Arizona republican., 1903-11-05
The Official Maintenance ofa Nulsance

The Official Maintenance of Nuisance
 No action having followed the pro- tests of citizens frequently made in private. it becomes necessary to re- mind the board of supervisors public ly that they are maintaining an out rageOus nuisance in permitting the so- called city pest-house to remain where it is. That institution is not only within the city limits. but is in fine residence neighborhool. It should be tagious diseases should be erected near the river. say. where inconvenience and injury could be inflicted upon nobody.
 The tract of land whereon the objec- tionable institution is at present sit uated comprises several acres in the northwestern part of the city. Resi- dence property in the vicinity is great ly injured in value by the proximity of the pest-hOuse. and the annoyance to which residents are subjected should not be tolerated. It is not alone the residents of that district who have a grievance. The entire city is interest ed. for anything that hurts one section of the town hurts all sections. More over. hundreds of Phoenix citizens ev- cry winter have to undergo the humli- iation of explaining to visitors that this eyesore on the landscape is a pest house. Sensitive tourists avoid the lnRal lirV fh ha Black Canyon road. one of the finest drives in Arizona. Is summed by prac- tically everybody.
 The property now used for pest house purposes would be very valuable if the incubus were removed, It could be sold readily for enough to build mod ern and commodious hospital else where. The proceeds would be amply sufficient to meet the needs of both city and county-provided there wasn't too much graft in the transac- tion. From a business standpoint. therefore. absolutely no reason exists for the failure of the supervisors to heed the protests of outraged citizens of Phoenix.
 The offense lies with the supervisors, for. while the institution is used by both the county and the city, the property is owned by the county. It cannot be claimed that a pest-house located more remotely from the center of population would cost more to ope- rate. The only difference would be the added inconvenience which the county and city health officers might suffer in having to go farther to see patients afflicted with conta gious diseases. But this is matter which ought not to concern the supervisors any more than 1t concerns the public. The position of health officer for either county or city is practically Q sinecure most of the year. and there would be no public outcry should there be evidence that the physicians on salary were doing little more travelling in order to earn their money.
 When the Hon. Jake Miller democrat ic statesman. was making his race for supervisor last year. he permitted 1t to be understood that one of his first official performances would be the re moval of the rest-house to a point out side the city; 1t was understood. in fact. that he stood pledged to that action. IL IS time for the Hon. Jake tc make good. Every winter brings its us- ual quota of smallpox cases. The smallpox is confined to the Mexican population. 1t is true. and is rarely fatal. but 1t is just as much a nuis- ance to have smallpox cases at a hos pital fin a residence district of the city as if the disease were dangerous to the And there is no time to lose if the authorities would provide a new pest house for city patients.
 It is a subject which should have the earnest attention of Mayor Ben nett and the city council Perhaps they can succeed in bringing the su- pervisors out of their trance