USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1954 > Part 10
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We have organized division crews and purchased sorely needed equipment such as, 2 Hough Payloaders - 1 Trailer Type Air Compressor - 1 Truck Chassis complete with air compressor - 1 Forestry Truck - 1 Electrician's Service Truck - 1 Low Boy Trailer - 1 Gasoline Powered Street Strip- ing Machine - Woodworking Machines - and a variety of items ranging from power saws and power mowers to ladders. We are constantly striving to improve both our crews and fa- cilities and plan to purchase many additional items needed to
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increase our service to the public as fast as they can be ab- sorbed and put into service.
In order to occupy our new quarters the following listed moves were necessary. The entire moving job was carried out with our own men and equipment.
Engineer's office and equipment from City Hall to Public Works Building.
Highway Division office and equipment from City Hall to Public Works Building.
Building Division office and equipment from City Hall to Public Works Building.
Water Division office and equipment from City Hall to Public Works Building.
Sanitary Department from City Hall to Public Works Building.
Sealer of Weights and Measures office and equipment from City Hall to Public Works Building.
Auditor's office and equipment into former Building Divi- sion office.
Planning Board office and equipment from High School to former Highway Division office.
Veterans' Services office and equipment from K. of C. Building to former Water Division office.
Election Commissioner's office into office formerly occu- pied by Auditor.
Rent Control office and equipment from K. of C. Building to Public Works Building.
Sewer Yard equipment and gear from Glen Street to Public Works Building.
Regroup and consolidate Welfare offices, set up Ladies Lounge, on basement floor in City Hall.
Move Clinics and equipment from K. of C. Building to Bow Street.
Move Credit Union from basement to quarters formerly occupied by Registry of Motor Vehicles.
The Highway Division performed its usual duties of snow plowing, sanding, scraping, street sweeping, street cleaning, tree removal, tree spraying, tree trimming, street and sidewalk
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patching - new sidewalk construction - driveway construc- tion - edgestone repairs - painting crosswalks - painting curbings and assisted the Sanitary Department during January, February, March and Christmas week in the collection of rubbish.
The Engineering Division performed its usual duties of snow removal - clearing and cleaning of catch basins and storm drains - emergency cleaning of blocked house drains and sanitary sewers - repairing and rebuilding of storm drains and sewers - general maintenance and repair of Parks, Play- grounds, Cemeteries and Recreational facilities including skat- ing areas - and furnished grades, lines, drawings and plans for all types of city activities.
The Water Division performed its usual duties of maintain- ing the water system including repair of leaks - thawing of pipes - repair of hydrants - repair of meters and general maintenance of high and low pressure systems.
The Lights and Lines Division performed its usual duties of electrical inspection - maintenance and care of Police and Fire Signal System - Police and Fire Radio System - Traffic Light System including all underground cable and conduit for above systems and maintenance and collection of Parking Meter installations.
The Building Division performed its usual duties of general repair and maintenance of all school and public buildings.
In addition to their normal work the five divisions working together as one department performed the following tasks:
Covered all emergency calls ranging from broken mains to the removal of dead animals.
Closed streets and buildings and cleared debris following fires and storms.
Provided necessary facilities and cleaned up following pa- rades, celebrations and civic functions.
Organized a Traffic Commission to work out solution for traffic problems of all types and introduced direct mail ques- tionnaire to residents of streets under trial period traffic regu- lations.
Furnished transportation and assistance to many worthy causes.
Installed 170 new traffic regulatory signs.
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Installed new pedestrian traffic signals at Beacon and Buckingham Streets.
Installed 70 School Girl Sentinel Safety Signs.
Installed 180 new street signs.
Installed new street lights at both ends of traffic island on Broadway between Franklin and Hathorn Streets.
Completed installation of 83 new street lights on Broadway from Main Street to Arlington line including 4 in Powder House Rotary.
Installed new street light at Central Library entrance.
Installed 28 new street lights and have additional lights on order.
Requested Utility Companies to remove old poles from sidewalks - to date approximately 300 poles have been re- moved - this operation will continue until all old poles are removed.
