City charter checks defended, 1949-10-31 |
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ID-8I-W adopted by the J0S5, , !$*"' *■*■ Since Its adoption the Charter has bee* amended many times and Hi rise mora than trebled, for it seems that Californians are afflicted with the strange delusion that it is proper to incorporate in our constitution and city charters legislat|on that would more properly be enacted by the Legislature, or by ordinances. And it is this faulty approach that has caused the Charter's undue length. The freeholders who drafted the Charter adopted in 1924 were not only public-spirited citizens1 of intelligence and courage, but they had the benefit of expert advice from all parts of the world as to the best form of government for the city of Los Angeles, whose potential importance was anticipated. But, notwithstanding the fundamental soundness of the Charter provisions, many officers and employees of the city, when confronted with failure in departments and manifest dereliction of duty on their part, seek an alibi by charging the failure to the provisions Sd£ the Charter, rather than acknowledge their own failure as adminis- I trators and inept use of power conferred by ^ithe Charter. It may be gathered from most of the criticisms leveled at the Charter that objections are made to the American system of checks and balances by these critics, and that they favor vesting autocratic power in our representatives so that they may do the desired things without restraint; but I doubt that the voters of this city would approve such abdication of control as would satisfy these critics. .Some compare the size of our Charter dth that of others, but unless we know te powers granted, or withheld, by these tfiort charters, any comparison would be fair; but I would remind those critics that, by a short charter they advocate vesting itrolled power in any administrator, t it took only a few WQcdtfEi tnatfment to confer ai Hitler in Germany, and upon the Politburo in Russia, but the else of the enactment^ did not contribute to the welfare of the people. " ' We had tin illustration la the early history of Los Angeles before the adoption of the 1924 Charter, that unlimited power in any ^Smm^ * —-> The dMzena of Los Angeles were informed by the newspapers for the first time that a franchise for the construction and operation of a railroad down the Los Angeles River bed to the Pacific Ocean had been granted to the Southern Pacific Co. and it was only alter a struggle and the mobilization of all *civic forces that this franchise was revoked., This incident clearly shows that the tribution of power may, at times, when competent officials are in charge, del _ the accomplishment of a desirable objective, but in the long run is better for the city in order to prevent losses that might occur from the acts of unfaithful or incompetent officials, if vested with autocratic power. A city charter like a State constitution should consist of a general grant of power, but not to the extent of granting autocratic and uncontrolled power to any official. A good official does not need autocratic power hi order to perform his duty and a bad one cannot be trusted with autocratic power. No competent official is preve ed< by charter provisions from performing his prescribed duties successfully if he will only use the power conferred; and the excuses based* on the* inhibitions of the Los Angeles City Charter are only a convenient alibi for incompetence, r NATHAN NEWBT, .' j *; ' wmmmm
Object Description
Title | Article clippings, 1923-06-05 - 1969-10-23 |
Description | Article clippings, 1923 June 6 - 1969 October 23. PART OF A SERIES: A critical component of the Commission's investigation centered on the idea that governance of the LAPD was shared between the Office of the Chief of Police, an administrative body, and the Board of Police Commissioners, a citizen body. To better understand the dynamic between these two entities, the staff of Heller, Ehrman, White, & McAuliffe researched the history of the Los Angeles City Charter, focusing primarily on its provisions regarding the distribution of power and the structure and organization of the LAPD. Included in the series are reproductions of reports, dissertations, article clippings, excerpts from city documents, and charter amendments related to the charter's conception and development over time. The series also includes several summaries of expert witness interviews regarding the effectiveness of this structure. |
Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Los Angeles |
Geographic subject (county) | Los Angeles |
Geographic subject (state) | California |
Geographic subject (country) | USA |
Publisher (of the original version) | Los Angeles Times |
Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California, USA |
Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California |
Date issued | 1923-06-05; 1923-06-06; 1923-07-05; 1923-07-12; 1923-07-13; 1923-09-01; 1923-12-02; 1923-12-27; 1924-04-27; 1924-04-28; 1924-04-29; 1924-04-30; 1924-05-01; 1924-05-02; 1924-05-04; 1924-05-06; 1924-05-07; 1925-07-01; 1936-06-23; 1936-07-22; 1937-02-16; 1937-02-22; 1937-03-14; 1937-04-23; 1938-02-25; 1938-03-25; 1939-01-04; 1943-01-21; 1943-02-10; 1943-03-23; 1943-10-24; 1944-03-17; 1944-10-26; 1944-11-06; 1949-10-31; 1949-11-04; 1950-11-03; 1955-01-11; 1963-12-22; 1964-11-30; 1964-12-16; 1964-12-19; 1965-02-20; 1967-01-30; 1967-09-01; 1969-07-29; 1969-10-21; 1969-10-23 |
