BLAGDEN'S ALLEY-WHICH MAJOR SYLVESTER, CHIEF OF POLICE, WANTED 9TH ST with this resolution, was submitted to the Commissioners by the chairman of the President's Homes Commission. The principal difficulty with the present law seemed to be that it required that an amount equal to the damages found should be assessed as benefits and that this should be assessed within a limited area. It was found that the law of 1906 in relation to the opening, extension, widening or straightening of streets, provided that the jury should assess benefits not only upon adjoining and abutting property but upon any and all other lots, pieces or parcels of land which the jury might find to be benefited by the improvement. This apparently indicated a plan by which the amounts required could be raised in a more equitable manner, but as it seemed probable that in many cases the damages awarded would even then exceed the benefits which the jury might find, it seemed desirable to include also a provision by which a certain proportion of the awards could, if necessary, be paid out of some general fund. One of the Commissioners had suggested, when the Engineer Commissioner recommended that the work be stopped on account of the expense, that legislation might be urged, providing that the alleys be opened and a certain proportion of the expense be paid by the United States government, another portion by the District government, and the remainder be assessed upon the property owners in the neighborhood of the improvement. Inasmuch as the deplorable conditions of the alleys have grown up under the administration of the District government, it seems proper that a considerable portion of the expense of removing them should be borne in this way by those responsible for them; but, as any payment for District purposes by the Federal government would be contrary to the definite policy adopted by Congress, it did not seem advisable to the Committee to advocate such a provision. In order, however, to expedite the passage of any bill recommended and to profit by the advice of the District Committee in each house of Congress, as well as to secure their co-operation in any plan which might be proposed, the Committee consulted with the chairman of each of the District Committees as to what fair provision would be most effective. The chairman of the Senate sub-committee on Streets and Avenues declared that conditions which he had himself recently witnessed in the alleys of the city ought nowhere to exist, and that he would be glad to do all he consistently could to remove them. After full discussion he stated that if the amount to be paid from the general funds of the District could be limited to 25 per cent of the total damages awarded in any case, and the remainder be assessed upon any property benefited, he would earnestly recommend such a provision with the full expectation that such a bill might be promptly passed by Congress. The chairman of the House Committee, when consulted, concurred in this view and promised similar co-operation. A meeting of the Commission, at which this plan was unanimously endorsed, was promptly held and the recommendation for such a bill was immediately put before the Commissioners by the Committee, with every reason to expect that it would be promptly acted upon so that the measure might be passed before Congress adjourned. Notwithstanding the fact that two of the Commissioners were heartily in favor of the general plan, the matter was delayed and upon inquiry it was found that the Engineer Commissioner strongly objected to the plan proposed, on the ground that no jury would be apt to assess in any case more than 75 per cent of the damages found and that in this way the District would be made to pay for 25 per cent of the cost of opening many alleys and minor streets in property where the expense should all be borne by the property owners who requested it. As further investigation developed the fact that there are numerous cases of this kind to which it was not intended to have this provision apply, the matter was again taken up with the Corporation Counsel and a modification adopted limiting the operation of this provision in each case to the conversion of alleys into minor streets running through the block. When, however, this reached the Engineer Commissioner he still objected to the bill on the ground that it was likely to do injustice to the District, declaring that juries would not assess greater damages in any case than they were compelled to and that the only way to meet the situation was to introduce a special bill in Congress for each alley. As the special bills introduced for this purpose in reference to Squares 1020, 878 and 801 had received no attention and the amount of effort needed to secure the passage of any bill is very great, and as it would be necessary in the case of each special bill to take up the attention of Congress with the objections of interested parties which could better be considered and attended to by the Commissioners, who have more immediate knowledge of the circumstances, the Committee still urged that the plan proposed by the bill be followed and that the solution of the alley problem be not simply left to a system under which it has been growing steadily worse. It was therefore suggested that the whole subject be taken up at a conference of the Commissioners, the Corporation Counsel and the Committee; but the conferences and references had taken so much time that, on account of the legislative situation developed towards the close of the last session of Congress, it was by this time found that the enactment of the measure at that session was wholly impossible and the proposed conference was not held until May 29th. At this conference the three Commissioners with two assistants of IN THE HEART OF THE ALLEY. NOT YET SUFFICIENTLY DILAPIDATED TO BE REACHED BY THE BOARD FOR THE CONDEMNATION OF INSANITARY BUILDINGS. THE BULDINGS HERE SHOWN ARE STABLES CONVERTED INTO DWELLINGS. THE ALLEY HERE IS 10 FT. WIDE. NO ONE ON THE STREET WOULD HAVE ANY REASON TO SUSPECT THE EXISTENCE OF THESE HOUSES. |