Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-12-27
The ntxht..f.wav Deadlock.

The people of this city greatly regret
that the right-of-wsy question to the
new depot has not been settled, and the
beautiful new building opened to traffic
before this. It has now got into a
muddle which will take the utmost good
humor, both on the part of the railroad
authorities and on that Of large num-
Der of property-holders, to bring it to a
satisfactory conclusion Looking at the
question in it's large aspect, nobody can
blame the people living in the San
Pedro street section for being desirous of
having the tracks removed from that
street. The company has fran
chise to run over that street
for about thirty-seven years yet. The
city has grown up against it from all
directions prodigiously in the last few
years, and the railroad necessarily be-
comes matter of deep concern to those
who see that it's removal would greatly
enhance the value of their property. In
this view of the case the whole city is
concerned, for the improvement and
progress of one portion favorably affects
all parts of the city. Therefore, it is not
to be wondered at that when the COM
pany came to. make new deal
in which there was q chance that the
rails would be removed from San
Pedro street. the people interested should
be very anxious to open to the public one
of it's most important and promising
arterial thoroughfares. If this could be
done without materially affecting the
road, everybody would be glad to see it
accomplished.
By singular and unforeseen combina-
ton of circumstances two distinct routes
have been brought into prominence-the
Briswalter and the Pine street. As be-
tween these two routes across to Alameda
street the people of Los Angeles would
naturally favor the one which would
be of the greatest advantage to
their city; and as the Briswalter route
would relieve the whole length Of San
Pedro street of the track, whilst the
Pine-street crossing would still leave a
mile of San Pedro street to be used by
the company, it is not to be wondered at
that strong popular inclination in ia
vor of the former route has been
developed. As between the two routes
there can be no doubt which would be
the best for the city. Nor are we suf-
ficiently versed in the mysteries of rail-
roading to know why, in a rail-
road sense, the Briswalter route
would not be better for the company
than the Pine street route. 1t reaches
the main track on Alameda street
through less populous portion of the
city, and is consequently safer and less
liable to accidents that might result in
damages to the company.
But we do not see why the fact that the
people of this city have favored the lower
route should justify such reflections as
were contained in Mr.. Towne's published
letter. 1t does not follow because we are
trying to make the best terms for our
city in this new right-of-way deal, that
the people of Los Angeles are inimical to
the company and endeavoring to keep
it from reaching its new depot. This is
very far from the truth. Our people are,
on the contrary, very anxious that it
Fshould reach the new depot. Nor is it
just or reasonable on the part of Mr..
Towne to place our people in false atti-
tude and then, on the strength Of that,
to intimate that the company will go
elsewhere with their projected workshops.
We can hardly believe that this is the
sense of the men at the head
of the corporation. They surely
would not take the untenable stand
that because of controversy of this
character they would be justified in pun
ishing the city, for that is what Mr..
Towne's remarks infer.
The company is right when it tries to
make the best terms it can for itself
when dealing with the city. So, on the
other hand, the city is right when max
ing deal with the railroad to procure
such public advantages as it can with
reason and decency insist upon. How
O'OA 0hAo uOuuAoCA m6y cuu, uO IalI-
minded man can take exceptions
to the attitude of the people of
Los Angeles. Between the two pro.
posed lines of crossing to Alameda
street they have choice. The one
which is of the most advantage to the
city is the one they urge the company to
adopt. This is their right, and the least
said about their trying to keep the COM
pany from the new depot the better.
Whether this is real estate operation
on either side of the controversy in either
or both routes is a matter of entire in
difference to the people. What they
want is to see the question settled in the
way that will be best for the city, and
without detriment or injury to the rail-
road.
1T is understood that Mayor Bryson
has very set and well-defned views
about the matter of disposing of the city
sewage. He says he will not approve
of, any ordinance which grants money for
fb a v,rVrr,Ono of III 80 -.