Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-05

by the new council. ThC
mayor regards a new charter as of pri
mary importance, and he advocated tht
same procedure that was gone through
more than a year ago.. but which wa:
stopped by the old council when it re.
fused to accept the report of the char
.er commission it had itself appointed
AS the recommendations of the mayol
'equire careful deliberation, the coun-
I'll ordered it placed on file, where il
,an be taken up at the first favorable
moment. The various suggestions will
probably be referred to different COM
mittees having jurisdiction over thu
subjects. The mayors message fol
oWs:
In this, my first message since
the members of your honorable
body took office, L wish to express
my qualification over the fact of
your election, and to state that it
will be a great pleasure to cooper
ate with you in making this the best
and most businesslike administra-
ton of Los Angeles. The keynote
of the administration should be ef-
f1ciency and economy, and before
the end of our term of office l hope
to see our great Enterprises, the
harbor, the aqueduct and the power
plants, rapidly nearing completion.
I wish to call to the attention of
your honorable body the following
matters and to make the following
recommendations:
New Charter
Our city charter long has been
outgrown It's most important pro-
visions, the initiative, the referen-
dunn and the recall, election OF
councilmen at large, direct primary
nominations, non-partisan elections,
etc. are contained in amendments;
and the whole charter is cumber-
some, unscientific thing. We should
have a new, modern, complete, har-
monious charter-one that will fill
every need of a great metropolis. l.
recommend that q commission be
appointed to frame a new charter
to be submitted to a board of free
holders to be later elected.
Salaries and Employees
I am given to understand that 20
per cent of the city's money is paid
out for salaries. This is altogether
too high a percentage. / believe
that in many instances the amount
of the salary is based upon the
personality rather than upon the
efficiency of the employe or the
value to the city of the work per-
formed; that some departments have
more men than are needed, while
other departments do not have SUI
ficient help. I would, therefore, re-
spectful1y recommend the appoint
3 ment of a committee to take up the
question of the number of employees
need in each department and the
amount of salary each employe
should receive.
At the present time the salary
ordinances are many and they are
scattered indiscriminately through
the ordinance books. These ordi-
nances should be consolidated.
City Store House
At the present time in order to
obtain supplies a city department
must make requisition. This requi-
sition goes to the supply clerk, who,
as a general rule, must give notice
thereof and receive bids. The bids
must be acted upon by the supply
committee and the contract
awarded. The result is that often
times the goods cannot be obtained
for many days after the requisition
is made. There are many articles
which are in common use in all the
departments. Such articles should
be purchased by the city in large
quantities and kept on hand in a
municipal store. Not only would
il be more economical to buy in
large quantities, but it would save
much time in the filling of requi-
sitions.
Franchises
Under the provisions of the state
law commonly known as the
"Broughton act" all persons, part
nershipts or corporations holding
franchises for the operation of
railway lines through the streets
of city must, during all the life
of the franchise except the first five
years thereof, pay to the city per
cent of the gross income arising
from such operation or holding.
The Los Angeles Redondo rail
road is now using portions of Main
street, Broadway, Grand avenue
and Seventh street without fran
chise. The city cannot obtain the
revenue rightly due to it for the
use of those streets by said corpo-
ration until said corporation pro-
cures a franchise. I would, there
fore, ask your honorable body to in
struct the city attorney to take
such legal steps as may be neces-
sary to prevent the use of our
streets by railways without a fran
chise.
Many of the street railways are
carrying freight without a freight
carrying franchise. l believe that,
under proper restrictions as to
hours, kinds of freight, kinds of
cars, etc, and with a provision for
compensation to the city for the
privilege, freight carrying fran
chises should be granted to the
street railway companies; but GER
tainly it is very doubtful as to
whether they should be allowed
that privilege under their present
franchises, with no restrictions.
Public Health
Public comfort stations should be
established in various parts of our
city, and means should be provided
for the rebuilding Of the layatories
in some of the city parks.
Ferries
In the report of the consolidation
committee it is recommended that
public ferries be at once established
between San Pedro and Terminal
and between Wilmington and Ter
minal, said ferries to charge only
a sufficient fare to pay the cost OF
operating and maintaining such
ferries, not to exceed 2 cents each
way. Los Angeles should, at the