Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-08-01
Loca, Issues That Must be Met.


There is no use Of attempting 10 dis
gnise the fact that the city of Los Ango.
les has at last reached stage Of dcvel.
opment which imperatively demands that
some money, and really large sums,
shall be spent upon our streets, pave.
ments and sewers. Our property owners
cannot go on always taking everything
and giving back nothing. Notwith-
standing the enormous enhancement in
real estate valuations during the past
four or five years, there is scarcely q
decent patch of street within the city
limits. In fact, we have no streets.
Taking the humblest form Of the modern
thoroughfare, viz, the macadamized
roadway, we have not even block
Of that in the length and breadth Of
Los Angeles The most we can claim are
few streets which are composed Of the
native 'dobe, with thin veneering Of
red gravel. In other words, we have
streets which. in Summer, are heaps Of
dust and In Winter mud puddles. In
Philadelphia and other Eastern cities,
when property holder buys q lot,
which he does not expect to enhance at
the rate Of three per cent. q year-perhaps
he docs not expect Ii to enhance at all
he is obliged to lay down in front Of it a
very neat and attractive sidewalk, and
to pay his proportion towards making
perfect roadway and good sewer. This
roadway is always the very best that
the most recent experience has made at
tainable. Many Of these streets and
pavements are constructed of wooden
blocks, asphaltum, sand and gravel
The asphaltum has, in nearly every in
stance, to be brought from great dis
tances. Here, in Los Angeles, We have
asphaltum sceping through the ground
all round our city, and yet we do not
make the slightest attempt to utilize it.
While ii can be bought for next to moth
ing, IL is nevertheless allowed to re-
main in the bowels of the earth. Though
our mountains are ribbed with granite
and oil descriptions of stone adapted to
the making of splendid roadways, no at
tempt has been made to utilize these
easily accessible crude materials. As we
have said, this thing cannot last always.
Property holders must recognize the fact
that large municipal expenditures are an
inevitable incident Of the stage of devel-
ment to which Los Angeles has now
attained. We are Obliged to repair past
neglect as well as guarantee the comfort
of the future. In this view of the mat
ter it behooves our solid citizens to
arouse themselves. During the past two
years LOS Angeles has grown from a
town of less than twelve thousand to
city Of quite twenty-five or twenty-three
thousand Intelligent citizens place
the figure as high as twenty-six or
twenty-seven thousand. As n condition
of this remarkable advance in popula-
tion, and the advance in wealth has
been quite commensurate with it, we
must have hard and beveled streets,
smooth and inviting sidewalks and good
sewers. Nothing is more certain than
that the money to accomplish these de-
siderata will have to be expended.
Shall it be done wisely or rashly' This
problem must be solved during the next
three or four years. Unless those who
pay the taxes take the matter in hand
at an early date, the men who naturally
prey upon the taxpayers will relieve
them of all trouble in the premises.
We must not only have good streets,
sidewalks and sewers, but we must have
a suitable Court House and City Hall,
with conveniences for both city and
county business, besides. All of these
things are matters which cannot be
shirked. 1t is perhaps unfortunate that
We have to do everything at once, but the
difficulty is only increased by further
dilatoriness. Out of all these openings
for public plunder it is very likely that
''boss" of the Boss Shepherd or Bill
Tweed order on reduced scale, will
arise. A little forethought and ener-
getic action upon the part OF our repre-
sentative citizens will obviate this danger.
1t is certainly worth taking the trouble
to do it. 1t is only by their ignoring
the plain demands of the hour that this
opening will be left to the ordinary
ward politician.
Conceding that we must have streets,
sewers, sidewalks and public buildings,
the question recurs, "Under whose aus.
pices shall they be built" There is
much food for thought in this query.