BROOKLYN PARK COMMISSIONERS. 39 



July, 1882, the sum of three thousand five hundred and sixteen 

 dollars and seventy cents, under contract with the Abbott 

 Pavement Company of this city, for resurfacing portions of the 

 bituminous concrete superstructure, which forms the principal 

 part of its roadway. This work, to the extent of twenty-seven 

 thousand five hundred and twenty-two (27,522) square feet was 

 principally done between Rodney street and Myrtle avenue. 

 The repairs were substantially made and this particular work, 

 at the close of the year, was in a satisfactory condition. Had 

 there been additional means at our disposal to the extent of 

 $6,000 or $8,000, it would have been possible to put the whole 

 roadway generally, in a temporarily satisfactory condition, but 

 there were no resources known to the Commission or the law 

 by which such an amount of work could be done. In the 

 meantime, the deteriorated pavement has by wear and disin- 

 tegration broken up at many points, and for want of sufficient 

 protection and renewal, has reached a very unsatisfactory 

 state, while at some points, its condition as a public thorough- 

 fare, is discreditable to the city. In view of these facts and of 

 the comparative insignificance of the work done in relation to 

 the extended needs of the avenue, the Commission realized at 

 the outset that it would not be possible to remedy, for the 

 remainder of the year, the serious discomfort to which the 

 public in. the use of the roadway must subject themselves. 

 No method of repair measurably corresponding to the require- 

 ments of the work to be done could possibly be devised within 

 the limit of $5,000 which the law has provided. 



The cleaning of an avenue of this length and importance in a 

 proper manner throughout the year would cost that amount of 

 money alone. If the present form of superstructure is to be 

 continued, the work should be done with the best material, and 

 the contractor should be required to maintain the surfaces in 

 good order for a specific term of years ; the repairs to be done 

 with proper machinery at any season of the year, if required. 

 Since the transfer of the care of Bedford avenue to the Commis- 

 sioners, the appropriations have been at no time adequate to 

 do the work required to be done, nor has the allowance for 



