Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-29
MUST SET DATE
FOR ANNEXATION
CITY COUNCIL CANNOT DELAY
LONGER
Petition Of Cahuenga Valley Must Be
Acted on at Once II All sigma
tures Comply with the
Charter

afternoon City Attorney Mathews viii
instruct that body as to it's duty in
calling the special election for the an
nexation of the Cahuenga valley, in
Guiding East Hollywood, Griffith park
and extending as far south as Wiltshire
boulevard.
AS the petitioners who have de-
manded annexation have apparently
complied with every requirement of
the charter for such purpose, there
seems to be but one thing that the
city attorney can tell the council and
that is that it must set the day for the
special election. The petition pre-.
sented for annexation is signed by suf-
ficient number of voters to make 1t
mandatory on the part of the council,
according to the terms of the charter,
to call the election. This petition Is
not only signed by the residents and
property owners of the Cahuenga val
ley, who will be chiefly benefited by
the annexation, but also by prominent
business men of Los Angeles, who for
the most part carefully Investigated
the merits of the case before affixing
their signatures to the document.
Means More Taxes
They believe the city will be benefited
by taking in this territory, chiefly be-
cause it will add that much property,
assessable by the city and permit of
greater bonding capacity, If such
thing should be necessary, to complete
the owens river aqueduct. They rec
ognze that with the city's present out
standing Indebtedness the amount nec-
essary to bring the Owens river water
to- Los Angeles will force the bond is
sue to very rear the per cent of as
sessable property allowed by state law.
BY adding more territory the city's tax
income is raised in proportion.
The petitioners feel they have been
very patient. They submitted their re-
quest for annexation to the council
last May. At that time they could
have demanded that the council call
the election for time not less than
thirty days following a certificatiGn by
the city clerk. But special election
costs the city several thousands of dol
lars. At that time the Municipal
league was warning the council that
it was facing a big deficit in it's
finances. The consolidation commit
tee was expecting to bring its plans to
a head soon. So the council asked the
petitioners to wait until they could
hear fro.I, the consolidation committee
and talk it over with the water
board.
Others Seek Annexation
At the same time property owners
living in ih, territory adjoining the
city on m; west, between Wiltshire
boulevard ard Jefferson street, asked
that they be given time to present
petition for annexation of their prop
erty and that the special election to be
called for the Cahuenga valley be made
to include their strip also. Time was
granted, but the petition for the sec
ond strip was not sufficiently signed
to compel action by the council. The
water board ssid it had no particular
objections to Cahuenga valley, as 1t
was we'll supplied with water and
would not make any drain on the sup
ply Of the city proper.
But still the council delayed, until
last Monday Judge ]. w. Mitchell and
others who are interested in the annex
alton of the Cahuenga valley asked that
the councI. take immediate action.
The counoli asked for the city attor-
ney's advice in order to effect another
delay.
The desire of the council for delay
at this time is not due so much TO
financial reasons as to fear that the
project may have a detrimental effect
in the annexation of the long arm that
is to stretch from the southern boun-
daries of the city to the very doors
OF Wilmington and San Pedro.
Special Election November IL
The special election for this strip,
sixteen miles long and averaging half
a mile Wide has been called for No
yember ~. On that date the citizens
of Los Angeles and those in the terri
tory proposed to be annexed will vote
on the question of whether they want
to extend the city'S boundaries to San
Pedro and Wilmington, in order to
make it possible at some later cleo
tion for these places to be annexed
to the city also, thus giving to Los
Angeles the control of the harbor.
Annexation of the territory to the
south will include Ascot park and
bring it under the Jurisdiction of the
city and the ordinance which prohibits
pool selling at races within the city
limits. If the election carries 1t Is
probable the racing association will
leave Ascot and go to Arcadia.
The long arm will include all or parts
of the following towns and villages:
Sunnyside, Hill Crest, Iona Vista,
Athens, Howards, Strawberry Park
Gardena, HermoSa, Rancho San Pc
dro, Dominguez ranch, Carson ranch
and Rancho Los Palos Verdes.
Gardena Objects
Gardena, the largest place in the
strip, is said to be opposed to the an
neXation, as the property owners fear
their taxes will be greatly increased,
They also object to the plan because
the line was not extended to take in
the tracks of the Los Angeles and Re-
dondo ana Los Angeles and San Pedro
which are ten feet outside
the proposed incorporation limits, and
which, if included, could have charged
only scent fares.
Their objections are being largely
overcome, however, by a committee of
the chamber of commerce, which is
making an active campaign through
the strip. This committee is composed
of Walter Haas, chairman; r. w.
Pridham, Frank b. Harbert, Milton
K. Young and John G, Mott, with r.
L. Chesebro as secretary. This COM
mittee spends its time in riding
the territory and talking with
the voters.
The committee advances the follow
ing arguments to the voters: The para
mount object of the annexation is to
make the city of Los Angeles con-
tiguous to the boundaries of Whining |
ton and San Pedro with the ultimate |
object of consolidating these three
cities so that all may reap the bene-
fits of a seaport; through the added
strength of these three cities the gov
will be willing to appropriate