Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-22
CROWN CITY
QUESTION IN
BAD MIDDLE
ONLY "GENTLEMEN'S AGREE
MENT" BINDS COMPANIES
DILLON & HUR1ARD's ADVICE
IGNORED
-
"Rebates" Originally Intended to Re-
duce Cost Of Water Go Into
the Pockets Of Few
Shareholders
tcontlnuea from Psse ONE,

(Continued from Page one.)
the bonds to be the purchaser and take
over the property. This property is still
! in the possession of the city. That is all
that can be said for 1t as 1t is prac-
tically dormant and no attempt has been
made to develop water upon 1t for the
| use of Pasadena nor was any such at
tempt probably intended
Nothing In Escrow
| But when the mayor took up the mat
| ter of the Lake Vineyard company he
| found a different state of affairs. There
was no abstract of title in escrow nor
| was there vestige of contract of
| sale Thinking at first he would find the
| contract OF sale in the hands of z. j..
! Willett, city attorney under the Vedder
| administration, he asked the assistant
| city attorney to procure the papers. 1t
| is reported that Mr.. Willett remarked
| that the papers we're of no moment and
| the assistant city attorney returned to
| Mayor Waterhouse empty handed. Then
the mayor sent written request to At
torney Willett and asked for the contract
of sale and also the correspondence be-
! tween the attorney for the city and
Dillon & Hubbard, who had been
advising the administration on all
steps of the proceedings.
| line note remained ulldHSWbItu anu u
| telephone request was treated much IN
the same manner as the attorneys phone
was hung up before the conversation had
| been completed.
Upon the telegraphic request of the
! mayor Dillon e. Hubbard Immediately
| forwarded certified copies of the cores
pondence to Mayor Waterhouse, and
soon after their arrival the original cor
respondence was sent to the mayor vol
| UNFAIRLY by Attorney Willett.
City Is Enjoned
| In the meantime the city was enjoined
from buying the west side company by
several consumers in South Pasadena,
and upon the advice of Dillon e. Hubbard
given to Mayor Waterhouse personally
upon the occasion of a visit by him to
New York for the purpose the council
rescinded all previous proceedings on the
water question.
Now the wheel has turned again and
Va new administration, favorable they
claim, to municipal ownership, is endeav
! oring to carry out the acquisition of the
| systems.
| According to Mayor Farley the city can
| complete the deal and buy the property
of the companies. but according to the
| proposition as it was voted on by the
| people only that part of the property
used in supplying the greater part OF
Pasadena" can be bought. That would
| leave the water companies in possession
| of the distributing system outside the
| city on the south and east and any real
property owned by the company not used
| in supplying water to Pasadena.
To Use Revenues
| To take up the indebtedness that would
be incurred on account of the permanent
improvements Mayor Farley plans to use
all revenues above the actual cost of
running the systems and pay for all
repairs and improvements out of the
s1S0,OO0 set aside for betterments and i'm
provements in the bond issue.
In the minds of many this would be
in direct violation of his campaign pledges
not to pay for municipal improvements
| by direct tax
Instead Of levying the tax on the prop
| erty and equalizing it according to the
valuation of the property which 1t bene-
| fits Mayor Earley's plan will make thej
householder carry the burden and the
man who has no property will pay as
much as the man with much.
| The tourist, the transient and the resi-
dent alike will share the burden and the
property which will receive any benefits
that might accrue will be untaxed Tho
effect of the plan if carried out will be
to keep the water rate as high as at
present, and one of the directors of the
Lake Vineyard company is credited with
the statement that it will have to be
| higher. Then when the indebtedness Is
relieved the betterment fund will be ex
| hausted and the rates will have to be
kept up or increased to take care of the
improvements that will be made neces-
sary by the growth of the city.
Conflict on Values
| AS TO the value of the east side prop
erty there Is conflict of opinion. Mayor
| Farley admits that he believes that it is
| cheap at SS5 per share, but thinks that
the company is morally bound to sell at
the agreed price. C. C. Brown conceded
| to be a heavy holder of stock, says that
he will refuse an agreement to sell at ss5
Five years ago some of the stock charged
hands at s36 per share, but the strange
part that as yet remains unexpl aimed is
| the cheapness with which the original
stock can be converted into Lake Vine
| yard.
c. M. Parker president of the Lake
Vineyard company asked Frank Bushrell