The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-12-02

Offers 10. Sell to the City for
= Two. Thirds of. the Value for
q Which He Is Taxed.
The Mayor Reviews the Bid and Shows
How, No Inconsistency Can b
Saii5tO Exist.
OAKLAND OFFICE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, |
COS Broadway, Dec. /. (

SuO DIOdOWayl 0CSs IL
Much commerr.;is being made among
propefty-owners on the. fact that James
de Fremery, West Oakland landed pro-
prietor mas offered to sell TO the city for a
public park large tract Of land for $10,-
600, which is assessed for $4,000, and
which should be. according to the usual
calculation, worth a MARKETABLE price of
atleast $4,000.
Mr.. de Fremery has made his offer in
good faith in response to request by the
board of Works for tenders for the pur-
hose of ultimately. purchasing land for q
gp6bhc park. %
>. Mayor Davie is.one of the members of
the Board of Works, and hes has made
some inquiry into the facts and records,
which bear OUT his theory that tax levy
DIST fof Oakland is equivalent III proper
ten to levy offs 80 in Los Angeles.
1.-THE peculiarly of this offer of Mr.. de
Q fremery can aoPly be explained in one
way said the Mayor. There is no
doubt that properly in this city is assessed
g higher than anywhere else in the State.
This would work no hardship if the levy
5w6te0fn proportion. But some people do
q notlseem able to comprehend the fact that
aleVy of 81 on property assessed for. all
that at is worth is equivalent 70 levy of
50 on property that is only assessed for
half its values Only on this basis can the
public understand how Nh. de Fremery.
'ean. offer for $4,000 piece OF land as
2ssssed for Sic, 000.s
- ''The principle of high assessments is
what is. proving ruinous to this city. No
= one can doubt Mr.. de Erenery's business
o scUmen and everybody knows that he
asks fair value for that which be wishes
{. to Sell: This is a proof of what have
been. advocating fight along and many
who have ridiCufed my dollar tax levy
will perhaps now. see things in different
ightP.
:. E. g, Sessions. M. J. Keller, D. Edward
Collins, "A. y. Pryal and. ]. P: Taylor,
comprising the Board Of Trade COM
mittee who. are working to devise a
'mathod Of procuring public parks and
boulevards have made a partial report
In al about $500 acres in extent of lands
adjacent to the city have been offered in
parcels of various sizes for the desired
purpose
One paragraph of their report reads as
follows: I'VE would also recon- mend that
necessary steps be taken at once to pre-
pare legislative acts providing for man
agement by park commission and other
necessary details TO suit OUT requirements.
For this We shall need the service and adj
vice Of competent attorneys. We would
suggest the name of w. r. Davis aud
: Judge 4ule. Mr.. Davis was the author of
The present statutory provision concern
ing, the requirement of public parks, and
Judge Yule formulated the proceedings in
the recent issue OF school bonds"
The Council has provided in the tax levy
. for an outlay of $4,000 for small park in
West Oakland. Thas~committee recon-
. mend that in addition 20 this amount SIS
COO be raised by bonds so that the parks in
the western portion of the city can be OF
suitable proportion.