1188 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 585

. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the said Commis-
sion hereby created shall be the agent of the Mayor and City
Council of Baltimore to acquire by gift, purchase, lease, what-
ever the duration of the lease, or other methods of acquisition,
or by condemnation, any private property whatsoever, includ-
ing streets, avenues, lanes and alleys, rights or interests, fran-
chises, privileges or easements, that may be required to open,
widen, extend, straighten, close, grade or pave any street, ave-
nue, lane or alley, or to broaden any sidewalk, and as soon as
the title to the property acquired as set forth herein has been
certified by the City Solicitor, said Commission shall have the
same conveyed to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore,
and no ordinance shall be requisite to the validity of such con-
veyance; said streets, avenues, lanes and alleys so conveyed
shall become public highways, subject to all ordinances and
resolutions relating to streets, avenues, lanes and alleys in the
City of Baltimore; that authority is hereby conferred upon the
Mayor and City Council of Baltimore to provide by ordinance
or ordinances the proceedings for condemnation of property
herein set forth by the said Commission.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That no expenditure
shall be made by said Commission for the grading, paving or
improvement of said sidewalks in the annex portion of said city,
but the same shall be done at the expense of the owner or own-
ers of the property upon and along the streets, avenues, lanes
or alleys on which such sidewalks are to be established, widened,
graded, paved or otherwise laid out, and improved; and the said
Commission in its discretion is authorized and empowered to
require said property owners to grade, pave and improve said
sidewalks at their expense, or upon their failure to do so the
Commission may do such work itself and assess said property
for the cost and expenses of such work, and the procedure and
rights and powers of the Commission with respect to such work
and to such assessments and the collection thereof shall be that
now or hereafter prescribed by law in relation to the duties of
a similar nature with which the Highways Engineer and other
officers of the city are now or may be respectively clothed, or
the procedure and the rights and powers of said Commission
may be such as may be provided for the very purpose by any
lawful ordinance or ordinances of the Mayor and City Council
of Baltimore, which said ordinance or ordinances the Mayor
and City Council of Baltimore is hereby fully authorized to
adopt, provided provision is made in such ordinance or ordi-