Bad Streets In This City

BAD STREETS IN THIS CITY

A PROTEST FROM MR. E. B. HALL

The Streets Have a Natural Gravel Foundation He Can See No Excuse for Their Condition 

Editor Argus: I wish to protest against the manner in which our streets are being cared for. This putting sand on top or manure and mud will never make a good road. I would especially call attention to the street in front of my mother's house, where the gutter and driveway is above the center of the street, but there is not much difference to it all over town. Our streets are a disgrace. I drove in from Silver lake yesterday, a distance of about twenty miles, and I defy Street Commissioner Ross to one stretch of road a black in length from the limits on west to the lake as bad as Liberty street, N. University avenue, Washtenaw avenue, or a dozen more of Ann Arbor's streets. Where a city has such a good natural road-bed for its streets as we have, why not scrape off the filth and make use of the gravel underneath, instead of covering it up until the street is higher than the sidewalk? Israel avenue was ploughed up last spring and left in that condition, chunks as big and hard as my office safe being left to be made smooth by some one's buggy. There is S. University avenue, almost impassable for light traffic, just for want of a few loads of good gravel. There is no possible excuse for such streets in Ann Arbor, where we have abundance of good material and natural drainage. 

Eugene B. Hall