East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1911-07-25
Property Owners File Remon-
STANCES Against improving
Court and Alta
CLAIM PROCEEDINGS WE'RE
NOT ACCORDING TO LAW
Court Street People Declare ASSESS
ment Inequitable. Irregular, With
out Proper Authority and in Viola
ton of Constitution.

Court street and Alta street will not
be paved at least at the present time
II remonstrances filed with Recorder
Fitz Gerald last night are found to
contain the signatures of the owners
of eighty per cent of the property in
the two districts. This Will not be
known until City Engineer Kimbrell
has carefully gone over the lists, which
task will take at least a day.
The two remonstrances are based
upon different grounds but both con-
tain the allegation that the proceed
ings by which the districts were Gre
ated and the assessments levied were
illegal and hence null and void, and
the signers of both declare they will
resist any effort which the city coun-
ell or of a company TO which a con-
tract for paving is let, may make to
collect the assessments levied.
Inequitable and Unlawful.
The Court street remonstrance de-
clares that the assessment is in
equitable as well as unlawful and in
amplifying the charge OF illegality
goes on to declare that 1.-The proceed
ings in respect to the creation of the
paving districts. the assessments, the
awarding of the contracts-are un-
lawful, irregular and without author
ity Of law and are void" and further
that such proceedings are in viola
ton of the constitution of the state
of oregon and of the United States.
Expense Not Justified.
Besides the charge of illegality, the
Alta street remonstrance cites that
the class of buildings and future
prospects of the street do not warrant
the attending expense" and declares
that in many instances the cost of i'm
provement is equal to so per cent of
the present market value of the prop
erty taxed. 1t states that the part of
Alta street from Johnson to Court
street will not be used for business
purposes in the next ten years, nor
will not be sought for residences
and hence there will be no increase
in value to justify the expense.
4 Probable Flaw.
The Alta street remonstrance pro- /
tests against the paving of Alta street
from Johnson to its intersection with
Court street and this very clause may
be- sufficient to defeat the wishes of
the signers. The Alta street district .
as proposed by the council extends T.
from Main street to the intersection I
of Alta and Court streets and there i
is no provision of the law which per-
mits property owners of a portion of .
the district to protest legally against !
the paving of that portion According |
to City Attorney Raley, If he sig ,
do not represent so per cent of the ;
total area of the district, the protest
will have been in vain. There are ,
only 26 signers of his paper and there
is considerable doubt as to whether
they represent the required amount
Of property.
Other Protest Probably Good.
Apparently there is no flaw in the
Court street remonstrance and it is
thought that the claims of the circu-
lators that the signers represent over
so per cent of the area of the district
are true. There are 20 signatures in
all attached.
If the remonstranceS are effective,
they will, by the provisions Of the or
hold up the paving for at
least six months, but it is probable 4
that it will be considerably longer be-
fore the council would undertake the
again.