USA > California > Alameda County > Alameda > Directory of the township and city of Oakland : together with the townships of Brooklyn and Alameda, for the year 1869 > Part 6
USA > California > Alameda County > Brooklyn > Directory of the township and city of Oakland : together with the townships of Brooklyn and Alameda, for the year 1869 > Part 6
USA > California > Alameda County > Oakland > Directory of the township and city of Oakland : together with the townships of Brooklyn and Alameda, for the year 1869 > Part 6
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School Bonds .- By an Act of the Legislature, approved March 13th, 1868, the City Council was authorized to issue and sell bonds to an amount not exceeding 850;000, payable at any time within ten years, to bear interest at a rate not to exceed ten per cent. per annum, payable on the second day of January of each year. The bonds are to be in sums of not less than $100 or more than $500 each, and must have coupons attached, signed by the Mayor and City Treasurer. The bonds can be sold by the Council at any meeting at par; otherwise, sealed proposals must be advertised for; but no bonds shall be sold for less than ninety cents, in gold, upon the par value. The pro- ceeds of the sale of these bonds are to be paid into the City Treasury and placed to the credit of the School Fund. Such money shall be used for the sole purpose of procuring land and erecting school houses ; but no portion shall be expended with- out the consent of four members of the Council and four mem- bers of the Board of Education. After any of these bonds are sold, and until all bonds sold under this Act are redeemed, the Council is required to levy a tax upon city property sufficient to pay the interest upon the outstanding bonds. Any surplus money shall be applied to the redemption of bonds. The Coun-
70
OAKLAND DIRECTORY.
cil may, each year, until 1878, levy a tax, not to exceed ten cents on each one hundred dollars of assessed property, for the redemption of bonds; and whenever the amount so raised shall be one thousand dollars or more, it shall be applied to that pur- pose. In the year 1875 the Council is required to levy a tax sufficient to redeem one-half the bonds then outstanding; and in 1877 they shall levy a tax sufficient to redeem the remainder of the bonds that may be issued under this Act.
Pursuant to the provisions of this Act, bonds to the amount of $23,500 have been issued. Of this amount, $10,000 were required for the payment for Lafayette Grammar School build- ing and the Point School house, debts contracted by the City Council prior to the passage of the Act.
Judgment Bonds .-- An Act supplemental to the City Hall Act, approved March 28th, 1868, empowers the City Council to issue bonds to an amount not exceeding $18,000, to be applied to the payment of any final judgment existing against the city. The bonds are similar in all respects to those issued under the City Hall Bond Act. Under this Act, bonds to the amount of $16,000 have been issued to E. R. Carpentier, in satisfaction for a final judgment against the city, held by him.
Oakland Bar Bonds .- By an Act approved March 28th, 1868, the Council are authorized to issue bonds to the amount of $15,000, the proceeds to be applied toward removing obstruc- tions at the mouth of the San Antonio Creek, so as to render the same navigable. These bonds are to be similar in all re- spects to those issued under the City Hall Bond Act. The Council are, in addition, authorized to raise anually, by direct taxation, a sum not to exceed $5,000, to be applied to the same purpose. No definite action has been taken by the Council up to the date of this writing, to avail itself of the privileges per- mitted by this Act, no bonds having been issued, and no legis- lation having this end in view having been commenced.
.
71
OAKLAND DIRECTORY.
The monthly receipts and disbursements of the city since June, 1867, as compiled from the records of the Treasurer, are given below. Our figures include every source of revenue, from direct taxation, licenses, the Police Court fines and penalties, the sale of bonds and State and County School monies received by the city under the Act of the Legislature, reorganizing the School Department of Oakland.
Month.
Receipts.
Disbursements.
June, 1867.
$143 13
$200 00
July
1,401 25
2,032 50
August "
141 50
189 50
Sept.
66
166 10
135 00
Oct.
4,773 25
1,919 86
Nov.
10,141 75
2,543 35
Dec.
