Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-03-21
Dangerous Charter.

Our townsman, Mr.. j. w. Potts,
cites two points which he considers
are alone sufficient to cause the rejec-
tion of the proposed charter. l. The
power it gives to forcibly take per-
sons stricken with variola from
their homes and place. them
in the pesthouse; and (2)
the authorization of a change Of
established street grades, with the
consent of majority of the property
holders in a block, without compen-
sation for damages to property that
may be injured thereby. AS to the
first point, it might well have been
left out of the municipal organic act.
1t could only be enforced in excep-
tional cases where the parties
had no friends, as stated by Mr..
Potts. This part OF the sanitary
safeguards of the city might we'll
have been left to ordinances and the
Board of Health. If Mr.. Potts is
right in his reading of section 1863, it
is an outrageous provision. Property
holders ought to be protected from
changes from established grades by
compensation for damages. But we
do not believe it was the in
tention of the authors of the
chatter to permit majority Of
property holders in block to change
the established grade without COM
pensating the minority, or any Of
them, that might be damaged there.
by. The section reads:
SEC. 1859. In case the grade of street
has been established, and il has been graded
in conformity thereto by the city or Ly prop
eIty owners under license from the city, OF
buildings have been erected or improve
ments on property aligning said street
and thereafter the said grade has
been altered, the said street shall
not be regarded or improved in con-
formity to said new grade without the con-
each block fronting on snch portion OF the
street, scithOut compensdting such otcners for
any damage whicn is occagiOned to them
thereby. such damage may be determined
by agreement between such owners or any
OF them aid the Council, and when go de
teImined shall constitute a portion of the
cost OF such Improvement, and be assessed
as such and be paid to such owner: In case
such an agreement cannot be obtained with
any one or more of such owners, the amount
of damages Justly payable to each of such
owners shall be determined by an action in
the name of the city against them, in which
action all or any of such parties may be
Joined as defendants.
The sectivn is loosely constructed,
and might give rise to difficulties in
getting at its legal meaning. II the
revision committee had inserted the
word "nor'' before the italicized
words, there could be no doubt as to
the intention of the authors, that per-
sons damaged by such changes would
be entitled to compensation. The
rest of the section, indeed, shows that
this was the intention, for it provides
the method in which the damages
shall be determined, and adds them
over to the cost of the improvement
implied in the change of the grade.
There are, to our mind, much more
serious objections to the proposed
charter than either of these which
Mr.. Potts points out. We might
overlook-or rather be inclined to
place on trial-that portion which
places 30 much patronage and power
in the hands Of the Mayor. But
to extend the power of the
Executive and at the same time
to decrease the power of the
people to correct abuses by reducing
the local Legislature to five members,
instead Of fifteen, as at present, is a
go opposed to popular and
democratical government that this de-
feet alone should kill the charter be-
fore the people. We might get along
With corrupt Mayor, even
With his powers and patronage
greatly enlarged and extended,
I we had a strong and numerous
representative Council who could |
heck his abuses. But what shall |
we do If an unprincipled man becomes
GaYcf and three unprincipled men get
NJ ~ Board IS tho same time7 !