The herald., 1893-08-12
HERE'S A PRETTY HOW-DE-DO,
The Street Paving Question in
Pasadena Stirred Up
By Private Report from Attorney
G. F. H. Palmer.
He Holds No Valid Contract Can Be
Made Under tho State OF Az
fairs = Tho Points OF
the Report.

For the past six months the matter Of
paving has been agitating the city of
Pasadena. Proceedings OF the council
have been gone over in some cases as
many as three times, owing to error,
and changed, and now, after bids have
been let for the work and large sums of
money spent in preliminary proceed
ings, 1t is found that, owing to blunders
in the proceedings, the whole thing
must be thrown up, as the contractor
could not collect one cent.
These facts have al come out through
a report furnished a committee of citi-
zens by Mr.. @. 7. H. Palmer. an expert
on paving matters, who was employed
to dig up the records of the councils
proceedings.
The report is voluminous and carries
with it full court proceedings, the ne
cessary requisites to complete invests
cation of such an important matter. 1t
is considered by some Of the best law.
yers of California to whom it has been
submitted one of the most thorough,
exact and sound opinions ever pro-
duced.
Its author, Mr.. @. T. H. Palmer, one
of the ablest attorneys in the state, has
for many years made specially OF
municipal bonds, paying particular at
tention to paving proceedings, and is an
expert upon the subject.
j His researches into the proceedings of
the city council, as will be seen from the
following extracts from his report have
been of most complete and thorough
character, covering as it does every step
of the proceedings, (most of which, by
the way, seems to have been in the
wrong direction) from the first to the
last, and pointing out as it proceeds the
errors and blunders which have charac-
terized the whole proceedings up to
date.
While the report is confined entirely
to Raymond avenue, 1t applies equally
we'll to Fair Oaks, as the council pro-
ceedings in both cases have been exact
ly the same, duplicates of articles affect
ing the Raymond avenue work being
used for Fair Oaks avenue, the name
alone being changed. For this reason
it was not necessary for Mr.. Palmer in
his report to carry along the Fair Oaks
avenue proceedings, as it would only
have entailed more work to no result,
Following is a brief summary of the
report:
To the property owners on Raymond avenue,
between Union and Vineyard streets, Pas
adena:
GENrLEMEN: Under retainer from
some of you for that purpose, have ex-
amined the proceedings r'the asphalt
paving of Raymond avenue, between
ek~ nke I'd n
result OF the examination hand you the
following report and opinion:
The first proceeding objected to, is
the neglect of officers to make proper
affidavits, to the fact that notices relative
to the work have been published.
Quoting from the general street act the
report sayB: Proof of the publication
or posting of any notice provided for
herein shall be made by affidavit of the
owner, publisher or clerk OF the news
paper or of the poster OF the notice" F."
No afidavits of the, various postings
have yet been made by seither of the
proper officials or OF any one for them.
1 have conyersed with both and looked
over their minutes OF the various post
ings and know as to what each Of them
is willing and able to swear.
A case ia here cited now in the supe-
rior court in which the question as to
whether these affidavits can be sworn to
after the proper time has gone by,
which il decided in the negative would
render all procedures void.
On this point the report says: "This
objection if upheld by the courts is OBJ
viously most serious and in this Ray
mond avenue matter for lack Of any affi-
davit OF posting the resolution Of inten-
tion or the notice of street work, as we'll
as any posting of the subsequent steps
it would be fatal"
The Alameda case upon this point)
went off few weeks ago on the insult
cheney of single affidavit, which neither
side had considered of sufficient irregu-
larity to notice in the argument at all.
The court sitting in banc then filed an
opinion that this same affidavit (Which
was in better torm than any l have
found on file in thir examination) was
insufficient, an while not deciding the
main point, advised that no steps in any
proceedings should ever be taken until
affidavits of the posting ard publishing
OF previous under previous steps had
been laid before the board.
Summing up, the report says Ray
mond avenue proceeding, most bat not
all proceedings, were filed within per-
fectly safe time, but are more or less ir-
regular, but no affidavit for any posting
haa yet been fled, and therefore if the
new constitution is finally supported
by the supreme court. the irresistible re-
suit of it will be to defeat the Raymond
avenue paving assessment to be issued
on completion of the work.
No assessment issued under the pres-
ent proceedings can be collected. Under
this heading the following occurs:
"On February 18th the board directed
the engineer to furnish estimates of the
cost OF pavement of asphaltum with
concrete base, including the cost OF
constructing necessary gutter and side
walks, and on February goth the board
accepted such estimates.
On February th the board declared
it's intention u order that Raymond
avenue between the lines already mem
toned "be paved with asphaltum pave
ment;" thus much and no more. These
words are as published, and recorded in
the minutes of the board. But in the
original resolution OF intention the text
reads, "be paved from curb to curb with
asphaltum pavement" the important
words, from curb to curb" having only
q blue pencil line run through them. On
the fact whether these four words are
properly included or excluded, arises the
question az to whether the aBphaltum
pavement is or not to extend over the
sidewalks.
ION March 2Sth, by resolution No 300,
specifications were adopted for paving