Removed 12 old unused steel light poles from Dilboy Field - Lincoln Park and Glen Street Playground-these have been remodeled for use on basket ball courts and loading areas.
Repaired sidewalks at 160 locations.
Installed 9324 running feet of new concrete sidewalks at 177 locations ranging from 6' to 14' in width.
Dropped curbstone and constructed new driveways at 52 locations.
Removed 64 tree stumps and repaired sidewalks and curb- stones prior to hurricanes.
Installed new main storm drain, catch basins and man- holes at Two Penny Brook, Powder House Boulevard and Leonard Street including street and sidewalk resurfacing where disturbed.
Repaired 12" storm drain on Bailey Road.
Constructed new manhole - sanitary sewer on Poplar Street.
Constructed new manhole on Raymond Avenue.
Constructed new manhole and replaced broken main on Cross Street.
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Repaired manholes on Highland Avenue near Benton Road, - Morrison Avenue at College Avenue - and 19 Curtis Avenue.
Rebuilt manhole in Pearl Place.
Broken drains were repaired on Cedar Street near Morrison Avenue --- Alewife Brook Parkway at Woods Avenue - Ale- wife Brook Parkway at Powder House.
New catch basin was constructed on Craigie Street.
Catch basins were rebuilt on McGrath Highway Extension - Washington Street at Calvin Street - Powder House Boule- vard at North Street - at 37 Willow Avenue-Merriam Street near Washington Street - Albion Street at playground - Proctor Schoolyard - 2 on Morrison Avenue - 1 on McGrath Highway.
Checked sewerage system and cellars in Washington Street area to locate explosive gases.
A brcken sewer and cave-in were repaired at Bradley Street and Radcliffe Road.
The sewer crew repaired two large cave-ins on Washington Street near Parkdale Street. These were caused by sand enter- ing the 5 foot combined system sewer through 8 inch branches left for future connections. Since then we have sealed all the branches in this area and repaired two other large cavities under the pavement found by drilling test holes through the surface. We plan to continue sealing these branches and drilling to locate any other voids under the pavement on Wash- ington Street and Beacon Street where this condition may exist.
Hot topped 2 roadways into Powder House Park and in- stalled guard rails at end of roadways.
Reset Miller's Memorial Tablet on Washington Street.
Installed flagstones around base and repaired walks leading to Memorial at Central Library.
Repaired and asphalt coated front driveway and built hot top rear driveway at Central Library.
Removed old light columns from both sides of Central Library front entrance and refinished stone bases.
Repainted flag poles and replaced worn halyards.
Repaired and repainted bulletin and precinct boards.
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Vacated and renovated K of C quarters in conformance with terms of expiring lease.
Installed new parking meters on Broadway and Highland Avenue.
Installed new floor in G. A. R. Hall.
Participated in burial - Bodies of three veterans returned from Korea.
Razed 3 unsafe city owned buildings.
Forced demolition of five privately owned unsafe buildings by their owners.
Removed water main - resurfaced Ball Square Bridge fol- lowing repairs by railroad and replaced water main.
Effected repairs to bridge surfaces - School Street - Walnut Street and Cedar Street and repair of hangars on Syca- more Street Bridge.
Secured aid under matching funds program and started partial removal and repair of Fire Station Towers at Lowell Street and Somerville Avenue - Highland Avenue at Conwell Street - Highland Avenue at Grove Street - Teele Square and Broadway at Cross Street - in addition to partial removal and repair of Fire Station Towers. This program includes the installation of 5 new 5 H. P. Sirens - 1 new Air Horn and the transfer and relocation of 3 existing smaller sirens together with necessary new electrical services to operate and control this government approved warning system. At the present time this project is in finishing stage.
Excavated street only and repaired water line at 93 loca- tions.
Excavated sidewalk only and repaired water line at 196 locations.
Excavated both street and sidewalk and repaired water line at 104 locations.
Gate boxes were operated and blown clear at 83 locations.
Repairs to main pipe and main gates at 12 locations.
Major repairs to hydrants at 44 locations.
