Source:Mayor-signs-115/content
The mass of business finished by the now extinct city councils at their final meeting last Monday night was handed to Mayor William A. Magee yesterday. The mayor signed 115 ordinances, among them being several important measures. Three ordinances authorizing bond issues for $408,000, $351,000 and $306,000 were passed by councils to provide $1,065,000 to pay contractors' claims and other outstanding debts of the city, were signed.
The mayor vetoed eight ordinances, which is probably the largest number handed down in a single day by a mayor of Pittsburgh in many years. The ordinances which failed to meet with the approval of the city's chief executive were: A resolution authorizing the payment of $684 to Philip Rodgers for the construction of a hardwood floor on the second story of the South Side Market House; ordinance fixing the salaries of the bureau of fire, which the mayor was compelled to veto because the measure provided that the increase become effective February 1, 1911, when it should have read February 1, 1912; exonerating a vacant lot in the old Twelfth ward because the owner, Hugh Hanlon, is unable to pay the taxes which became delinquent in 1896; the establishment of a branch office of the city treasurer's office on the North Side; re-establishing the grade of Coleman street in the Fifteenth ward; appropriating a portion of property on Larimer avenue for use as an approach to the Larfimer [sic] avenue bridge; resolution authorizing a drinking fountain at Fifth and Liberty avenues; changing the name of Foxhurst to Epiphany street.
The ordinance abolishing the Try street grade crossing was approved by the mayor, along with the measure providing $2,000 for a temporary fire engine house in Beechview and that which reduced the city license fee for horse-drawn vehicles 50 per cent from the present tax levied.
The city can now begin condemnation proceedings against the Cabbage Hill property in Shaler township, which it is planned to utilize for a reservoir site. The mayor signed this ordinance yesterday.
The provision made by councils for increasing the pay of the police and for an additional 85-foot aerial truck, two city service trucks and three motor-propelled chemical wagons, were approved.
The bulk of the measures to which he attached his signature were those providing for street improvements, re-establishing street grades and for park improvements.
Important among these latter measures are those providing for the extension of Hamilton avenue from Fifth to Penn avenue and the relocation of Morewood avenue from Forbes street to Woodlawn avenue, which is a part of the beautifying plans to be carried out by the Carnegie Technical Schools.
Mayor Magee also approved the ordinance regulating automobile garages in the city. This measure provides that all garages must be constructed of fireproof material and contains other restrictions pertaining to fire protection. When the measure was brought up in councils last Monday night considerable discussion developed. The department of public safety prepared the measure. Other ordinances signed by the mayor yesterday were as follows:
Changing the name of Epiphany street to Washington place, permitting the New Era Club of Pennsylvania to erect a drinking trough at Fifth avenue and Solar street, authorizing the vacation of Roup place from Aylesboro street to Northumberland avenue, providing $30,000 for the erection of a bridge over Everett street in line with Hoeveler street, regulating the duties of plumbing inspectors and of plumbing in house, permitting contractors to use hollow tile in the construction of buildings, authorizing the payment of $1,263.35 to the H. J. Heinz Company for erecting a pest house on the North Side, improvement of ball grounds in Olympia and McKinley Parks and construction of shelter houses in Olympia and McKinley Parks.
