Bishop Buddy Scrapbook 1941-1945

embers Of Council Rejec Plea For Rezo · Loma Portal Sec l\IAYOR HARLEY KNO.,, WALTER AUSTIN, DEGRAF AUSTIN, PAUL J. HARTLEY VOTE AGAINST CATHOLIC COLLEGE At a meeting of the City Council in the Council Cham. I bers, Civic Center on Tuesday morning the proposal to pass an ordinance rezoning a portion of Loma Portal to permit the building of a college for women was denied. Mayor Harley Knox and three members of the council, Walter Austin, Degraf Austin and Paul J. Hartley voted "W11 CillJl 'YI.of $.upltlA/ld, and 'YI.of (/Ji~ CJJ.uJuUµd" Bishop's comment

L Diego, California Friday, February 4, 1944

In a survey he quoted that out of 5-1 lots w·thin a 300 foot c1rc e eight did not show a preference, of the remaining 46, 31 approved and 15 disapproved of the zone change in favor of the proposed college being built on that site. In the 300 to 1000 foot circle there are 264 lots. Of these, 81 gave no indication in favor of or disfavor to the proposition. Of the 'remaining 183, 130~2 disap– proved and 52 ½ approved. Mr. LeRoy E. Goodbody adduced fig– ures showing that the people whose property was contiguous to the Bridges Estate all living within a 300 foot radius were mostly in favor of the zone change. 70.8 per cent were for the change. 19.2 per cent were against it. 10 per cent were neutral. Other speakers for the opposi– tion were Mr. Floyd Whitcomb, president of Loma Portal City Club, who stated the club voted against the rezoning because they were opposed to "spot-zoning which will depreciate sections where spot-zoning takes place." Mr. Martin A. Mathias said that when he bought his home in that section he understood that Loma Portal would be protected from I commercial structures in the vi– cinity and that about eight years Dr. M. J. O'Brien showed that colleges conducted by the Society of the Sacred Heart in other parts of the United States had added atmosphere, beauty and refine– ment to the sections in which they were situated and enhanced contiguous property rather than cause its depreciation. He said that those opposed really object– ed to the break-down of zoning and not to the school itself. Mrs. Ivan Finn, Mrs. Bernard Maloney and Mrs. Marion O'Brien, all owning residences in Loma Portal, pointed out to members of the Council the advantages of a Catholic college for women in I Loma Portal. Mrs. Finn said that it is most u:ri-American f~r Ameri– cans to "feel that their hon:es would be damaged by a college for women located near their property." This statement drew the first round of applause in the hearing Mr. Kenneth Bitter, Sec– retary of the Construction and Trade Council, was denied a hear– ing by the Mayor on the grounds that he was not a resident of the area in question. Council mem– bers objected to the ruling by the Mayor that only residents of Loma Portal would be heard at the meeting. After discussion the Mayor modified his ruling to al– low any interested person to speak during the rebuttal period at the end which was lengthened to ten minutes. 4lthough Mayor Knox and three members of the Council re– jected the plea for rezoning a portion of the Bridges Estate in Loma Portal, Labor was decided– ly in favor of the change and realized that the time had come for the daughters of the laboring men to be given the advantages of the better things in education. The City Council denied the request for rezoning claiming that the denial was caused by zone restriction. This is a pu?e techmcality. Some of the arguments which