2,442 57
5,096 42
Jan. 1868
1,723 70
1,915 53
Feb.
210 45
1,875 S+
Mar.
66
330 75
1,923 07
April
20,875 83
19,966 85
May
66
5,808 00
2,302 42
June
66
13,893 15
16,445 97
July
2,021 30
2,779 65
Aug.
232 00
1,753 17
Sept.
66
26,101 50
22,782 98
Oet.
7,534 75
6,515 87
Nov.
19,506 65
14,685 38
It will be seen from the above that the expenses of the city have rapidly increased, and that its receipts have increased in an apparently greater ratio. In reality, the receipts have not in- creased as rapidly as the expenses, the apparent increase being due to the sale of the bonds. The actual amount of money in the Treasury, December 5th, including the total tax collected for the fiscal year 1868-9, was $7,233 61, and the total liabili- ties amounted to $11,824 89, showing a large deficiency, and demonstrating the necessity of borrowing at least $10,000, the
72
OAKLAND DIRECTORY.
fullest amount permitted by the charter, to meet current ex- penses. The receipts for municipal licenses issued during the first two months of the last quarter of the year 1868, amounted to $1,720 25, which may be taken as the average quarterly amount, licenses being payable in advance.
The gas bill for the month of October was $346 573. There were in use at the expiration of that month sixty street lamps, and under the present contract 22} cents per lamp is paid for each night, and the price will so remain until the number of lamps exceeds 250, when the price will be 20 cents.
The monthly amount of the salaries paid to the city Super- intendent, Secretary of the Board of Education, and the Teachers in the employ of the School Department is $1,133 33,. and there being ten school months in the year, the annual. amount, upon the present scale, would consequently be $11,333 30. Under the new rules of the Board of Education, teachers are to be paid twelve months during the year, but the total annual amount so paid will be the same as formerly. The revenue of the School Department consists in thirty per cent of the city taxes, thirty-five cents on each one hundred dollars of assessed valuation from the State and county taxes.
The School Department has lived within its means, and while most of the city officials will be obliged to wait for their salaries for a long period, perhaps for a whole year, the Public School Teachers will be able to receive their salaries as quickly as they become due.
The rate of the city taxation, for all purposes, is one per cent. on the assessed value of the property within the limits of the city. The total valuation for the last fiscal year was $3,364,078. and the tax, $33,360 78. Of this tax, $27,957 83 were col- , lected, leaving a delinquency of $5,682 95. By ordinance, the monies received were apportioned to the several funds in the following ratio :
73
OAKLAND DIRECTORY.
Salary Fund.
25 cts.
General Fund. 15 cts.
Street Light Fund . 17 cts.
Interest Fund . 07 cts.
Street Fund. 06 cts.
School Fund
30 cts.
Total
100
There is a Building Fund, created by special Act of the Legislature, to which no city taxes has ever been apportioned.
THE EDWARD R. CARPENTIER SUITS.
On August 17th, 1868, the City Council adopted a final reso- lution authorizing the City Clerk to issue to Edward R. Carpen- tier bonds to the amount of $16,000, in satisfaction for the judgment held by him against the City of Oakland. Thus ter- minated a series of law suits which had been maintained for fourteen years, the city paying the full amount demanded by Mr. Carpentier and allowed by the Twelfth District Court.
February 11th, 1854, the Board of Trustees of the then Town of Oakland employed E. R. Carpentier to defend certain injunc- tion suits brought by John C. Hays and others against John Hogan, Town Marshal, to restrain the collection of town taxes, at a price not to exceed $1,000. The service was rendered, and a warrant for the payment of the stipulated price was issued. Other legal services were performed, and other claims accrued ; and claims being made which were deemed unjust and un- founded, the payment was resisted, and litigation has continued from 1854 until 1868, when in the Twelfth District Court judg- ment was rendered for $15,225 SS, debt and damages, and costs, and disbursements, and percentage allowed by law ; the amount of the judgment to bear interest at the rate of ten per cent. per annum. When by order of the Council the bonds were issued, the debt amounted to $16,000, which sum was received in full payment of the judgment.
