The said Mayor is empowered to authorize any such company or corporation owning and operating lines of street poles and wires on March 3, 1905, or thereafter and any alley poles or alley-pole line or housetop wires within the said District and outside of the limits described in § 34-1921.01 to continue to maintain the same, with such repairs and renewals as may be necessary to keep them in good order and condition of repair, and to add thereto such poles and wires as may be necessary for their telegraphic purposes.

(Mar. 3, 1905, 33 Stat. 986, ch. 1415, § 6.)

1981 Ed., § 43-1415.

1973 Ed., § 43-1415.

This section originated at a time when local government powers were delegated to a Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia (see Acts Relating to the Establishment of the District of Columbia and its Various Forms of Governmental Organization in Volume 1). Section 401 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967 (see Reorganization Plans in Volume 1) transferred all of the functions of the Board of Commissioners under this section to a single Commissioner. The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, 87 Stat. 818, § 711 ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.11), abolished the District of Columbia Council and the Office of Commissioner of the District of Columbia. These branches of government were replaced by the Council of the District of Columbia and the Office of Mayor of the District of Columbia, respectively. Accordingly, and also pursuant to § 714(a) of such Act ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.14(a)), appropriate changes in terminology were made in this section.