Fence repairs including regalvanizing of wire and installa- tion of bottom rails or installation of new fence were performed at the following locations: Shaw Playground - Durell School - Baxter School - Northeastern Junior High School - Vo-
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cational School - Cutler School - Grimmons School Glines School - Brown School - Lowe School - Woods Playground - Carr School - Broadway at Clarendon Hill - Newton Street - Sacramento Street Subway - Public Works Building -- Webster Avenue and Clark Street - Vine Street and Veterans' Cemetery.
4 sections of bleachers were moved from Tevlin Field to Glen Street.
6 sets of basket ball uprights have been installed.
Large school yard and front entrance of Carr School have been resurfaced.
Practically all hydrants have been repainted with red tops denoting high pressure and green tops denoting low pressure systems.
Hydrant guards composed of old railroad rail are being installed.
Fire alarm systems have been repaired at High School and Hodgkins School.
Police traffic boxes have been repainted.
Fire and Police boxes and traffic signals have been re- painted.
Crosswalks - silhouettes - zone markings and center lines have been repainted.
The Trum Field project has been completed and involved the following operations:
Grade and fill #2 field.
Construct concrete block power entrance building for ser- vice entrance.
Erect 8 poles and install complete field lighting unit with 48 floodlights for soft ball diamond - run all cables under- ground and locate controls in power house building.
Rebuild bleachers at #2 field - install angle iron brackets and all new planking - hot top area under seats.
Repaint field house - power house - bus shelter and walls from field house along Broadway and down Cedar Street side.
Install concrete retaining wall along Public Works road.
Trench field for water - sewerage and electrical conduits.
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Lay new 4" C. I. water line from hydrant on Ryan Road to a point opposite Public Works driveway and install new hydrant.
Lay 2" copper water lines for spray pools.
Build new catch basins and lay drainage lines for field and spray pools.
Construct double basket ball court with overhead lights and hot top surface --- surface designed for use as spray pools and skating rinks.
Install 60' granite edgestone along Ryan Road to prevent flooding of field during rainstorms.
Install catch basin on Public Works road.
Lay electrical conduits in field for basket ball lighting - tunnel Public Works road and locate controls in Water Division Building.
Remove tree - grade and hot top islands between power house and Memorial.
We have completed installation of lights at Glen Street Playground.
Work on Conway Playground has been completed for this year. A concrete block building to house recreational equip- ment was built. A heavy bulldozer was used to rough grade the ball field. It was then graded with a motor grader, surfaced with loam and regraded. A road drag was used to bring up the stones and the field was raked by hand. A culvert was rebuilt near the railroad to carry off the storm water. Basketball goals were moved from the baseball diamond to the paved tennis area.
Reconstruction of Prospect Hill Tower has been started and work on Tower proper has reached finishing stage - Con- struction of retaining walls and landscaping will be resumed in Spring.
Installation of new pumps at the Medford Street Pump House has been completed.
Construction of new Honor Roll has been started and will be completed in Spring.
Installation of new lighting system in Central Library has been started and special fixtures ordered.
Retaining wall and fence constructed on Webster Avenue adjoining bridge - both sides of street.
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ANNUAL REPORTS
Retaining wall and fence constructed on Prospect Street adjoining bridge.
Lincoln Park Fieldhouse has been enlarged, remodeled and renovated.
Park Street has been resurfaced and sidewalks are in process of resurfacing.
Steel pole with spot light for traffic police box has been erected at Somerville Avenue and Park Street.
Demolition of obsolete City Home nearing completion - usable equipment reassigned to other city departments.
Department of Public Works inspector has been assigned to Washington Street Hi-Line job to protect city's interest.
Department of Public Works inspector has been assigned to Red Bridge drainage project to protect city's interest.
BUILDING MAINTENACE
An enormous amount of work has been performed on the Municipal and School Buildings by the combination of Depart- ment of Public Works employees - contractors - temporary help - Vocational School pupils and firemen.
The firemen at Engine 5 have scrubbed and repainted the entire interior of their building and installed tile flooring - in addition they have painted the trim on the exterior of the building and are at present working on the cellar.
The firemen at Engine 7 have scrubbed and repainted the entire interior of their building and at the present time are waiting for arrival of floor tile, etc.
