Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-08

DY vote Of 42S against to 81 for
~ the voters Of San Pedro yesterday
- defeated the freehoders' char
ter.
This means, without n shadow of
doubt, according to those fully con-
versant with the sentiment in the
harbor city, that within sixty days
from today consolidation between Los
Angeles and San Pedro will have be-
come an absolute fact.
The Los Angeles city and county
consolidation commission, now that the
threatened obstacle to consolidate has
been removed by the voters of San
Pedro, will lose no time in bringing to
q vote, the result of which now Is con-
sidered a foregone conclusion, the
question of actual consolidation be-
tween the metropolis of Southern Cali
fornfa and the harbor city of the
southern coast.
Possibly today, and not later than
tomorrow will be begun the circula-
tion of petitions asking the city coun-
Gil of Los Angeles to call a special
election for the purpose of voting on
the question of consolidation with San
Pedro.
To Come Before Council Monday
There will be employed by the con-
solidation commission a large number
of canvassers, in order that the re-
quired number of signatures may be
obtained within the briefest possible
time.
Twenty per cent of the vote cast at
the previous general election is re-
quired. AS the vote in Los Angeles
was approximately 10000, the number
of signatures necessary will be about
5000.
1t is expected that with a sufficient
force of canvassers a number of sig
natures greatly in excess of the legal
requirements can be obtained before
the end of the present week.
1t is the intention of the consolida-
ton commission to present these petit
tions to the city council of Los An
geles at the regular meeting of that
body next Monday. 1t is expected that
the petitions will be passed upon at
once and that the election will be
called for a date within the sixty days.
The law makes it mandatory upon
the council to call an Immediate cleo
tion," but it is believed that the date
will be set for about sixty days from
the date of the presentation of the pc
titionS.
To Ignore Board of Trustees
1t is the intention of the consolida-
ton commission and the leaders of
the consolidation movement in San
Pedro to ignore the board of trustees
of San Pedro in the proposed consoli-
dation election.
The law provides that petitions call
ing for an election on the question of
consolidating two municipalities may
be presented to the governing body of
each or of either.
In the case Of San Pedro the petit
tions circulated in that city will not
be presented to the trustees, owing to
the spirit of hostility that has been dis
played by some of it's members to the
consolidation plan, and instead they
will be brought to Los Angeles and
presented to the city council on the
same day that the Los Angeles petit
tions are laid before that body.
Thus the board of trustees will have
no part in bringing about the consoli-
dation of the two cities and the official
lives of the members will go out of
existence when consolidation is eff
fected.
Under the law Los Angeles and San
Pedro, within six months from the date
Of consolidation, must adopt a free
holders charter for the government of
the consolidated cities.
This charter probably will follow the
lines of the so-called Fuller system of
government, which was adopted as the
charter for Greater New York. This
provides for the borough system of
government, under which each bor-
ough practically is self-governing.
Each borough has three commission
ers and president. The commission
ers of all the boroughs form one CEN
trail body while the presidents form the
upper house of the same body. The
boroughs separately vote upon the
question of local option, while the com.
missioners of each are responsible for
street and other local improvements.