74
OAKLAND DIRECTORY.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
City Superintendent-L. Walker.
Board of Education .- President-B. T. Martin, N. B. Hoyt, R. E. Cole, G. W. Armes, W. D. Harwood, L. Hamilton, Edw. McLean.
The Public Schools of Oakland are in a condition that is most satifactory to the people and creditable to the city. We have five school houses, containing sixteen class-rooms. Twelve teachers are in the employ of the Department, eleven of the number being females. Lafayette Grammar School contains four class-rooms, in which studies of the Grammar School grade are taught. The eight remaining classes are of the primary grades.
In 1866, the Board of Education was first created by Act of the Legislature, and given full control of the City School Fund. Under this Act the powers of the Board were quite restricted, and in March, 1869, the Legislature passed another law, under which the present Board was elected, and is now acting. This Act provides that the Board shall consist of seven Directors ; three and four to be elected each alternate year, and one Di- rector to be chosen from each Ward of the city, whenever such Wards are established, if they do not exceed seven in number. The Board has the sole power to establish and maintain Public Schools in Oakland ; employ and dismiss teachers ; provide suitable rules and regulations for the government of the schools ; procure supplies ; build, alter, repair, and rent school buildings ; purchase and sell land for school purposes, with the concurrent vote of the Council; maintain actions at law ; determine the amount of school tax to be levied by the Council. The Board has exclusive control of the School Fund, and has ample power to carry into effect all the provisions of the Act.
No teacher can be employed in the School Department who does not bear a certificate issued by the City Board of Examina- tion, and the Board of Education can determine upon what
75
OAKLAND DIRECTORY.
qualifications shall be possessed by teachers in its employ.
A City Superintendent of Schools is chosen at each charter election. . He is the executive officer, and upon him falls the task of having the immediate care of the schools. The Act is elaborate in its details, and if the workings of the Department should be unsatisfactory it will not be on account of the insuf- ficiency of the law creating it.
With the concurrent vote of the City Council, the Board of Education can use the proceeds of the sale of bonds to the value of $50,000, for building purposes. The outlines of the Act authorizing the issuance of such bonds can be found elsewhere. Prior to the passage of the Act, there was a school debt of $10,000, incurred in the erection of Lafayette Grammar School Building, and in making various school improvements. This amount was paid by an issue of bonds. For improvements made during the present year, bonds to the amount of $13,500 have been issued.
The salaries have been fixed as follows :
Grammar Masters.
$175 per month.
Principals 100
Assistants 75 6
There are ten school months in the year, under the former rules of the Board. Under newly adopted rules, the teachers are paid for twelve months, but the monthly amount is so re- duced as to keep the annual pay the same
The number of children as ascertained by School Census Marshals, for the past six years, is as follows :
School Census of 1863 S11
School Census of 1864. 1,042
School Census of 1865 1,253
School Census of 1866 1,282
School Census of 1867 1,532
School Census of 1868
1,735
76
OAKLAND DIRECTORY.
The census for some of the years mentioned above shows the total number of children under twenty-one years of age, while at other times it shows the number under eighteen years of age ; and the census for the last year gives the number under fifteen years of age. A strictly accurate idea of the increase of popu- lation cannot, therefore, be derived from these figures.
During the year 1863, the average daily attendance at the Public School was 115. From July, 1866, to July 1867, the average daily attendance is estimated at 311. The estimated average daily attendance from August, 1867, to June, 1868, is 461: At the present time the number of school children for which Oakland is entitled to draw State and County moneys is 1,038.
The school improvements made during the past year are extensive. At the Oakland Point, an eight-room school house has been erected, at a cost of $8,000. The four rooms upon the lower floor only are finished, and will be used for both grammar and primary classes. School house No. 1, has been so altered as to contain three rooms instead of two, as formerly, and a wing containing one room has been added to School-house No. 2. Other improvements are in contemplation.