Mayor, 3 Council Members Reiect Re.zoning Plea (Continued from Page 1) were presented before the Plan– ning Commission and City Coun– cil and the general ignorance of the rules of logic and right reas– oning supplied the best evidence that education in Loma Por:al should be encouraged and not dis– couraged. It was hoped that the college for women could be started next September but the denial of the zoning permission on the part of the City Council makes this im– possible. There is a definite need for a college for women in S~n Diego and the failure to obtain permission for the c_ons:ruction of this college at the site m ques– tion rather emphasizes the de– plorable lack of insight concern– ing the real needs of our times. A staff reporter interviewed the Bishop following the session of the Council. His Excellency said: "Our case was well and ably presented by Mr. Morrison and those who as– sisted him. We are satisfied that every logical argument was ad– duced to enlighten those who ~ad the power to grant the zomng change. Of deep significance and offering bright hope for the fu– ture were the eloquent appeals of Councilman Fred Simpson and Councilman Ernest J. Boud. ~r. Simpson in offering the mo~10n to adopt the ordinance as fmal confuted the arguments of those contending that a change of zone would damage their property. Mr. Boud, in seconding the 1:10- tion showed a grasp of the vital poi~ts at issue and paid an elo– quent tribute of esteem to ·the religious of the Sacred Heart as superior educators. "The adverse vote of Mayor Knox and three councilme1:1 d~es not surprise us nor does it dis– courage us. When the Mother Superior and Provincial Treas– urer of the Society of the Sacred Heart visited here last summer at our invitation they inspec_ted a number of possible .sites throughout the city. The ~ridges property was their choice not only because of its ideal and ac– cessible location, but because the large mansion would have made it possible to start the college for women next September even on a small scale, for it is the o~ly sizeable tract of land in ~he cit_y which has a residence built on it large enough to start. a college. In seeking other available par- ls of land it may be necessary ce ' 1· ·t but to go outside the city im1 s it will now have to be a post- war project." -----

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against the rezoning and the re– maining three members of the council, Fred Simpson, Ernf;!st J. Boud, and Charles Dail voted in favor of the proposition. The best arguments introduced in favor of the rezoning were given by Councilmen Simpson, Boud, and Dail. Their arguments showed their complete grasp of the question and their admission that the proposed college for women would be a great cultural addition and uplift to the com– munity. In the tightly packed Council Chambers 30 minutes hearing was allowed to the opposition to the rezoning, and 30 minutes to those in favor of it. A two minute re– buttal period was allowed each side at the end. Mayor Knox ruled that only those living in Loma Portal had a voice in the hearing. Despite the fact that the majority of the speakers who lived in the im– mediate vicinity and those resi– dents living on the property con– tiguous to the Bridges estate were in favor of the zone change to allow the building of the college for women, the three members of the council and Mayor Knox elected to vote against the change. Speaking for the opposition Claude Conklin insisted on main– taining the zone as it now it, as R-1 zone, based upon the premise that the high school now situ– ated in Loma Portal has caused damage to contiguous property and that the advent of a new col– lege in this area would result in like damage and depreciation to the property. He cited an instance of refusal of permission to build a church in the area in 1937. The city would suffer a great loss of revenue from taxes if a new in- , stitution were built on the · Bridges eslate, the speaker• said, also that the majority of people living iii the area were opposed to the zone change. He asserted "many home owners were forced to give ~P many hours of work to walk the streets to take up a petition against outsiders corning

ago an attempt was made to change a section along Rosecrans from R-1 to R-4 and a signed petition against this move was sent in. Mr. Mathias stated that "signing in favor of the change shows indifference to the ques– tion" while signing against it ex– presses the opinion of those vi– tally interested. Mr. William Morrison, Attor– ney-at-Law represented the Most Rev. Bishop of San Diego at the hearing in the place of Nicholas J. Martin who is under doctor's care. He said "that there are no vested rights in the zoning laws but that the rights are in the people themselves." The Plan– ning Commission voted four to two in favor of the change Mr. Morrison stated. He added that instead of losing revenue the city could be saved between $15,000 and $20,000 per annum if a col– lege were built on the Bridges Estate. A letter was read from the At– torney for the Bridges Estate which showed that the trustees of the estate, none of them Catho– lic, accepted an offer for the es– tate to be used for the building of a college and that the three main objections against the re– zoning, namely; loss of taxes, de– preciation of the contiguous prop– erty and the possibility of a col– lege being discontinued at a fu– ture date after its founding, were unfeasable.