Executive Order  No. 65: (1st Series) Allowing Sylvania Electrical Products to build an overhead bridge across Barton Square in Salem

WHEREAS, the Signal Corps, together with other branches of the armed forces of the United States, requires certain military tubes and equipment vital to the prosecution of the war; and

WHEREAS, Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation having a usual place of business in the city of Salem, is presently engaged in the manufacture, development and perfecting of such tubes and equipment for the said Signal Corps and for other branches of the armed forces of the United States; and

WHEREAS, an expansion and consolidation in the plant of said Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., has become necessary in order that it may efficiently and expeditiously meet the need of the said Signal Corps and of other branches of the armed forces of the United States for the continued production and development of such tubes and equipment; and

WHEREAS, space suitable for such expansion and consolidation has been obtained by said Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., in the buildings numbered 126 and 140 Washington Street in said Salem; and

WHEREAS, the construction of an overhead bridge across Barton Square, a public highway in said Salem, connecting the said buildings is essential to said expansion and consolidation in the plant of said Sylvania Electric Products, Inc.; and

WHEREAS, the Army Service Forces of the United States, acting through the Procurement and Distribution Service, have requested that permission be granted to said Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., to build and maintain such an overhead bridge in order that its production and development of such tubes and equipment for said branches of the armed services of the United States may be facilitated; and

WHEREAS, the city council of said Salem and the owners of said buildings have indicated their approval of the granting by the proper public authority of permission for the construction of such a bridge; and

WHEREAS, the necessary authority to permit the building and maintenance of such a bridge over said Barton Square cannot now be obtained from the General Court because said body is not now in session:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting under the provisions of Acts of 1941, chapter 719, section 7, as amended by Acts of 1943, chapter 3, and of Acts of 1942, chapter 13, sections 2 and 3, and by virtue of all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue this order as a measure necessary and expedient for meeting the supreme emergency of the existing state of war between the United States and certain foreign countries.

I.

Upon petition and after seven days' notice inserted in at least one newspaper published in the city of Salem, and a public hearing thereon, the city council of said city may by a two thirds vote, with the approval of the mayor, grant and issue a permit to Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation having a usual place of business in said city, its successors and assigns, to build and maintain temporarily a structure bridging Barton Square in said city, for the purpose of connecting the building numbered 140 Washington Street, and known as the Power Building, with the building numbered 126 Washington Street, and known as the Peabody Building. The said permit shall be granted upon such conditions and subject to such restrictions as the said council may prescribe, and with the written consent of the owners and lessees, if any, of said buildings, filed with said city council. Any permit so issued may be revoked by a two thirds vote of said city council with the approval of the city manager. The right to maintain any such structure erected in pursuance of the authority granted by such a permit shall not extend beyond the date of prorogation of the regular session of the General Court next held after the effective date of this order.

II.

Any structure built under a permit granted as aforesaid shall be constructed and maintained in such manner that the bottom chord thereof shall be not less than 34 feet above the grade line of said street; said structure shall not be more than 4 feet, 6 inches in width, and no part of said structure or its support shall rest on the surface of the street, nor shall any such structure be erected or maintained over any portion of said street not owned in fee by said Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., without written consent of the owner of such portions in each instance, filed with the said city council. Such consent of the city of Salem, if and when necessary, may be given by vote of the said city council with the approval of the mayor.

III.

If a traveler on the highway while in the exercise of due care sustains bodily injury or damages in his property, by reason of the construction or maintenance of said bridge, he may recover damages therefor in an action of tort brought in the superior court against said Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., or its successors or assigns, within one year after the date of such injury or damage; provided, that such notice of the time, place and cause of the said injury or damage be given to said Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., or its successors or assigns, by, or on behalf of, the persons sustaining the same as is, under the provisions of General Laws (Ter. Ed.) chapter eighty- four, as amended, valid and sufficient in cases of injury or damage sustained by reason of a defect or a want of repair in or upon a way, if such defect or want or repair is caused by or consists in part of snow or ice, or both.

The remedy herein provided shall not be exclusive, but shall be in addition to any other remedy provided by law.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this 31st day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and sixty-eighth.

By His Excellency the Governor,
Leverett Saltonstall