The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-10-26
TO STAVE OFF A STEAL.
Mission Taxpayers to Fight
Assessments.
WHAT EXPERT SMITH HAS TO SAY.
ubiquitous Actions Of the Sixteenth.
Street Commission.
The PrOperty.GWners DeyiSing Means by
Which to Rid Themselves Of an
Unjust Burden.
WHAT EXPERT SMITH HAS TO SAY.

The MISSION froperty-OWntTs Aesocia-
tion is devising plan to completely rid the
district of the burdens entailed by the In
iquitous Sixteentb-street Extension Com
mission.
In few DAYS resolutions will be prepared
BY which the commission will be completely
knocked out'-that is, provided the Super
visors do not lack nerve for the fearless
performance Of their duty.
AS was stated in The CALL last week.
the executive committee asked the Super
yisors TO modify the report of the Commits
sIoners by reducing the expenses to Sl2,OO0
and the awards for damages to SO, 800, az
gregating S34, 500, or about 10 per cent OF the
amount required by the Commissioners.
The Street Committee seems disinclined
to favor so material a reduction In the ex-
pense bill, although according to the testl-
mony of the expert employed by the asso-
citation the amount above named Is ample
compensation for the services rendered,
even were the work done in such manner
as 10 render it serviceable and reasonably
satisfactory.
1t is claimed, however, that the work OF
the Commissioners has been done IN sucn
manner that, with the exception OF the sur
vey and maps, no part Of 1t is OF any ser
vice, and, II the street was finally opened,
would all have TO be done over again.
Learning of the facts a CALL reporter
was detailed TO interview w. A. Z.
Smith, the expe TT of the association. and
from him obtain more extended informa-
tion.
From the figures and diagrams in his pos
session, taken from the books OF The conf
mission, il is manifest that the assessments
lar nni n 81 nd
inequable that either bias, incapaclty or
Teprehensible careessness OF the Commits
sioners are requisite TO prevent the warrant
able assumption Of the existence OF SOLD
reasons for the discrepancies
For instance, Oh | street, near the ocean,
blocks on the south side are assessed four or
i've times as much as the corresponding
blocks on the north side, while few blocks
further east the reverse Is the case.
On K street, also, some of the blocks on
the north side are assessed from 6O TO 23O
per cent higher than the CORES spending
block on the south, and this reuo Is almost
reversed little further on.
Adjacent blocks on the same street vary
from % to 800 per cent IN the amount OF the
assessment.
On l. street similar discrepancies are
found. and very little regularity Is obsery-
able anywhere.
On Castro street the entire frontage from
Fifteenth to Twenty-second streets is
assessed. on the east side for about $500,
while on the west side. between tile same
limits, the assessment amounts TO ABOUT
$4,000.
These are but examples of the most 81 ar
ing discrepancies aud by no means all OF
them
PTOperty-Owners will not endure such
unfair discrimination, and certainly no law
will compel them 10 pay assessments SO
levied.
Four-fifths of the entire district is assessed
in such manner AS to render IL lnequaDle TO
the verge of iniquity, and for all this the
Commissioners are directly responsible.
The assessment for damages for which
the real-estats experts employed by the
commission are primarily responsible is
subject 10 the same criticism
Ii would require a philosopher TO deter
mine why one man should be allowed $40
per front foot, the owner OF the adjacent lot
S106 and the very next only $40.
Comparative uniformity is observable 10
damages allowed the owners OF few small
lots, probably belonging to poor and unin-
fuential people. but the extTavagant awards
made TO the majority of those damaged by
the extension, ranging from ten to twenty
times the value placed thereon by the
County Assessor, would cause Expert Magee
to blush should he ever again be called be-
fore the State Board of Equalization.
The expenses OF the commission is an
other bitter pill, which property-0wBers
cannot and Will not swallow.
The commission had been In existence
about twenty-eight months when IL made
its report to the Board of Supervisors; but
its demand is for ihirty-six months services,
aggregating SOL 600. This sum divided by
six would be a fair compensation If the
work could ultimately be made OF any value.
Nearly all the bills are similarly inioui-
tous, or nearly so. For clerical work more
than $4,000 is allowed by the Commits
sioners, when, according TO the experts
figures, $1,000 would be liberal compen sation.
Simpson & Millar are anxious 10 receive
$4,000, and the Guarantee little and Insur-
sncc Company $1,000 more. And for whatP
Echo only answers.
The expenses aggregate more than $3.50
At fair compensation for work well done
they should not exceed $4,000 or $4,000.
The aggregate assessment for damages ex-
ceeds 500 coo.
The property-owDers' committee does not
believe that the property could be sold to-
day for much more than one-tenth OF that
sum, and even that would be nearly double
the amount for which ii is assessed by the
County Assessor
The Property-ownerS' Association regard
the extravaganza OF the commission In the
light Of gigantic steal. and if consented to
by the Board of Supervisors will result in
the ruination OF many poor people and the
loss Of their homes.
The association is preparing to resist the
collection of the assessment, and believes
firmly that for its manifest incompetence
alone the Commissioners and their en-
ployes should be relegated, supperless, to
the obscurity from which they have un-
fortunately emerged.
A number OF the assessed owners were
seen yesterday. Nearly all of them seemed
to think that to guard against future evil
OF this sort the best plan was to help elect
the Non-Partisan candidates.