Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1910-03-26
DUMMY BIDDING
IS DISCREDITED
BOARD SEEKS BONA FIDE AC-
TON ON FRANCHISES
Legislation to Compel Owner of Per,
NIT to Operate Own Privileges
Recommended by UtiIi-
ties Committee

In answer to the request of the city
council for suggestions on the matter
of granting franchises the board o.
public utilities makes several recon.
mendations to the council. If these
suggestions are carried out no more
franchises will be granted to thC
dummies" to turn over to one of tbs
established railway companies, bu
the person who secures the franchises
must own and operate the line himself
The board also suggests that the coun
ell get together with the board o
supervisors in granting franchises IN
the county to take into consideration
the twenty limit in the city
charter when the franchises are con
tiguous to the city limits.
Following are the suggestions of the
utilities commission:
AS one suggestion, we respect
fully recommend that the council
pass q resolution or ordinance pro-
Viding that petitions for the sale or
granting of franchises or privileges
shall be sworn to before the city
clerk, or some officer authorized by
law to administer oaths, and shall
state that the application is made
i'm good faith, for the use and bene-
fit of the person making the APP
plication, who is the real party in
interest in the transaction and in
tends himself TO exercise the fran
chlse or privilege; that all such
petitioners shall deposit with the
clerk at the time of filing the
petition 500 to defray the cost of
advertising and necessary proceed
ings, which sum so deposited shall
be returned to the applicant only
i'm the event the council should de-
tcrmne not to proceed with the adj
Vertisemcnt; that in its report on
each application this board recon-
mends to the council the minimum
price which should be considered
by the council upon the sale of the
franchise: that the council there
after fix a minimum price and in
the order of sale recite that no bid
less than the minimum amount
specified will be considered
We believe that the adoption Of
these recommendations viii help in
the solution of one of the most diff
ncult problems connected with the
granting of franchises and will
bring the real applicant before the
council on a business basis.
County Franchises involved
We desire further to call the at
that considerable embarrassment is
caused to the city of Los Angeles
b. the granting of franchises by the
board of Supervisors for fifty years,
or for terms greatly in excess of the
term limit provided for in our city
charter. The territory of the city
of Los Angeles is being constantly
augmented by annexations, and we
find in number of cases that there
exist lines of street railway i'm the
city that are operated under fran
Chises granted partly by the city
and partly by the county, the dates
of their expiration varying in some
cases as much as thirty or forty
years. We feel that this Is a mat
ter i'm which the board of super
visors of Los Angeles county will
be very glad to cooperate with the
CITY council of the city of Los An
gclcs when once the matter has
been called to their attention. We
therefore recommend that the coun-
ell adopt resolution requesting the
Supervisors of Los Angeles county,
i'm the granting of franchises con-
tiguous to the boundary lines of the
city of Los Angeles, to take into
consideration the provisions of sub
division 25 of section 2 of the char
ter. and also the date of expiration
of franchises i'm the city of Los
Angeles connecting with the fran
chises applied for in the county,
and not to grant any such fran
'chise for a term longer than the
remainder of the term under which
the franchise i'm the city of Los
Angeles is being operated, nor in
any event for a period longer than
twenty-one years.