The San Francisco call., 1909-09-03
ARM FOR FIGHT
UPON FILLMORE
NICKEL SHOWS
Improvement AssOciatiOnttO Sift
SaIOOnmen's Boasts of
Certainty of Permit
Resent Insurance Rates and
y Say Police Board Showed
s Scant Courtesy

One Of The wrmest fights that has
come before the board Of police COM
nlissioners in, several months is prom
ised for the session tonight when the
merchants Of Fillmore street viii ap-
pear in a body. represented by legal
ceunseis 10 protest against the grant
ine. n permits which have been ap-
piled for TO open a saloon and nickel
odeon at Fillmore and Eddy streets.
Special interest is attached to the
threatened battle. for the reason that
il is asserted that the applicants for
tie Iicenses}in question have offered to
wager large amounts that they win
gam taeir end. and have defied the
Aiflnaore street Improvement associa-
.tion to- hall1, their plans. The enemy
p against whom the Fillmore street inn
p~oiemeng association is TO measure
= Its prowess. tonight consists of Boas
Pike. Edward Fano, Charles Rothschild
and.,a: partner named Frohman. who
are a5pIkcants for the nickelodeon Ii
ice3lse.. and Frederick Meyer. the appli
cant Tor a saloon permit.
HAVE. ENOUGH NICKEBODEONS
10. EFFORT is to be made by the Fill
more street merchants TO secure revo-
"a idr. af any existing licenses, but the
stand is 10 be taken that enough
saloons and njckelodeons now exist in
the. street and that no more should be
allowed. A threatened raise in insur-
ance rates and a desire TO continue
oh
cuehfare are the motives inspiring the
,s-crion of the association. It is claimed
thar the- granting of further saloon and
q nftKel lodeon licenses will work injury
to tlse. merchants of the street, and the
s peetiiosrs 10 be presented to the board
of police commissioners tonight is
: signed hy approximately 200 property
owners and lessees.
~ The nickeIodeon and saloon promot-
ers whose permits are to come before
2 1h6 board for action tonight are said
10 have expended about $4,000 in pre-
pairing the old Louvre site at the
. seltbeast corner of Fillmore and Eddy
: street for opening without having hrst
secured their permits. The Fillmore
street property owners take umbra ge
at the fact that these applicants have
made al preparations to open business
a. though the securing of permits was
4 mere matter of form dependent solely
stein. vice president Of the Fillmore
street Improvement association and
chairman Of the special committee of
. protest. declared last night that Pike
had declared 10 him that the permit
would be secured in spite of the asso-
-cistion. and that Pano had offered TO
bet another member of the association
s. 900 that the permits would be
granted.
Fsr-srR Fs-ST-RaNCFc RAISE
Tie Fillmore street merchants will
be represented before thel board tonight
by Attorney l. J. Brown of the legal
firm of sNogelsanger & Brown, and es-
pecisl stress will be laid upon the ar
gument that the granting of more
nickelodeOn permits viii result in the
raising Of the already high insurance
rates In support Of this claim the as
sociation is armed with letters from
the board OF underwriters refusing to
reauce~rates on account of the number
Of uickelodeons already existing and
declaring that the rates will be raised
ii more nickelodeOns are installed
IN the IA blocks in Fillmore street
represented by the signers of the pc
tition there are 80 saloons, while there
are nine nickelodeons within six
blocks in the very center Of the dis
trict No objection will be raised to
the existing places. but the merchants
voted TO such lines Of business are
taken only under short leases or month
ly rentals and that within a few
months, or a year at most, these
places viii cease to exist and the
property surrounding them viii greatly
depreciate in value
Attention viii be called tonight 10
the fact that the Fillmore street inn
provement association has done a great
deal toward the upbuilding of the
street since the fire. The association
was primarily responsible for the pur-
chase Of $4,000 of ga per cent street
bonds after the fire. installed the arch
lighting system at cost of $4,000.
fnaugursted the movement which led
10 the installation of an extra FIRE de-
partment service and is now installing
banging lamps at the street intersec-
tions 10 Secure all night lighting.
EXTRA HAZARDOUS RISKS
The insurance feature is made the
Ynost important argument against the
granting OF further nickelodeon per
nits. NicKelOdeons are accepted as
extra hazardous risks. and IT is alleged
that surrounding property owners and
lessees are forced TO pay the same
heavy premiums on account of the pres
once Of the amusement places.
Adelstefn declared last night that
other protests had been made by the
Fillmore street Improvement associa-
zion to the board Of police commission
srss from time to time. but that they
had ali been received with scant cour-
fesy. II is the intention of the assocl-
stf0n TO make the fight tonight the
most serious one II has undertaken and
10 do everything in it's power to pre-
vent the granting OF the permits which
have been. applied for.