HomeMy Public PortalAbout11-17-1927 Office of Board of Public Works
City of Richmond, Indiana, 1
Thursday November 17th, 1927.
The Board of Public Works of the City of Richmond, Indiana, met in
regular session at the office of said Board Thursday November 17th,
1927, aT639 o 'clock A. M. Messrs, McFail and Henley being present;
Mr. Reid, absent; Two members of said Board being present. The fol-
lowing proceedings were had,, to-wit :
The Board approved primary assessment roll under Improvement Reso-
lution No. 84I1-1927, for construction of sewer in first alley east
of Boyer Street, from School to Stevens Street .
A petition signed by Wm. E. Dwyer & 12 others, praying for electric
arc light 'at Southwest 10th & 1'ational Road and Southwest 10th and
Southwest "A" Streets, was received and referred to Sup 't . , of M.E.
L. & P. P. for investigation and report.
City Attorney was instructed to prepare an ordinance, compelling the
Railroad Companies in Richmond, to pay for the current consumed by
Arc Lights at their crossings thru the City.
A communication in answer to letter of the Boards Oct. 19, 1927,
relative to South 9th Street bridge crossing the C. & 0. Tracks
was received from Geo. J. Derbyshire, General Sup 't. , as follows;
Your letter was quite a disappointment to me in view of the fact
that the conference lead me to believe there was going to be consider-
- able modification in the location of the bridge, all of which seemed
feasible to reduce its cost materially. Upon receipt of this letter
I furnished a copy of it to our management for their consideration,
and explained to them that it was not just what I had expected to coin(
out of the last conference. As it has now reached a point where I will be expected to make a definite recommendation to the management
as to what should be done, I have taken into consideration everything
in connection with it and given it very careful thought.
I have, along with our attorney, Mr. Cole, left the impression
with the city officials that the railway would notno doubt consider
recommendation from us for bearing a reasonable proportion of the ex-
. pense involved in rebuilding of this structure in carrying out the
city's plan, being fully appreciative of the amount of business we
secure from your city, and the relationships that have always existed
but when I reach a point in giving the management my views as to what
I think they should do, or to what extent they should participate, I
find that in justification for my stewardship in looking after their
property, and the very great dependence placed in those actually on
• the ground and in touch with the situation, I necessarily approach
that point with considerable trepidation when there is a matter of ap-
proximately $80,000. of the railway 's funds involved, and I thought
probably I could get some argument to support the recommendation from
me involving a thing of this magnitude, therefore, I addressed your
Honorable Mayor and felt him out on the question of ruminating N. &
0 Streets which would restore to us the use of our tracks at that poi]
which have ,been preempted by opening of these streets and rendered the
tracks useless for the purpose for which they were originally built.
I am facing two problems, one is to ask for a very substantial amount
of money to assist the city in building a bridge (which we are not le€
• ally bound to do) , and the other is to ask them for a very substantia:
amount of money to purchase property and move existing tracks to a
point outside the city limits where I can use them for the purpose foz
which they were intended,
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82 Office of Board of Public Works
City of Richmond, Indiana,
laursday November 17th, 1927.
wach::=mealis,DtheilistingsinItestmettiscriotonly-1,renderednOsaltte
but additionalsinVestMenteisfhecessarT-Jtb takecareJof:tht-ceituation
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0aRichmon4j 'althoUgh; a:portioneof themaLreused for_iTeetingilaad
pgsbifiejtr"aine.-)Th'ereL,a,±ec-onstant(f_coMpl-aints from the National
Automatic Tool Co. , and the Automotive Gear Works relative to our
trains obstructing these crossings, and while every effort is made
to prevent trains standing on these crossings, we cannot meet the
complaints that are lodged with us, which in a few cases involved II/
the crossing being obstructed from 15 to 17 minutes at a time when
employes of these factories were going to work, making them all late,
when trains were not standing on the crossing but were moving in
both directions involving a situation that the very highest class
supervision could not prevent.
I thought a short distance without
a crossing would be, in the end, an advantage to these industries
and in future to residential property that might be developed in
that territory, or additional factories which seem immenient . My
communication to the Mayor was promptly answered with the idea
that the closing of N & 0 Streets would not be considered, and I
had the same expression from Mr. Hunt of the Natco. , involving N
Street, in connection with some correspondence I had with him in
regard to blocking of the crossing by our trains .
The worst feature in connection with it is those employes in
these factories who might use the car, line, but observations we
have made is indicative that is a very small percent. South 5th
Street was recently opened through to South M Street . I am famil-
iar with this for the reason we are involved in assessment for
improvement on some property we own in thht territory, and certain-
ly question of ingress and egress to .all points will be well taken
care of when north & south streets, particularly 5th Street is
opened through to "Q" Street.
I am -giving this information for consideration, and I am send-
ing copy of this communication and blue prints to our general of-
ficers without any recommendation as to what extent I feel they
should participate in the reconstruction of Ninth Street bridge.
Yours truly,
G. J. Derbyshire, Gen. Sup 't . ,
Together with the above was presented blue prints showing the
railroad tracks crossing at South "N" & "0" Street .
The letter and blue prints were ord-dred filed, for future con-
sideration.
The Board then adjourned,
--JFrest. pro-tern of Board
Attest :
Clerk of Board----'7