The herald., 1897-04-20
"First-ro the Los Angelee city water

-
consult with your company with view
to the purchase of your plant.
LAS you are well aware the sentiment o
the people is strongly crystallized upol
the proposition of municipal ownership
of water system, and in obedience Il
this popular demand the present cit.
council feels it incumbent upon them t
take immediate STEPS looking to th'
purchase of existing plants or the con
struction of an entirely new system.
"The preliminaries and details of thi:
procedure having been delegated to this
committee il now becomes our pleasure
by virtue of the authority vested in u:
as above mentioned, to make known tt
you our desire for an early conference
with such members of your company as
you may choose for the purpose of TAX
| ing up, in frank, business-like manner
| the question of the purchase of the plant
of the Los Angeles City Water company
| by this municipality.
| "It is assumed on the part Of the COM
mittee that your company is not adverse
| to entertaining a discussion of this mat
! ter at this time and we beg to extend the
| assurance at the outset that it is the de-
| sire of this committee to approach the
matter in spirit of mutual confidence
| and frankness, having only in view a
final determination which will be at
once satisfactory to the people and fair
| to the company.
Awaiting an early reply which shall
name the time and place agreeable to
you for a conference. we remain. re-
epectfully."
Second-One copy each Of the fol-
lowing letter to the Highland Water
company and the West Side Water COM
pany:
AT a meeting of the city council held
January 49, 1897, the undersigned COM
mittee were authorized and instructed
to open negotiations with existing water
companies operating within the city lin
its looking to the purchase of their plants
in the event ii should be deemed desira-
BILE for the city to own the same.
THE main interest, as you know, CEN
ters upon the purchase of the Los Ange-
les City Water company's plant. and ne
gotiations looking to that end have now
been asked for by the committee, but it
appears to our committee that 1t will
also be necessary to take the matter up
with your company, inasmuch as the
plan which will be outlined for new
system would naturally include the ter
ritory in which you now operate.
I'm order that the committee may pos
sess itself of all the information neces-
sary to enable us to compare the costs
of existing plants with any new system
which the city engineer may devise, we
beg you to have you name the time and
place at which members of your COM
pany may meet the undersigned commit
tee and take up the matter of the pur-
chase OF your plant.
Awaiting your early reply, we are
respectfully yours"
Subsequently replies We're received
to same as follows: First, from the Los
Angeles City Water Company:
LOS ANGELES, Cal. March 9. 1897.
Honorable F. NJ. Nickel, Z. L. Blan-
chard and c. H Toll, water supply COM
mittee of the honorable council of the
city of Los Angeles: Gentlemen-Your
communication addressed to the Los
Angeles City Water company under date
of February 25th came to hand, and
upon a meeting of the board of directors
of the Los Angeles City Water company
and Crystal Springs Land and Water
company, recently held, your letters
were submitted to those boards; and
in pursuance of the authority given me
by them, have to answer that both cor
porations are willing to entertain a
proposition for the sale to the city of
Los Angeles of all the property that they
possess. and they have empowered me
to confer with you and TO enter into
discussion of the matter, with view OF
effecting such sale, and l am prepared
to meet you in the spirit which you sug-
gest, and if any proposition should be
made by you which appears to us to be
reasonable. measures will at once be
taken by the water companies to perfect
the agreement on. their part and carry
it into effect. AT any time. therefore,
that you may designate, l will meet you
with a view of discussing this matter
in a spirit of mutual confidence and
frankness, and with view to a final
settlement, fair and just to all. Re
spectfully yours,
IS. H. MOTT, Secretary"
Second. from the Highland Water
company:
LOS ANGELES, Cal. March 13, 1897.
IF NJ Nickel. chairman committee
on water supply, Los Angeles city coun-
Gil. Lear Nlt-1NtplS ms ~ Npui lawn
of February 25th, in reference to meet
ing between the Highland Water COM
pany aud your committee, looking to
the purchase of our works by the city
of Los Angeles. will say that we will
meet your committee at any time and
place that may be designated by you.
Yours truly.
"W. J. WASHBURN, Secretary"
Third, from the West End Water COM
pany:
los ANGELES, March A. 1897
"F. NJ. Nickel, chairman water supply
committee: Dear Sir-In reply to your
letter of February 25th, looking toward
the negotiation Of our plant, will say I
am instructed by the directors to in
form you that they have not contem
plated the sale of the plant Respect
fully yeors, r. W. MARTIN.
Secretary West Side Water company.
Station D. city,
formal meeting with the represent
atives of the Los Angeles City Water
company was delayed until April 9th,
1897, at which meeting the subject was
gone over in a general way and it was
decided to first inspect the various
properties on the ground, in order to
make all future study of details more
intelligible to the committee.
In keeping with this agreement. the
committee on April 18th and 18th, in
company with City Engineer Dock
weller and representatives of the Los
Angeles City Water company visited
the various reservoirs, pumping plants