The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-05-01
AGAINST THE. Plan

THE opponents OF the civic center project hold that
San Francisco viii have great dnculty in selling
the SIS, 0ee.e00 of bonds New York bond buyers who
must be depended on to buy San Francisco bonds will
look upon this issue with disfavor The New York
banking law prohibits savings banks from buying
bonds of a municipality whose bond issues exceed
per Of its assessed valuation While this is the
law for savings banks il is also rule with bond
buyers If these bends are issued this city viii have
q total bonded debt Of s32.3241ee The cityss last
assessed valuation s4540oo.ooo and per cent of
that is less than the total proposed bonded debt These
figures would make bond buyers cautious.
San Francisco needs money for water, and the pro-
posed bond issue has serious bearing this para
mount municipal need Water debts are usually seq
regated from other municipal obligations because they
self-supportng. This will be the case for
eral years with San Francscos debt. The Hetch
Hetchy system viii not be self-supporting for 10
years so it not be disregarded in this connec-
ton If the Spring Valley system is bought it will
be self-supporting until after necessary extern
sions, costing about s2000000 are made On this ac-
San Franciseos water debt must be regarded in
very much the her other bonded indebted
ness. Bond buyers bound to regard il Can
this city afford imperi sale OF her water bonds
for the sake of civic CENTER
The bonds viii be hard 10 sell for other reasons
These bonds must be sold competition with other
coast cities which have bonds to market Los Angeles
has bonded debt of 50 1872 1S7 which is less than one
and threefourhs per cent of her valuation
San Francisco proposes to bond herself up to per
cent of her assessed valuation How can she compete
in the bond market with Los Angeles and other coast
cities which have smaller bonded debts?
The bonded debt. per capita in San Francisco is
$3.50 With bonds still be sold and proposed
issue, the bonded debt per capita will be brought
up $50 and more per capita Baltimore's bonded
debt, with FIRE only few years back is $50; Chi
Cages is only s1o that of St Louis is s25; Detroits
is SIS.
San Francisco issued s1s2oo.0oo of bonds in 1908
OF these sSeS0.000 have been sold al good premiums
There still remains of that issue $500 eo If the
bond issue is voted 1t is safe K say that the city
will not get such high premiums the rest Of the
1908 issue. And how about the new issue? Those
bonds Of 1908 were ) per cent bonds: the proposed
bonds TO be AZ per cent bonds.
It may be true that San Francisco viii not need
any bond issues for many years If the proposed
issue is voted but how about the state? San Fran
cisco payers must bear their share of the burden
of state bonds. Right California is asked to
issue s1s.00o000 of state bonds TO provide for
state highway system The levy for this particular
sS00o000 of proposed civic center bonds NAV be COM
paratiyely light, but taken with the other state and city
tax burdens. it viii help TO load down the rate
payer.
San Francisco does not depend upon beautiful
buildings civic centers the ike to attract settlers
and visitors 1t is the wonderful charm of this citv
life, the abiding atmosphere which has made the civ
famous People do not go To Paris or Brussels he
caus the public buildings Of those cities are srounad
with architectural correctness Can not San Fran
cisco wait years, where old world cities have waitAs
centuries. for public improvements which are mn f
paramount Importance like water and projections