The Daily Alaska empire., 1936-01-04
PUBLIC LIBRARY OP I 10 N BEFORE
 CITY COUNCIL
B. P. w. C.'s Offer to Lease Uptown Theatre to Be De-
 cided at Meet Tonight
tcontlnuea rom Page One,
ing which is situated opposite the B. M. Behrends Bank.

ing which is situated opposite the B. M. Behrends Bank.
 Should the City accept this op- tion, the club pledges, subject to ratification by vote Monday night, to assume the expense and respon- sibility of bringing floors, windows and lighting fixtures into suitable state for use as a public library, and, if the city does not care to take over the upstairs, will furnish a suitable tenant for the place, as is, at $50 per month, tenant to furnish half the heat, or tenant to pay $65 per month, heat to be supplied by the City, aie Aea
 .s Personal Property
 To this, Mrs R. R. Hermann, rep resenting two cIients-members of the old theatre company and my self as taxpayer" offered the fol- lowing objections: CD That the stockholders in the old company had reorganized into new invest mert corporation and saw an op- portunity, by occupying the theatre, to salvage something of the money they had invested in it @ that rights of these investors should su- persede any action the city could take t3) that taking up the lease by the women's club will involve someone in a lawsuit. inasmuch as the entire inner walls of the the atre are covered with celotex fibre which, since it is fastened to temporary wall, constitutes personal property and is covered by the morG-. gage held on all the theatre fixtures by the Alaska Theatre Supply com pany (4 that the persons assuming the lease would be obliged also to pay $1200 back rent accruing against the old Uptown Theatre (5) that heating of the building would ex- ceed $l00 a month and would be a considerable item for the City to assume
 Heating Would Go
 To this, Dave Dishaw, represent ing the newly-formed Uptown h. vestment Company, added that the hot air furnace installed in the building is real property, but that the distributing system in use up- stairs is not, and would be removed by the Alaska Theatre Supply Com pany. Any objections to its remov- al, he said, would result in law suit. Thus, he pointed out, the City would be forced also to assume the expense of establishing a heat ing system.
 Would Forfeit Rent
 Replying to these various charges, Mrs. Jenne and Mrs. Pearl Burford, President of the Club, both de- clared that Territorial officials whom they had consulted in the matter had assured them that the so-called personal property repre- sented by heating system and walls would remain in the building. They said these same officials had also assured them that, because the Ter ritory preferred civic rather than a private tenant, the matter of $1200 back rent would be dropped if the city took over the lease.
 MT. Dishaw admitted that the Territory had expressed preference for the City as tenants, but main- tained that the club had misunder- stood anything that had been said about dropping the back rent.
 Favors Theatre
 Declaring that the city had nc right to Ego into business in oppo- sition to private enterprise Mrs Hermann declared the rights of the stockholders in the old organization abrogated the possible rights of the Juneau Library. Furthermore" she declared, while I regard a gooc public library as a necessary ad- | jlinct to acity, also look upon good motion pictures as equally educa- | tional and it must be admitted tlaai they touch more people in one month than will enter your public library in seven years"
 Responding, Mrs. Jenne quoted Gov. John W, Troy as being of ths