124 Iowa 289 | Iowa | 1904
The plaintiffs are resident owners’ of property abutting on Kingman Boulevard, in the city of Des Moines. Under the order of the city council the boulevard has been curbed on either side, and the expense thereof assessed against the abutting property. Soon after the completion of this improvement, the city, by its council and board of public works, undertook to set apart a -20-foot strip along the center of said boulevard for parking purposes, and
It is the contention of the appellants that the powers given by the statute we have cited have reference only to such improvements as tend to make the street a better or more available avenue of public travel, and do not authorize improvements which are merely ornamental or beautiful. The facts presented by the record before us do not seem to necessitate a consideration of this question. It may he said, however, that the authority here expressly provided for the parking of streets and avenues can scarcely be reconciled with the proposition that all street improvements must be limited by the single consideration of the convenience or safety of 'the traveling public. The term “ parking ” is incapable of any plausible definition which does not involve the idea of beautifying those portions of the street, not necessarily occupied by walks and roadways. To what extent this power may be exercised at the expense of abutting property we need not now determine. The improvement here objected to goes no farther than to provide that the paved roadway and the space reserved for parking shall be separated by a line of curbing, and to authorize this action it is not necessary for the city' to
There was -no error in refusing the writ, and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.