The record-union., 1896-03-17
AGAINST THE OIL HOUSE.
The Ordinance Vetoed by Mayor Hubbard
Last Night.
When the Matter Came Before the
City Trustees the Veto Was
Sustained.

The Standard Oil Company's pro-
posed oiI-storage warehouse at Eight
eenth and streets will not be erected.
At last evenings session of the City
Trustees Mayor Hubbard sent in mes
sage vetoing the ordinance passed by
the board week ago, and it was sus-
tanned.
When the message was read, Trustee
Kent moved that the veto be sustained.
Trustee Davis said a similar ordi-
nance, he thought, was introduced
some months ago, and that it was rec
commended by the Chief Engineer Of the
fire department. On that account he
had promised to vote for this one and
had done so. He had asked the author
to withdraw it, but it was not done, and
he should now vote to sustain the veto.
The motion was carried, Mckay and
Tozer not voting.
THE MESSAGE.
To the Honorable Board of Trustees:
herewith return to you without my ap-
proval Ordinance No. -, entitled IAN
ordinance granting the Standard Oil
Company the right and privilege to con-
struct and maintain warehouses and
tanks for the storage of oil, petroleum
and its products"
There are, in my opinion, several good
reasons why this ordinance should not
be passed.
First-Ordinance No. $50 provides
that no building or warehouse shall be
licensed for the purpose of storing oils,
etc, except upon the recommendation
of the Chief Engineer of the Fire De-
partment and a majority of the Board
of Trustees of the city of. Sacramento.
Your board have no recommendation
from the Chief of the Fire Department
to permit such a warehouse TO be con-
structed or used, and. as a matter Of
fact, the Chief of the Fire Department
has appeared before your board and
protested against the passage of this
ordinance 1 believe that, so long as
Ordinance No. $50 is in force, your
board should be governed by it; If it is
not a wise provision, before acting con-
trary to it, you should repeal the ordi-
nance. Beside, if this proposed ordi-
nance should be enacted by your board
it would operate as a virtual repeal
without express words to that effect of
Ordinance No $50, for the reason that
If this ordinance should pass it would
afford an opportunity to others who
may be desirOus of conducting a similar
line of business to ask at the hands of
your board the passage of such an ordi-
nance as would permit them to con-
Struct and maintain a warehouse in
some other location or locations of the
city for similar purposes; and this re-
quest on their part, in order to avoid
unjust discrimination, would, as a mat
ter of justice, have to be granted. It
will thus be seen, therefore, that the
passage of such ordinances in compli-
ance with such requests would be in
plain violation and contravention of the
wise and salutary provisions of said Or
dinance No. $50.
Second-Ordinance No. 317, passed
July "A, 1893, granted the Standard Oil
Company the right to construct and
maintain an oil warehouse and oil tanks
on the northwest corner of the block
bounded by B, c, Twenty third and
Twenty-fourth streets, or the northeast
corner of Twenty-third street directly
opposite. If the Standard Oil Company
should construct its warehouse at this
point (Twenty-third and B streets) il
would be as far removed from the resi-
dence portion of the city as it would be
at any point within the city limits, and
l feel satisfied that no objection would
be raised by property owners in that vi
cinity.
Third-Whether there is any great
danger of fire from such a warehouse is
question upon whicn I do not desire tc
pass. 1t is a conceded fact that the
people who live in that vicinity have a
dreaded fear of fire from warehouses in
which are stored oil, petroleum and its
products, and it is this fear whether
real or imaginary, on their part which
constitutes a menace to the property
and property values in that portion OF
the city. The locality in which this
warehouse is desired to be constructed
is one which is being rapidly populated
and there are many people residing and
many others intending to reside there
who, by hard labor and the closest
economy, have managed to accumulate
means sufficient to purchase property
there upon which to erect their homes
Tt seems to me it would work a great
injustice to these people to permit that
which is generally reared to be a men
ace to property to be maintained and