Source:Mckenna-vetoes/content
As this is the date of the last regular meeting of Pittsburg councils previous to election day, it is not likely that a quorum can be obtained. Experience has taught the city legislators that routine business cannot be transacted within a week of any important election, as the tendency of the members of councils is to make political speeches.
Notwithstanding the fact that the prospects were not bright for a meeting this afternoon, Mayor McKenna gave out three vetoes. In each message he stated his objection as briefly as possible. The ordinance providing for the collection and disposal of garbage, the Exchange alley lamp resolution and the ordinance changing the name of Black street were the bills that met the mayor's disapproval.
Black street was named in honor of one of Pittsburg's most gallant soldiers, and for that reason the mayor thinks the name should not be changed. The veto reads:
To Select and Common Councils of the City of Pittsburg:
Gentlemen—I beg leave to return to your honorable bodies, without my approval, select council ordinance changing the name of Black street, from Highland avenue to Rebecca street, to "Tremont avenue." When many of the streets in the East End were laid out, dedicated and opened, they were called after men who had rendered service to the government on "many a well fought field." Farragut street, Stanton avenue, Sheridan street, Rippey street were named, respectively, in honor of Farragut, the invincible admiral of the navy; Stanton, the great war secretary; Sheridan, the illustrious cavalry officer and brilliant soldier; Rippey, the brave commander of one of the regiments of infantry from our own city. Black street was named in honor of one of Pittsburg's most gallant soldier-sons, Col. Samuel W. Black, who commanded the Sixty-second regiment from this city, and gave his life at Gaines' Mills in defense of his country.
It should never require an "old mortality" to keep the names of such men green in the hearts of their countrymen. There seems to be a fad among some persons to give new fangled names to old and well-known streets with which the people are familiar. This should not be; and especially there should be no changes in names intended to honor and perpetuate the memory of the illustrious dead. The people don't demand such change, nor do they want them.
The mayor states officially that he told Director Bigelow that an electric light was not necessary on Fourth street, but he thinks one is needed in Exchange alley. The message is as follows:
To the Select and Common Councils of the City of Pittsburg:
Gentlemen—I return joint resolution C. C. No. 798, without my approval. In a communication to your honorable bodies, the director of the department of public works said I told him Fourth street was well lighted. It is true. A lamp is not necessary at the corner of Fourth street and Exchange alley, to light Fourth street; there should be a light in the alley between Fourth street and Evans alley to light it. The police department of the city knew or should have known of the existence of the disorderly house that caused the passage of the resolution placing a light at the point named in the resolution. Any resolution, therefore, instructing the director of the department of public safety to repress it is superfluous, as he has ample power, under the laws and ordinances of the city, to close all such places.
The mayor's reasons for vetoing the garbage ordinance are given in the following message:
To the Select and Common Councils of the City of Pittsburg:
Gentlemen—I return, without my approval, select council ordinance No. 670, entitled an ordinance providing for and regulating the collection, removal and disposal of garbage, offal and dead animals in the city of Pittsburg.
Section 13 empowers the director of the department of public safety to make and enforce such additional rules and regulations as he may deem necessary. These rules and regulations should be approved by councils and the mayor.
Section 15 gives the chief of the department of public safety the absolute power to enter into a contract for the disposal of garbage, etc., without requiring the approval of same by councils and the mayor. This can't be done, as the law requires that all contracts, to be binding upon the city, must be approved by the legislative and executive branches of the city government.
If the ordinance is amended to comply with these suggestions, I will approve it.