The firemen at these stations deserve special mention as they performed all the work themselves with our Building Divi- sion furnishing the material. This is the only way from a point of view of cost that this highly desirable renovation could have been performed at this time.
We have a similar and extremely helpful situation at the Vocational School, again in this instance the Building Division furnishing the material and the pupils performing the work. Among other things this year Mr. Struble's classes have painted interior of 2 vaults and refinished several counters at Public Works Building - refinished 6 teachers' desks - refinished
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PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
90 night sticks for Civilian Defense - spray painted 39 bases for Sentinel signs - washed and painted the Trade High School lunchroom complete and the Trade High School shower room, both of these 2 coat jobs - in addition they have set 230 lights of glass in the Trade High School and 44 lights of glass in the Edgerly School - Mr. Peterson's classes have manufactured 8 new lunch room tables for the Southern Junior High Cafeteria-15 new lunchroom tables for the High School cafeteria - a variety of other tables and benches and are con- tinuing to manufacture additional badly needed lunchroom tables. Other teachers and pupils have also helped in this most welcomed effort.
We have completed a long list of repairs of all types to our school buildings which would be impractical to attempt to list in this report. We have installed fluorescent lighting, sanded floors and completely repainted 27 classrooms of which 12 rooms were equipped with new furniture. In addition we have repainted the lunchrooms at the High School - Northeastern Junior and Southern Junior High - repainted the 3 Dental Clinics - The Art Room, Room 10 and various corridors at the High School - the Auditorium and 4 rooms at the Bingham School - various rooms and corridors at the Western Junior High School - a basement room in the Hanscom School and constructed an entire new room in the basement of the Cum- mings School. At the present time we are setting up a new room in the Forster School for the handicapped children.
HURRICANE CAROL
After keeping in close touch with the weather reports and it became apparent that Hurricane Carol would strike our area, this department went on emergency alert at 8:00 A.M. August 31, 1954. All tools and equipment in our possession that could be used in such an emergency were loaded onto our automotive. equipment and all portable equipment quickly checked. Ad- ditional supplies such as rope, lanterns, flares, road bombs, axes, power saws, generators and allied gear were immed ately purchased and crane trucks, skilled tree crews and electricians hired.
At 9:59 A.M. our Lights and Lines Division picked up the first call "live wires down on Joy Street", then followed a grad- ual pickup in trouble calls until within 30 minutes incoming trouble calls on live wires, trees and buildings became so heavy it was necessary to station additional man to !'st them as Fire Alarm Operator repeated aloud the messages being rcived These calls were relayed to the utility company local head-
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quarters for action. However, it soon became apparent that it was almost impossible for the utility company to be every place at the same time; therefore, in order to do all possible to pro- tect life and property within our city, our own crews were dis- patched, as far as could be determined, to the most dangerous areas to do what they could to eliminate the immediate hazards.
As time passed and the hazards of falling live wires in- creased and multiplied, it became evident that the sources of electric power supplying the city may have to be shut down. During consultation between Mayor Donovan, Fire Chief O'Hara, Supt. of Lights and Lines Cuddihy and myself careful consideration had already been given to the effects of such a shutdown regarding hospitals, drugs under refrigeration, re- frigeration of the meat and milk distribution centers, frozen foods in markets, homes, electric ranges and appliances, blacked out homes and streets, as well as the number of per- sons who would be forced into loss of employment. Against all these facts was the increasing life and fire hazards, far beyond our ability to control at the time. Therefore at approx- imately 12:45 P.M. the order was given the utility company to shut off the entire source of electric power and light feeding the city. In the meantime portable generators had been set up at Central Fire Headquarters and the Police Station in order to insure constant operation of our vital Fire Alarm, Police Signal and Radio Systems. At this point I am happy to report that these systems were in perfect working order during both hurricanes. Not a single outage occurred at any time, our circuits were normal and functioning at all times. This is due to the fact that said systems are entirely underground and a sterling tribute to a splendid maintenance job by the division crews. I do not know of another city so seriously affected by the storm that can equal that record. When trouble developed with the public telephone system between F. A. Headquarters and various Fire Stations we circumvented same by using our own emergency telephone system.
