Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-23
Three Weeks Delay Asked

| at a meeting of business men and
| bankers held yesterday afternoon in
! the chamber of commerce. 1t requests
the council to defer all action relative
! TO the selection or purchase of the
! Temple block for three weeks.
At the meeting in the chamber of
commerce the sentiment was almost
wholly against the purchase of Temple
block. However, there were some
present who either refused to express
their views or were outspoken in favor
of civic center and the purchase of
Temple block as the first step towards
the civic center. The principal objec-
ton raised to the Temple block was
that it is out of the present business
district and that 1t would be detri-
mental to the best interests of the city
to place the city hall there. One
speaker said that 100000 would build
an addition to the present city hall
and that such an addition would take
care of all city offices for some time
to come.
o. T. johnson was chairman of the
meeting and J. II. Spires secretary.
Those who attended were M. A. Ham
burger, George w. Walker, w. j. Hol-
lingsworth, Gilbert Wright, A. E. Far
ish, Homer Laughlin, jr., William w.
Mines, o. E. Scottan, DIR. NJ. e. Spinks,
John d. Hooker, Walter Storey, DR..
Henderson Hayward, ]. B. Lanker-
SHIN, Arthur Let's, Dean Mason and
j. E. Carr together with representa-
tives of several of the largest banks
and trust companies in the city.
NJ. A. Hamburger was the first of
the gathering to speak. He stated that
he was opposed to the selection of the
Temple block for the city hall site for
the principal reason that it was out
aF hn Of ha 1f ~ os+
and that the property in time would
not advance as much in value to the
city as if it were situated in a more
likely center. Mr.. Hamburger urged
the selection of a city hall site in the
center of the city, where it could be
made the show place of Los Angeles.
o. T. Johnson was opposed to the
Temple site on much the same grounds
and stated that the city should en-
large its present accommodations by
building an addition on the vacant lot
next to the present city hall on Broad
way. He claimed that $60,OO0 would
build a five or siX-story building on
the vacant lot, and that the city would
get along very nicely with those ac-
commodations.
Oscar e. Parish would not commit
himself either one way or the other,
and apparently did not care to lead Off
in the matter, and later left without
signing the petition. His partner, W.
w. Mines, was strenuously opposed to
any other site than the Temple block
but signif1ed his willingness that the
council be requested to delay action for
three weeks, when he would have time
to look into the matter more thor
oughly.
Dr. Spinks said that it was only a
question of five or ten years when
there would be city and county consol-
idation, and that he believed the pur-
chase of the Temple block at this mo-
ment was poor business for the city.
Many others stated their opinions,
among them a representative of the
Trustee company.
The petition to the council reads as
follows:
To the Honorable Body of City
Council:
We, the undersigned citizens and
taxpayers of the city of Los An
geles, at a meeting held at the
chamber of commerce committee
room, respectfully request your
honorable body to defer further ac-
ton relative to the purchase of the
Temple block for city hall site
for period of three weeks, as we
do not believe that it is to the city's
best interest to make said pur-
chase.