The morning call., 1895-01-21
TAXPAYERS PROTEST..
Noe Valley People Who Want
a Road.
PROMISES EASILY BROKEN.
The Railroad Does Not Live Up to
Its Franchise.
SUPERVISORS WILL BE APPEALED TO.
West of Castro Street Improvement Club
Formed by PrOperty.OWnerS.
What They Say.
SUPERVISORS WILL BE APPEALED TO.

The residents OF Noe Valley, west OF Cas-
tro street, are up in arms against the
Southern Pacific Company for its action in
making Castro street the western terminus
of the Twenty fourth street electric line,
while the franchise called for terminus at
Hoffman avenue.
1t is claimed by some that when the
franchise was asked for at the hands of the
Board of Supervisors the railroad people
did not intend to build to Hoffman ave-
nue., but let that impression get abroad to
prevent property-owners in that section
from Directing until the matter had been
settled to the corporations satisfaction.
1t was merely to divert traffic from Beh-
rend Joost's electric line by transferring
passengers to and from the Castro and Va
lencia street lines.
Others say that the franchise was &C
quired by the railroad to complete the
Corbett-road route by way of Hoffman
avenue and Twenty-fourth street. in case
franchise is gained on the former thor
oughfare. In either event. the company
has not lived up to its franchise or the
promises made to the people of Noe Valley,
and they are wroth. There are other
causes for complaint, such as planting iron
poles to carry the electric wires In the
middle of the sidewalks and tearing up
new bituminous pavements for the same
purpose; but they are minor matters.
After trying vainIy for some time to get
some expression from the company as to
its intentions the property-owners have
decided to take action and will ask the
Supervisors to annul the Twenty-fourth
street franchise if the road is not carried
on to Hoffman avenue. In order that their
protest against what they term railroad
- 4l,o1,
held largely attended meeting at the
house of John Collins, 1910 Twenty-fourth
street, yesterday and formed a permanent
organization, known as the West of Castro
Noe Valley Improvement Club. W. B.
Curtis was elected president, j. T. McCor-
mack secretary and John Collins treasurer.
An executive committee, consisting of
Messrs. Douglas, Born and Hume, and
railroad committee, composed of Messrs.
Curtis, Collins, Born, Sicily and Troy,
were appointed.
The railroad committee will call on Mr..
Huntington and see what can be done to-
ward persuading the railroad to live up to
its franchise and formulate other measures
in case their efforts in that line are futile.
The meeting then adjourned to the call
of the committee.
The members of the club are not back
ward in expressing their opinion of the
railroad company's action in stopping the
I should think that this was their intention
all the way through" said W. B. Curtis.
"When they began hauling materials, such
as ties and wire poles, none were carried
west of Castro street except those to be
used in stringing the terminal wires We
have talked with the contractor and find
that he has had no orders to bring materials
further west. Then they began stringing
wires yesterday and worked eastward from
Castro street, showing that that is to be the
terminus.
eve shall, of course, protest and see
what we can do toward getting the Super
yisors to force the company to live up to its
PEELED to wait for transportation until the
Corbett-road dispute is settled, and that
may take years."
John Collins was one of the most enthu-
siastic of the members, and wanted imme
date action taken.
81 had hoped, up to yesterday" he said,
"that the company would do what they
promised and what their franchise calls for
"a road to Twenty-fourth and Hoffman
avenue. But l see now that we are to be
left out in the cold. 1t is not fair, and we
do not propose to stand it. The Board of
Supervisors have the power to annul the
franchise, and we shall ask them to do so
if no other measures bring relief This
section is one of the best of the outlying
districts of the city, and it is a shame to
stop just at a point where we are left in as
bad a way regarding transportation facili-
ties as ever. The company knows that our
only way out is by their lines, and will
only do what is absolutely necessary to
head off other lines from reaching u.s.
sit looks to me as though we are help
less to do anything but protest" said
member who wished to have his name
withheld for business reasons. "When the
company was asking the Board of Super
visors for the franchise we were given
every assurance that the terminus would
be Hoffman avenue. Why, certainly it
would be Hoffman avenue. That was the
way the franchise read, and of course they
were bound by that. When it began to
look dubious we got up petition, but it
had not circulated far when we were told
that we were wasting time, that the road
was sure to go to Hoffman avenue and we
could feel secure in that. Now we must
adopt stronger methods, and in view of the
fate other sections of the city have met
with / think we can whistle for our road
unless the Supervisors take hand.'