The herald., 1896-10-12
HOT WATER.

Editor Herald: l notice in your paper
of yesterday an article in regard to
a so-called street obstruction at the
southeast corner of Ord and CASTELAR,
streets. The lot is owned by G. Fl. Smith
of Pasadena and myself, on which are
two buildings, occupying front space of
some so feet. The balance of the 'front.'
age, 40 feet, has a fence. all of which are
inside of what has been recognized as
| the street line for the last twenty or
| twenty-five years. Said buildings have
occupied this ground during this time.
| Not only this, all the buildings north of
| this corner are practically on the same
| line AS said article does not do justice
| to the owners of said property, l trust
you will give me hearing through the
| columns of your paper. 1t being about
time for city election, what l shall say
may interest the voters Of this city.
In order to make things plain it seems
necessary to review the action of the
city authorities. Some time in June
| last the city contracted with Messrs.
| Stansbury & Moore, while l was gone
east to grade CASTELAR, street from ORD
to Bellevue avenue. A few days a1ter
I returned home, in July. met the con-
tractors. They informed me that their
| contract was nearly completed, and that
| the street superintendent had told them
he could not nor would accept the job
until they moved all the fences and
buildings on the exact line of said street
| back far enough to make the sidewalk
twelve feet wide. or the street eighty feet
| wide. This would make the street five
feet wider than Ord made 1t when he
| made the original survey, in accordance
with a contract entered into by him with
| the city. And there has been no action
by the city to widen said street, other
| ,hny ha MI
/ engineer. He took the original map
| and arbitrarily drew red line on each
| side of said street, cutting off from two
| to three feet on each side in order to
make it so feet wide. No action of the
city has ever been taken to legalize said
lines.
| After my talk with the contractors
I Immediately set to work to ascertain
whether we were obstructing the street
| Gas stated by them) or not. And l
| found the facts to exist as stated above.
or course the contractors, like sensible
| men, could not make themselves be-
lieve even by the aid of the street
superintendent, or the order of very
wise and pompous city attorney, that
it was their duty to proceed to destroy
| private property for street purposes
1 then received a notice from the street
superintendent to move our buildings
and fence within so many days; if l
/
at once called on the street superintend-
| ent to see and learn his authority for
such proceedings. He informed us that
he was following the instructions of the
city attorney, and he proposed that we
go to the city attorneys office, which we
did. We failed to find Mr.. Dunn, but
found one of his little deputies away up
on the top perch, almost out of sight
and hearing of common people. I asked
the beardless youth about the matter
and he replied that they had instructed
the street superintendent not to accept
the work on said street until the OBJ
structions We're removed and the wiGth
of the street conforned to the lines they
had established.
We then sent in communication to
the city council asking that the proceed
ings be stayed until the lawful lines of
said street We're established. This was
referred to the city attorney. ] heard
no more regarding their decision until
one of our tenants came and told me
some one was tearing down our fence.
/ at once went to the place and found
| our fence torn down, and the parties do
ing the work had gone, presume, after
their house moving paraphernalia. l
at once resolved to give them warmer
reception than any king or potentate
ever got Hence we supplied ourselves
with plenty of hot water About this
time the men that tore the fence down
a day or two before began to arrive.
| AS they were about to commence on the
fence again I demanded their authority
for doing what they had done and were
about to do again. They replied that the
street superintendent ordered them to
do it. We told them If they meddled
! with our fence or buildings they would
get their fingers burned, as we had
plenty of hot water to do 1t with. The
| deputy street superintendent then or
! dered his men to charge on the works,
which they did with crowbars, ETC., and
of course we commenced to tender the
warm reception PROMISED. When say
we, 1 mean Mr. G. H. Smith of Pasadena
and myself. I desire to say the men
sent there to do the dirty work the
city attorney had laid out for them to
| Go did their duty faithfully. OF course
| they could do no more than to retreat
and report to headquarters. In behalf
| of the contractors I will say that we
| think they have done their work ac-
cording to the specifications, and ought
| to have their pay, and we are in favor
| of the street superintendent accepting
| the street as it is.
| Now, am a great admirer of an
| honest, Jealous officer, but when they
get so Jealous that they attempt to
confiscate private property, for the ben
| eft of the city, think 1t time to call a
| halt and give such officials rest-at
| least long enough to go a-f1shing; and
| I would suggest that they select pond
| where bullheads predominant, for the
| sake Of congeniality.
E. K. GREEN.
Los Angeles. Oct. (