The school houses are furnished neatly, though not expen- sively, and each building is provided with a parlor-organ, except Lafayette Grammar School, for which a piano has been pro- cured. The studies pursued are similar to those in the San Francisco Schools, and the pupils in our Grammar School are carried through precisely the same course of study as the youth of that city.
The Lafayette Grammar School is located on the block north of the Public Square of that name, and is under the control of J. B. McChesney, the Grammar Master. The Assistants are Mary Lichtenthaler, Fanny E. Willis, and H. E. Jackson. The attendance during the past term has been on the average two hundred scholars.
Primary No. 1, is located on the same block with Lafayette Grammar School. Mrs. M. W. Phelps is Principal, and Eliza
77
OAKLAND DIRECTORY.
P. Brown and M. E. Ludwig are Assistants. The attendance at this School averages about 150 scholars.
Primary No. 2, is located on the corner of Alice and Fifth streets, fronting on Fifth street, and opposite to Harrison Square. The Principal is Mary Alexander ; the Assistants are Lizzie Betanure and Emily E. Jayne. There have been in or- dinary attendance at this School, during the past term, about 130 scholars.
The new school building at the Point has not been occupied. A one-story two room building has for a considerable period been in use. Miss Annie E. Lewis is Principal, and Susie A. Mowry, Assistant. The attendance has fluctuated greatly, the average being about one hundred. The new building is to be occupied from the beginning of the present year, and a Grammar School Class is to be started.
The financial management of the Board of Education has been prudent, and the School Department does not find itself in that embarrassed condition into which the other departments of our city government have been thrown.
STREETS AND STREET IMPROVEMENTS.
Ever since the incorporation of the city, the streets in the southeastern portion, included between Market and Fourteenth streets and the Creek, have been legally established, and with but a few exceptions, open for public travel. These streets are eighty feet in width, with the exception of Broadway, which is 110 feet wide. The blocks are 200x300 feet in size. By or- dinances of the City Council, the width of sidewalks has been established at fourteen feet, except on Broadway, where the sidewalks are twenty feet wide. West of Market street they are to be eighteen feet wide.
By an Act of the Legislature, approved April 25th, 1863, the city charter was so amended as to authorize the City Council to adopt a general plan or system of streets, for that portion of the city not included between Market and Fourteenth streets.
78
OAKLAND DIRECTORY.
After the establishment of such general plan or system, im- provements erected upon the line of a proposed street cannot be included in any assessment for damages. November 16th, 1868, the Council passed an ordinance, adopting a general system of streets, and the map showing the chosen plan is prefaced to this work, which renders unnecessary any description, the map being its own best explanation. Applications for opening any of these streets must be made to the Council in writing, designating the particular street to be opened, and the residences of the appli- cants. If the Council should determine that the street should be opened, the Marshal shall be directed to notify the owners or occupants of the land embraced within the lines of such street, to appear before the Council at a given time, and state any ob- jections they may have to the opening of the street. After their appearance, and the announcement of their claims for damag- ing, if any there be, the Council shall fix a time for assessing damages. For this purpose, the Council has very nearly the same power as a Court ; can compel the attendance of witnesses, administer oaths, etc. Parties who feel themselves aggrieved by the action of the Council can appeal to the County Court. The Council has no authority under any existing law to pay dam- ages from the City Treasury. If the property holders petition- ing for the opening of a street, should raise an amount sufficient to pay the final damages awarded, the opening of a street can be enforced, not otherwise. .
Street improvements are ordered and made in pursuance of an Act, approved April 4th, 1864. The Act is long, elaborate, and complete. The Council is authorized to order the improve- ment of any street, lane or alley within the limits of the city.
