Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-12

Exhaustive probing into the system
Of condemning property in the Dis
trict for public use with a view to
revising the law governing present
procedure. was forecast at last nights
meeting Of the Gibson subcommittee
of the House District Committee in
veStigating local governmental affairs,
after Engineer Commissioner Bell had
testified of the extreme difficulty of
buying property for less than 212 or
8 times its assessed value for school
purposes.
Representative Gilbert of Kentucky,
took keen interest in the Commits
sioner's statements and in the state
ment of Charles l.. Stengle who fol-
lowed him, remarliing in summarizing
the case that 1.-The trouble is evidently
with the court and court officers or
the city attorney
Arrangements were made to so
further into the matter at future
hearings. with the assistant corpora
ton counsel in charge of condemna-
ton work present to explain some of
the steps in the procedure.
Regarding six Petworth parcels.
sought for governmental purposes in
the vicinity of Sherman Circle, Com
missioners had disapproved the con
domination Jury award averaging
$1.32 per square foot for land which
was assessed at prices ranging from
4S to SIS cents per square foot. He
explained that the District had found
the best procedure TO be In negotiating
with property owners direct rather
than going to condemnation to ac-
quire property and stated it to be
the rule rather than the exception
that the condemnation jury would
award 2fa to times the assessed
value of the property as q fair price
for it,
Raps School Law Clause.
Representative Gibson of Vermont.
chairman of the subcommittee, here
interiected that either the amounts
fixed by juries were too high or the
assessed values are too low. Com
missioner Bell explained that the as
sessments were based on figures com
piled as far back as four years ago,
during which interim property values.
especially in locations where sites for
school Fairgrounds or schools are
being sought, had gone up in leaps
and bounds. This, he explained, was
due to the fact that the need FOR
schools was greatest in the fast-groW-
ing sections, where naturally property
values were also increasing rapidly.
He took a slap at the provision in
the law for acquiring property under
the school building program limiting
expenditures to not more than 20 per
cent of the assessed value Of the prop
erty, by stating that such provision
remaining in effect would annul
efforts to obtain many desirable sites.
nE6Tfnf
testimony and instructions OF the
court to a recent condemnation jury
created great interest in the minds OF
Mr.. Gibson and Mr.. Gilbert, when 1t
was made known that the court had
instructed the jury TO disregard en-
tirely assessed values OF the proper
ties the Jury was evaluating Tor
condemnation.
'If that's the law here. it's bad law,
IN my opinion" Mr.. Gibson remarked.
Mr.. Gllbert signitied his concurrence
In the opinion.
Protests Petw0rth Values.
Mr.. Stengle, o delegate to the Fed
GRAFTON of Citizens Associations, com.
p1ained of the high value set by
condemnation hiries on some land I'M
der consideration. He referred to par.
cells in Petworth on the south side OF
sherman Circle, to purchase which
efforts had been made, declaring that
land which once sold for q compare
tiyely small sum. being the bed OF q
creek or stream, with basis OF gar
bage and tin cans at the bottom Oh the
"till' and top soil of ashes from the
neighborhood in the grading opera
ton. was being placed at an extremely
high value per square FOOT by the con
domination jury. He stressed the iact
that many persons living III that
vicinity and anxious to see the iand
obtained by the District had never
been notified to attend the sessions of
the condemnation, nor had they been
called as witnesses to the value. He
said many experts in realty living in
that immediate neighborhood had not
been called to prove that the land was
valued at a figure well under that set
by the person holding title to it,
II was at this juncture that Mr..
Gilbert referred to the trouble being
with the court procedure or the prepa-
ration of the case by the attorneys for
the District.
A mild sort Of sensation swept the
committee room when William q.
Davis. 70 years old, once known as
Billy Manton on the stage, appeared
before the committee, under custody
Of an official from the District jail, to
inform them that he had been Kept
&c months at the District jail through
court procedure which had allowed al
most q year to elapse before his sen
tence. He charged Assistant United
States Attorney Leo A. Rover with
responsibility for his plight.
Under questioning by Mr.. Gilbert.
the witness stated that he had pleaded
guilty before Justice Bailey in April,
1926 to buying narcotics.
1.-THE assistant District attorney
promised to get me 80 or 80 days If
l pleaded guilty" he said. II had just
been indicted, but / never got SEN
fenced"
He said Mr.. Rover kept putting off
having him sentenced until Justice
Bailey's place in Criminal Court had
been taken by Justice Siddons, who
refused to sentence him. Finally on
March 6, 1926, he went before Justice
Stafford, he said, and che gave me
two years.
He said he appealed the sentence on
the ground that there was no jurisdic-
ton for the court to sentence him so