Type |
texts images |
Format | 57 p. |
Format (aat) | clippings (information artifacts) |
Format (imt) | application/pdf |
Language | English |
Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
Part of collection | Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, 1991 |
Series | Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe |
File | Article clippings |
Box and folder | box 21, folder 9 |
Provenance | The collection was given to the University of Southern California on July 31, 1991. |
Rights | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained. |
Physical access | Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@dots.usc.edu |
Repository name | USC Libraries Special Collections |
Repository address | Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 |
Repository email | specol@dots.usc.edu |
Filename | indep-box21-09 |
Description
Title | City charter checks defended, 1949-10-31 |
Description | Nathan Newby. "City charter checks defended" Los Angeles Times (1949 October 31). |
Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Los Angeles |
Geographic subject (county) | Los Angeles |
Geographic subject (state) | California |
Geographic subject (country) | USA |
Creator | Newby, Nathan |
Publisher (of the original version) | Los Angeles Times |
Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California, USA |
Date issued | 1949-10-31 |
Type | texts |
Format | 1 p. |
Format (aat) | clippings (information artifacts) |
Format (imt) | image/tiff |
Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
Series | Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe |
File | Article clippings |
Box and folder | box 21, folder 9, item 33 |
Physical access | Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@dots.usc.edu |
Full text | ID-8I-W adopted by the J0S5, , !$*"' *■*■ Since Its adoption the Charter has bee* amended many times and Hi rise mora than trebled, for it seems that Californians are afflicted with the strange delusion that it is proper to incorporate in our constitution and city charters legislat|on that would more properly be enacted by the Legislature, or by ordinances. And it is this faulty approach that has caused the Charter's undue length. The freeholders who drafted the Charter adopted in 1924 were not only public-spirited citizens1 of intelligence and courage, but they had the benefit of expert advice from all parts of the world as to the best form of government for the city of Los Angeles, whose potential importance was anticipated. But, notwithstanding the fundamental soundness of the Charter provisions, many officers and employees of the city, when confronted with failure in departments and manifest dereliction of duty on their part, seek an alibi by charging the failure to the provisions Sd£ the Charter, rather than acknowledge their own failure as adminis- I trators and inept use of power conferred by ^ithe Charter. It may be gathered from most of the criticisms leveled at the Charter that objections are made to the American system of checks and balances by these critics, and that they favor vesting autocratic power in our representatives so that they may do the desired things without restraint; but I doubt that the voters of this city would approve such abdication of control as would satisfy these critics. .Some compare the size of our Charter dth that of others, but unless we know te powers granted, or withheld, by these tfiort charters, any comparison would be fair; but I would remind those critics that, by a short charter they advocate vesting itrolled power in any administrator, t it took only a few WQcdtfEi tnatfment to confer ai Hitler in Germany, and upon the Politburo in Russia, but the else of the enactment^ did not contribute to the welfare of the people. " ' We had tin illustration la the early history of Los Angeles before the adoption of the 1924 Charter, that unlimited power in any ^Smm^ * —-> The dMzena of Los Angeles were informed by the newspapers for the first time that a franchise for the construction and operation of a railroad down the Los Angeles River bed to the Pacific Ocean had been granted to the Southern Pacific Co. and it was only alter a struggle and the mobilization of all *civic forces that this franchise was revoked., This incident clearly shows that the tribution of power may, at times, when competent officials are in charge, del _ the accomplishment of a desirable objective, but in the long run is better for the city in order to prevent losses that might occur from the acts of unfaithful or incompetent officials, if vested with autocratic power. A city charter like a State constitution should consist of a general grant of power, but not to the extent of granting autocratic and uncontrolled power to any official. A good official does not need autocratic power hi order to perform his duty and a bad one cannot be trusted with autocratic power. No competent official is preve ed< by charter provisions from performing his prescribed duties successfully if he will only use the power conferred; and the excuses based* on the* inhibitions of the Los Angeles City Charter are only a convenient alibi for incompetence, r NATHAN NEWBT, .' j *; ' wmmmm |
Filename | indep-box21-09-33.tif |
Archival file | Volume66/indep-box21-09-33.tif |