Property holders file with the Council a petition designating the improvement desired. Should the Council see fit, they pass a resolution declaring their intention to order the work peti- tioned for, which resolution must be published for the period of ten days. Prior to the expiration of that time, the owners of more than one-half the frontage upon the street proposed to be improved, may file their protest with the City Clerk, and such
79
OAKLAND DIRECTORY.
protest is a bar to all further proceedings for the period of six months. Should no such protest be filed, the Council adver- tises for bids for doing the work, in accordance with such speci- fications as they may adopt, and the contract must be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. Notice of the award must be published for the period of five days. Within this period, the owners of property fronting upon the street to be improved may, by agreement among themselves, do the work ordered, which must be at the price charged by the lowest bidder. When a contract has been completed to the satisfaction of the City Engineer and the City Marshal, a warrant is issued to the contractor, authorizing him to collect from the property holders the amounts due from them for their proportion of the improve- ments.
An official grade has been adopted for the portion of the city within Market and Fourteenth streets, and for several streets in the western part of the city. According to this grade, most of the blocks are to be above the level of the streets, and there is to be but a small amount of filling in. The official grade was adopted by the Council, by ordinance, December 21st, 1867.
The almost perfect natural grade of Oakland has rendered the improvement of her streets a matter easy of accomplish- ment. There are no sand hills to be dug away, and no rocky cliffs to be undermined and removed. The only method as yet adopted for making the streets more convenient for horses and vehicles is that of macadamizing them. At a distance of five miles from the city are inexhaustible quantities of rock suitable for the purpose. After being exposed to the winter rains and becoming packed and firm, it in many cases equals a pavement of asphaltum. If proper care were to be taken to keep the macadamized streets in a state of cleanliness and repair, they would not be inferior to the cobble stone pavements of most American cities. The first experiment in improving the streets of Oakland was in macadamizing the section of Broadway be- tween Fourth and Tenth streets, the contract for this work being let December 2d, 1864. The price per square foot then
SO
OAKLAND . DIRECTORY.
charged was eight and one-half cents. Since that time prices have fluctuated between fonr and one-half cents per square foot and six and one-half cents. The streets are being improved very rapidly, and the table which we present below will be in- complete shortly after the appearance of this Directory, street contracts being awarded almost weekly. We present the fol- lowing list, showing the streets macadamized, their length, and cost :
Street.
Length-feet.
Cost.
Broadway, from Water to Four- teenth street .
3,920
$ 25,900 96
Twelfth street, from the Oakland Bridge to Market street. Eighth street, from Oak to Market Franklin street, from Fourteenth to Water.
5,988
19,061 87
5,488
15,500 00
3,760
11,523 60
Tenth street, from Broadway to Market street.
2,838
8,538 80
Washington street, from Eighth to Water.
1,880
6,510 73
Third street, from Oak to Market (estimated)
4,855
20,000 00
1
28,829
$107,035 96
.
Although the figures thus presented appear large, there can be no question but that the value of property has been in- creased by street improvements far beyond the amount ex- pended in creating them. Whenever a railway or tramroad may be constructed to the foot hills, the cost of street improve- ments should be materially diminished. Except upon Broad- way, too little attention has been given to making convenient and substantial sidewalks. These are scarcely less important than the streets themselves ; and it is to be hoped that in future improvements this fact will be properly recognized.
S1
OAKLAND DIRECTORY.
The official grades of the crossings in the part of the city bounded by Market and Fourteenth streets, and the creek, are shown in the table which follows. The figures in the upper line show the established grade, and those in the lower line show the natural grade, in feet and decimals of a foot, above the line of average high tide :
(6)
CO
Table showing the Grades of Street Crossings, in feet and decimals of a foot, above High Water Mark.
1st.
2d.
3d.
4th.
5th.
Gth.
7th.
8th.
9th,
10th.
11th.
12th.
13th.
14th.
Oak street.
4
Julin.
