Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-16

owning such franchise, and to make
proof, by affidavit, of such service and
the time thereof
Before presenting the resolution
! Judge Works submitted a communica-
ton to the council in which he called
attention to the fragrant way in which
| the street car companies were ViOlat-
ing the terms of their frapchises. He
said:
Gentlemen:
Attention should be called to the
! conditions upon which street railway
franchises are granted in this city, the
persistent violation of those conditions
| by the street railway companies, and
the continued neglect of the officers of
/ the city to enforce compliance with
| such conditions. Among other things
many, if not all of the franchises con-
tain the following conditions and
promises on the part of the companies
as a consideration for the franchise:
"First-That the street railroad con
structed and operated under said fran
chise shall be used only for the trans
portaton of passengers and United
| States mail.
| "Second-And the said grantee and
his successors or assigns shall at his or
! their own expense and cost pave or
macadamize the said road between the
rails, between the tracks and for two
| feet on each side thereof with the
same material used by the city and
under the same specifications and in
| the same manner as upon the streets
over which said road runs respective
| ly, and shall keep the same constant
| ly so paved or macadamiZed and in
repair, flush with the street, and pro-
Vided with suitable crossings, and
shall make the roadbed conform at
all times to the established grade of
the street.
"Third-All repairs and grades to be
made under the instructions and to
the satisfaction OF the board of public
works of said city. In case the said
grantee or his successors or assigns
fail to comply with the instructions
given by said board of public works
for ten days after service thereof up
on the said grantee or his successors
or assigns, or upon the manager or
agent of said grantee or Of his sue
cessors or assigns in Los Angeles, 1t, |
the said board of public works, shall
enter upon the road of said grantee
or his SUCCESSORS or assigns, and do |
the work as ordered by the said board |
of public works, said board to keep |
an itemized account of the cost of |
said work. which the said grantee and |
his successors or assigns, by the ac-
ceptance Of said franchise, agrees to
pay lInIleuldItly upOil II D6luS pre-
sented to said grantee or his success
sors or assigns. or to such manager or
agent stationed in Los Angeles.
Fourth-Cars shall be operated over
said road with sufficient frequency |
to carry and provide with seats all |
passengers applying for transportation
thereover, excepting in times of ex-
traordinary and unforeseen amounts |
of travel, and that said cars shall be at |
all times and in all respects as ef- |
flciently constructed and conveniently |
equipped as the cars in use upon the |
best electric street railroads in the |
city of Los Angeles.
1.-THE franchise provides in express
terms, for the forfeiture of the fran |
chise, If the conditions are not COM |
piled with, in the following words:
THAT any neglect, failure or refusal |
to comply with any of the conditions
of said franchise shall thereupon i'm
mediately ipso facto effect forfeiture |
thereof, and the said city, by it's city
council. may thereupon declare said |
franchise forfeited. and may exclude
said grantee or his successors and as
signs from further use of the streets
of said city, under said franchise, and |
said grantee and his successors and |
assigns shall thereupon and immediat-
ely surrender all rights in and to the
same and said franchise shall be
deemed and shall remain null, void and |
of no effect.
1.-The city has been granting these
franchises for years and they have
been continuously wilfully and persis-
tently. violated, to the great injury of
the city and the people. And worst
of all, while the officers of the city
had 1t completely within their power
to compel compliance with the con-
ditions, they have just as continuously
neglected their duty in this respect.
1.-The first condition above mentioned
is that the franchise shall be used only
for the transportation of passengers
and the United States mall Every
body that takes notice, unless it may
be the officers whose duty 1t is to en-
force the conditions of the franchise,
knows that this condition Is violated
constantly, and with impunity, by
running freight cars, sometimes whole
trains of them, through the city from
end to end. Can anyone tel lwhy the
officers of the city allow this to go
on? 1t is nothing less than wilful
neglect of duty, as their attention has
been called to it again and again.
1.-THE provision that the companies
shall pave the street between their
tracks of the same material used by
the city in paving the balance of the
street, and shall keep it in repair, is
openly and Shamefully violated. A
look at Seventh street from Hill to
Figueroa, and Figueroa from Seventh
street north will afford conspicuous
examples of this neglect. That por-
tion of these streets required to be
paved by the companies is in a shame
full condition. and next to impossible.
The board of public works, as shown
by the above quotation, has full
power to compel the repair of these,
and other streets in like condition, by
giving ten days notice of what it re-
quires to be done, and if the company
fails to make the repairs. the board
not only may but the franchise de-
clares that it shall enter upon the ;
road, do the work and collect the eX-
pense from the company. But the
street department takes no steps to ]
compel the improvement of the streets
in this respect This is not all. The [
fail for weeks, to do the I
first paving of the streets after the {
owners pave their portion,
leaving large portion of the street {
almost impossible: and street crossings (
are torn up and obstructed to pas
sage, for weeks at time. to do the {
work that should be done in as many l
days. West Adams and West Sixth '
streets are fair examples of the first c
of these, and the crossing at Flower I
these are only examples. There are f
many such cases. 2
at may be fairly said that the street t
companies make no pretense
of complying with the conditions and {
- Il.