pay is $400. I am confident that you will care- fully consider every phase of the question before engaging in so costly an enterprise. The proposed public hall, with a seating capacity of 2,500, would be useful on two or three occasions each year, but you may possibly share my doubt as to the expediency of creating a large public debt for such a purpose. Even from an architectural and aesthetic standpoint, the erection of a low building, nearly two hundred feet in length, along the Highland avenue frontage of the Central Hill Park is open to grave objec- tion. It would seem desirable to retain in an open condition as large an area of the park as possible, as a pleasure ground for our people.
When the Franklin schoolhouse is abandoned, as it will be upon the completion of a new twelve-room building in that dis- trict, it could, perhaps, be remodeled and enlarged so as to serve for several years as an armory and drill-room. If such a plan is feasible, it would be much less costly than to build on the High- land-avenue and Walnut-street lot, and the large tract of land appurtenant to the old school building, with its many beautiful shade trees, would serve admirably, not only for the military company's out-door drills and parades, but also as an open play- ground for children when not in use by the company.
BRIDGING THE FITCHBURG RAILROAD.
A petition was presented to last year's City Council, asking for the construction of a bridge across the tracks of the Fitch- burg railroad at Kent street. This petition was referred to the
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
present City Council, and is deserving of your careful attenton. I would recommend that an early public hearing be given to the petitioners for the presentation of all pertinent facts.
As you well know, there is at present no public crossing over the railroad location between Park street and the northerly term- inus of Beacon street, a distance, measuring along the railroad, of 3,200 feet. The private crossings at Kent street and Sacra- mento street, used for many years by the residents of the district, have been repeatedly closed of late by the railroad corporation. Owners of land abutting on these two streets deny the right of the corporation thus to interfere with a valuable privilege which, as they assert, either rests upon reservations in ancient deeds, or has ripened into a permanent easement by long-continued use. Some of these owners have from time to time partially demol- ished the barriers set up by the railroad company, and the people continue to cross the tracks, despite the corporation's fences, and in defiance of its threats. The present state of affairs is exceed- ingly annoying to residents of the Kent street district, and I shall be glad if some suitable means of relief can be devised.
There are many reasons for looking with favor upon the plan for an overhead crossing, either at Kent street or Sacra- mento street. The lands lying between Beacon street and the Fitchburg railroad are now quite closely built upon. Two public school buildings stand upon Kent street, one on each side of the railroad. The only fire station in the neighborhood is located on Somerville avenue, directly opposite Sacramento street. A very beautiful section of the City of Cambridge, lying south of Beacon street, is conveniently approached from Kent street. One of the most serious features of existing conditions is the danger to life incurred by the many children who daily crawl through the fences and cross the railroad tracks, along which express trains are almost hourly passing at a high rate of speed.
There can be no doubt that an urgent necessity exists for a crossing, by bridge or otherwise, at or near Kent street. The first question of importance for you to decide is this: Is it in- cumbent upon the city to provide such a crossing? Surely it is not if the owners of abutting lands have a right to demand from
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MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
the railroad company the maintenance of a suitable crossing. This right, if it exists, can only be established by an appeal to the courts. Would it be unreasonable to ask the landholders to take steps for a complete adjudication of this question before any ex- pense is incurred by the city for the erection of a bridge? It is of great importance to Somerville, in view of the provisions of the grade crossing act to which I shall briefly refer, that the exact status of the Kent and Sacramento street crossings should be de- termined before any new bridges are built.
In the year 1890 the Legislature passed an act to promote the abolition of grade crossings. Many cities and towns have al- ready availed themselves of the provisions of this law, and millions of dollars have been expended along the lines of the various railroads in changing grades, and for the building of bridges and subways. It is not improbable that steps will be taken in the near future to do away with the present dangerous and inconvenient grade crossings in this city. The use of both the railroads and the highways is increasing so rapidly that the public will not be long content to endure the vexations and dan- gers incident to existing crossings. The present Somerville avenue crossing is a source of daily annoyance and peril to thou- sands of our citizens. The building of a costly bridge at Kent street or Sacramento street would be an unjustifiable waste of money, if, a few years hence, commissioners appointed under the statute should order the abolition of all grade crossings, in a way which would necessitate a radical change in the present grade of the railroad.
Members of last year's City Council, who consulted with the officers of the Fitchburg railroad in relation to the proposed Kent-street bridge, reported that the corporation was willing to assume only a small part of the cost of the bridge. We have no reason to expect any greater liberality on the part of the corpora- tion this year. If we now build the bridge, nearly the entire cost of its construction and the whole expense if its maintenance must be borne by our city. Under the provisions of the grade-cross- ing act, sixty-five per centum of all expense incurred in construc- tion is assessed upon the railroad corporation, and not more than
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
ten per centum can in any case be placed upon the city. In the case of an overhead bridge built under the act, the framework of the structure and its abutments would be maintained and kept in repair by the railroad company, and the surface of the bridge and its approaches by the city. While the entire grade crossing question is in an unsettled state, it would seem to be the part of wisdom not to incur any heavy expense in the erection of a full- width bridge. Either an overhead bridge or subway for foot travel only is, in my opinion, all that the city ought to provide in advance of final action upon the abolition of grade crossings.
If an overhead foot-bridge or subway is built, I believe it should be located at Sacramento street, rather than at Kent street, so as to divide more evenly the distance between existing bridges. As I have previously stated, the distance between the present bridges at Park street and Beacon street is 3,200 feet. The distance from Park street to Sacramento street is 1,650 feet, and from Sacramento street to Beacon street, 1,550 feet. You will, therefore, see that Sacramento street is very nearly midway between Park street and Beacon street, while Kent street is only 1,000 feet from Park street, and 2,200 feet from Beacon street. It is possible that Kent street would be a better place for a full- width bridge, because of its greater length between Somerville avenue and the railroad.
TAXATION QUESTION.
Our present system of taxation is crude and chaotic, and bears heavily upon Somerville. You can render your city no better service than by intelligent labors for the revision of the present tax laws. We have in our community but few persons who pay any considerable tax on personal property. Almost the entire burden falls upon real estate. Men who have large holdings of taxable personal property are able to congregate in a favored locality and build up a sort of tax-dodgers' paradise. If it were proper, I could name several Massachusetts towns, con- spicuous centres of wealth, whose prosperity and popularity are largely due to the fostering influence of our present unjust laws of taxation. I would suggest that the Committee on Legislative
a
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MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
matters, in conjunction with the City Solicitor, give careful atten- tion to this subject, and that they be directed to appear before the present Taxation Commission and urge such amendments to ex- isting laws as shall seem to them equitable and expedient. After a somewhat careful study of the subject, I am convinced that the time has come for abolishing the last vestige of double taxation, that a substantial and carefully graduated tax should be levied upon the estates of deceased persons, and that all revenues de- rived from the taxation of bank stock in corporations should be applied, in the first instance, to the payment of state and county taxes.
CHARTER REVISION.
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