3
4
3
9 1
12 3
10
12
10 7
13 2
17 5
23 8
28 1
30 9
32 3
31
8
32 3
Jackson
5
9
12
15
18 5
23 5
27 5
30
32 3
33
4
34 9
34 G
6
10
18
16
20
25 5
28 5
31
27 2
30
32 8
33 8
36 7
36 1
34 6
33 5
4
7
11
14
17 5
23
27
29 5
32
34
36
37
35
34
28
8 9
12 4
15
14 5
17
22 5
26 5
30 5
33
35
37 5
36 5
35 75
35
5
4
9 6
12 3
15
18 3
24 3
28 2
31
34
1
36
4
37 4
36 2
36 3
35 4
5
5
8 5
11
14
17 5
21 5
26
30
34
36
37
37 5
37
36
5
9
9
11 8
15 1
18 1
22 3
27
31 )
34 7
36 9
37 5
37 8
37. 2
36 2
4
9
12
15
19 5
24 5
28
31
33
34
35
D
34 75
34
6 2
9 7
12 8
16 7
22 ]
26 4 25
29
33
:14
34
34 6
36 6
38 1
37 6
37 5
4
5
8
11
14
18 5
23 5
27
30
31
3.2
34
33 5
32
1
6
4
9
8 6
11
15
20 5
24 8
21
5
17 7 23 2
15
20 5
24
26
27
28
4
4
7
2 6 2
9
4
12 9
16 2
21 5
24 8
27
27 G
28 6
29 5
30 2
28
4
15
5
5
Bruph.
1 7
4 7
5 7
8
11
17
21 5
23
1
24 4
25 8
23
24
24 5
25 5
25
West ..
4
4 5
5
8
11
16
19
20
21
22
22 5
23
23 5
24
Market.
18
5 1
8 9
12 1
17 9
22 2
21 6
22 5 1
22 1
20 9
21 9
22 9
24 2
1
4
6 5
10 5
20
24
26
27
26
23 5
1
8
11
14 5
21
25 5
28
30
29
28 5
30 7
29 3
31
32
31 5
4
5
8
8
Alice.
4 9
10 5
13
15 9
19 8
25 2
29
1
33
35
36
34 5
33
11 5
15
16 9
22
3
18 8
24 5
27 9
30 9
32 8
35 0
36 8
36 G
33 5
32 4
4
8
11 5
10
13
16
20 5
21
9
26 €
30 2
32 3
33 1
34
12
36
7
35 4
34 4
4
Washington
3
6
4
}4
17 2
Jefferson
4
5
7
9
13
16 5
29 4 26
28
29
30 5
32
31
30
0
8
1
6
10 2
14 2
8
12
Castro.
27
27 5
27
15 5
20
22
24
25
26
26 9
27 3
28 8
16
19
20 5
22
23 3
24 2
24 7
24 9
25 8
26 1
17 8
21
22 2
28 8
30
6
32
32 4
32 1
30
Grove.
28 5
28
OAKLAND DIRECTORY.
The natural grade of the crossings is shown on the lower line of figures opposite the name of a street, as, for example, the crossing of Webster and Seventh streets is by the natural grade 27.9 feet above the line of high tide, and the established grade is 27 feet.
12
21 1
25 5
27 4
27 7
26 7
25 3
28 9
16 2
22 8
27
15 5
22
26 5
29
4 3
32
33
34 5
Harrison
Clay.
35 5
36 5
35 75
35
32 8
34 2
33 8
33
1
30 9
32
26 9
8
0
10
Webster.
Franklin
Broadway
30 9
8
30 9
83
OAKLAND DIRECTORY.
POLICE COURT.
The Police Court of Oakland was created by an Act of the Legislature, approved March 10th, 1866, and pursuant to its re- quirements the Council of the city elected H. P. Watkins as Police Judge, who held that office until the subsequent city election, which took place in March, 1867. This Act provided that there should be elected at the charter election in 1867, a Police Judge, who shall hold his office for two years, or until his successor is elected and qualified.
The Court has jurisdiction over the following offences, com- mitted within the corporate limits of the City of Oakland :
First .- Petit larceny.
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