The herald., 1897-03-06

meeting Of the council on Monday
last II was ordered that the franchise
for Daily street be granted and adver-
tised for sale.
''The granting Of this franchise, in the
Judgment of citizens of East lbs Ange-
les, means the abandonment OF the
franchises beyond DAILY street on the
Mission road and Griffin avenue. THIS
company has held this most .valuaple
franchise for nearly two years, ana
thereby prevented other citizens from
building a much needed railway, and re-
tarded the growth Of this part OF the
city. The failure to complete the road az
provided in the original franchise VIII
infiict serious loss on the citizens oi
East Los Angeles. Griffin avenue is loo
feet in width. running through the cen
ter of the most populous portion OF East
Los Angeles, while Daily street Is only W
feet wide and portions of 1t not yet
opened"
Joseph Mesmer, proprietor of the
Queen shoe store and a resident OF East
Los Angeles, also said to the Herald
yesterday: I'm common with q great
many other people residing on the East
Side was astonished to learn on Mon
day that franchise for an electric road
on DAILY street from Mission road to
Pasadena avenue had been granted by
the city council and advertised for sale.
Also that this action should have been
taken by the council without the knowl-
edge of a great majority of the residents
of that locality. l have since learned
that our councilman. f. M. Nickel,
begged his colleagues to give his con-
stituents a hearing and asked that the
matter be postponed, until they could
be informed. But the council saw fit to
override him and the wishes of our peo-
ple A parallel case have never heard,
where the people have been denied the
opportunity to express their Will The
right of way to a railroad and the occu-
patton of public streets Is given for the
benefit of the people residing in the To-
cality through which the road runs. and
not for the benefit of outside territory
1 look upon this denial of the right of
the people to be heard, not as a local
question. but applicable to the entire
city. 1t certainly establishes most
dangerous precedent"
George 8. Stafford of the California
Truck company and a resident of East
Los Angeles, spoke as follows: II think
that the action OF the council in regard
to the Daily street franchise was hasty
and ill-advised. That same company
has had various franchises over there
for five or six years. They had fran
chise granted them to run out the Mis-
sion road on to Pasadena. Then they
EOt duOtHcT oHc Out 1iiiiii dNShoN ohN
up through the arroyo to connect with
their present line coming in from Pasa-
dena Now, they have held those fran
chises since and done nothing except
to build a short piece of track on Macy
street I think the company should be
compelled to build over the line for which
they have been granted franchises be-
fore they receive another franchise.
They don't even offer to abandon or give
up the franchises heretofore granted.
but ask for others. I am not opposed
to the company receiving the Daily street
franchise, providing they first build on
the others. But their promises do not
seem to hold good. and I should de-
mand security. All they have done thus
far for us is to tie up our streets and
prevent others from building road. AT
public meeting held on the East Side
about two months ago Messrs. Sherman
and Clark being present, Mr.. Sherman
stated that the company would build
the road on Griffin avenue, for which
they were granted franchise"