The San Francisco call., 1909-03-07
NEUGEES III
AkEAYETEE Pax
WORTH $1,G5O.OOO

The city owns z12 school sites OF an
average size OF a so vara Iot. excsDs
In the outlying section. where they ara
larger All but 10 OF these range
through a great variety OF values. sons
having business situations. such al the
Mission high school. on Mission street
tut beyond Sixteenth. but most having
ordinary residence section valuation
The total. excluding the Lincoln school
site. is s5.1O0.ooO.
Engine lots are scattered mors
sparingIy. making total OF 1T All
bat few OF these would bring prices
similar TO the school lots. They ara
mostly 25 feet wide. The one on OfFar-
rell street. a short distance from Mar
ket and opposite one OF the entrances
TO the Phelan building. Is worth 50. oos
front foot. or $4,000 There are sew
eral others worth good prices. brIn gfnR
the total value Up 10 s7e5.000.
The city rarely sells. but It buys con-
tinually- One OF the most recent pur-
chaSes was OF Fairgrounds for the chill
dren- This was something that was
not thought or IN the beginning and
used the street as a playground IN thu
old order OF things. but the increasing
use OF automobiles has made this un-
safe Modern conditions IN general,
and systematic exercise IN particular
demand regular Fairgrounds. 80 Tia
present board OF supervisors appro-
priatsd s74o.o0o for this purpose. OF
this 50 far s52s.T25 has been spent for
IS lots IN the more thickly populated
sections OF the city
Whatever the city needs Il buys. r.
gardless OF expense. St Mary's square
IS an example OF this The movement
TO secure this square was started IN
1885. and only lack OF funds has pre-
vented II being completely carried cut
Inquiring about It I found that few
people had ever heard OF 10 or knew
where it was. ana Il was with ths
greatest surprise that many learned 10
was the block bounded By Kearny. Du-
pont, Pine and California Lots have
been bought up there a. they could Be
obtained until s10s.9s5 has been az
pended. The rest Is estimated as being
worth s550.o00. This viii also be
bought IN due time.
The park extension might have been
set aside IN the beginning for the cost
OF surveying. but no one could know oe
the growth OF the Richmond district
aud the necessity OF = wide airspacs
there.
For. many years most OF the property
IN this section belonged to the Sutro
estate and does yet During the liza
tine OF Adolph Sutro. Il - told bY
real estate men. that he had q Fixed va
us on blocks OF $4,000, regardless os
location. and that II H de Young
was n steady purchaser at that prica
Whenever Sutro needed ready monsy,
he wrote out = deed to a block and
sent II to de Young. who would hasten
q check for $4,000 back By the same
messenger.
The Great highway. only a portion
az which fs used as q boulevard. also
belongs 20 the city. Sutro forest and
the Sutro baths do not. although Il IS
ths general impression that they do.
On the other hand Seal Rocks. which
originally oelongsd 20 thu federal gov
ernmsnt. w4s decided 70 san Francisco
By congress ~to BE maintained as a
resort for seals" The suprems court
having recently decided that most or
the blocks upon which the other re-
sorts along the Great highway are To-
Gated belong to the city. II Is likely
Bcon 10 be ths only resort sn that
snd sf ths beach.