With the abatement of the storm the great task of restora- tion of the electric power and light system began. Our first concern was to restore service to hospitals, rest homes, meat and milk supply centers, etc. A survey revealed many thou- sands of feet of wire lay on the ground, poles toppled, others at crazy angles, uprooted trees supported only by wires attached to weakened poles and in danger of falling at any moment. Numerous house attachment brackets and electric service conduits torn from the side of dwellings. In view of these disastrous conditions and the large volume of telephone calls which further revealed the dire distress of our people, and their
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anxiety as to the return of electric service it was decided with the wholehearted approval of His Honor Mayor Donovan that this division should render close co-operation to the utility company in its gigantic restoration task. The thought being to relieve suffering, distress and inconveniences as quickly as possible. Accordingly this division took on the task of remov- ing wires from the streets, so that when current was restored these wires would not again become life and fire hazards. Like- wise as current was restored, all live wires considered a public danger were safely disposed of. Our crews noted conditions in their assigned areas, informed Fire Alarm Headquarters by radio as to the particular type of trouble existing and this in- formation was relayed to the utility company local headquarters so that a truck and crew equipped for the particular type of repairs involved could be sent to the area. This arrangement saved considerable time and I believe at least in part the reason Somerville was one of the first Greater Boston Communities to be electrically restored.
All streets were patrolled, and defective electrical services noted, owners were informed as to the extent of repairs neces- sary to have service reconnected. Likewise all services not damaged and all repaired services were given approval to turn on current whenever main lines were restored. In all cases made known to us where death had saddened a home, or of serious illness, top priority was given and service was restored with a minimum of delay. In homes and business establish- ments where it was possible to restore partial service until major breaks were restored on outside lines this was likewise done. On Friday September 3rd a determined effort was made to contact church authorities of all denominations thus mak- ing possible electric current for the following Sunday Services.
While our Lights and Lines Division was engaged as out- lined our Highway, Engineering, Water and Building Divisions teamed up with hired crews and equipment and working with speed and precision tackled the gigantic job of clearing debris, fallen trees, broken fences and building wreckage from our streets.
These crews made remarkable time in this dangerous and hazardous operation and within a couple of days had every street open for fire apparatus, ambulances and police cars. As soon as the streets were passable they started removing trees from houses and buildings with the first operation consisting of topping the trees to within a safe distance of the ground and the second operation soon called "operation brush".
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Our manpower was divided into two groups - the first group to haul away brush and debris and the second group to remove stumps and trunks - skilled roofers were hired and assigned the job of securing the buildings against further water damage and then proceeding with the immense job of repairing roofs - chimneys - stacks - vents - hoods - skylights - windows - gutters and downspouts on practically every Municipal and School Building. This work has been progressing steadily and at this writing all but two of our build- ings have been repaired.
Our crews assigned to clearing away brush and debris ran into immediate obstacles as we were refused admittance to any dump. This left us no choice but to haul the brush into Dilboy Field as this field presented the least fire hazard. We received a tremendous lift at this point from our Fire Chief James O'Hara and his men who took over the task of guarding brush and controlling the burning process to a minimum of nuisance and hazard. The scope of this particular phase of hurricane activity may be realized now that our records reveal that close to 6500 truck loads of brush were deposited in this field.
Our crews assigned to stump removal encountered the same obstacle and were forced to haul stumps and trunks into Dilboy Field and Ryan Road until dumping facilities could be secured at a private dump. This was a hardship as it meant our crews had to handle these stumps twice, first from the scene to the temporary dump and then from the temporary dump to the private dump. This stump removal detail was operated as follows: a compressor crew broke out concrete or other surfacing - a backhoe shovel then dug around tree breaking roots - the stump was then hauled from hole by Walter Snow Fighter and loaded onto dump trucks by crane truck. This operation involved considerable power sawing as well. Following removal of the stump the next crew would clean up debris and backfill the hole with bank-gravel and on the following day surface the patch with bituminous concrete. In a large number of cases it was necessary to repair water lines, sewer lines, electrical conduits and other utility installa- tions which were damaged by roots. Our crews worked steadily on this project and upon its completion late in November we found we had removed a total of 725 trees and stumps.
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