Daily Los Angeles herald., 1884-02-07
lErrsRs FROM TINE ploPll.
Court House site-Open Letter to
the Honorable Board of Super

To the Honorable Board Of Superpis-
ors Of Los angeles Counfy-GENTLEMEN;
The undersigned being County Surveyor
Of Los Angeles county, aud as such is
the proper person to pass an opinion for
the information of your Board on all the
public works undertaken at the expense
of the county. In the selection of site
for the proposed new Court House you
did not deem it necessary to call on me
until after you had made selection,
and then was instructed to make a sur
vey Of the lot showing the grades Of the
adjoining streets and OF the lot. did
so, and the result was that found on
assuming the grade of the basement Of
the building to be that Of the intersec-
tion Of Temple and New High streets,
then the floor of the basement would be
at the corner Of Temple and Buena Vista.
fifteen feet below the official grade Of
the street and at the northwest corner Of
the lot on Buena Vista street, the floor
of the basement would be nearly thirty
one feet below the grade Of the street at
that point. and at the southeast corner
of the lot on New High street the floor
of the basement would be nearly four
feet below the grade of the street and
about twelve feet below the grade of the
surface Of the lot on the north.
A large amount of excavation will be
nece ssary, and very heavy retaining walls
must be built on Baena Vista street and
OH the north line of the lot involving an
expenditure Of at least fourteen thousand
dollars.
now, as the engineer Of this county,
enter my protest before your honorable
body against the construction of County
Court House on the lot known as the
"Stevens lot, for the following reasons:
First-The expense of grading and
fitting the ground to receive the building.
Sccond-Setting such building below
the surface Of the ground renders it
damp. badly lighted and unhealthy
and destroys its effect as an ornament
to the city. Furthermore, as the Jail
is to be in the basement and will
no doubt at times have q large
number of prisoners it is fit and proper
their health should be preserved and
not confoed in . cellar devoid of sun.
shine and the light of day. If they are
prisoners they should be treated as hu-
man beings.
Third-The lot is too small for the
reason the Jail should be independent
of the Court House, and it should have
ample yard room in which the prison.
ers could perform labor. This cannot
be done on your present selection.
Fourth-A Court House should be as
free from the risks of fire as possible.
This l consider is not the state of affairs
on your lot. 1t is surrounded by narrow
streets, which in time will be ihickly
built up, aud an extensive ire in the
adjoining blocks would very much add
to the risk Of fire in the Court House.
Fifth-The building should be in
commanding situation, where it would
be an ornament TO The city, and not
buried in an out Of way place, requiring
the assistance Of a guide to find it.
Sixth-No amount of money you could
spend would render the building an orna.
ment to the city on the proposed site.
In conclusion I will state you have
made good purchase Of the Stevens
lot, and am sure you can sell it at a
considerable advance. This pray you
to do and purchase site having all the
necessary requirements. Go into the
open market and buy. Don't wait for
offers of sites. Your obedient servant,
JOHN E. JACKSON,
County Surveyor Of Los Angeles County.