Minutes 06/24/1924 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1924 nually. ~he Virginia Rail~?ay & Power Oompany, on its Portsmouth street railw~y~syStem'pays much lessl Other motor cars, private and public pay to the City an additional 50,000~00 in licenses and t~xes. So'far as the ta~xation is concerned, there is certa~nl~ no'unfair com- petition on the part of, or discrimination in favor of motor transportation. If e~?one desires to determine for himself whether the presence cf a street railway on a paved street injures the pavement, it is suggested that he examine the paving adjacent to the rails on any paved Street on which a street railway is ooerated.' Even'had*the C0mp~ny ~aved portions of all streets adjacent toits ~racks, the cost ~f this pavement would be about 0.007 per passenger per trip or say tB.00 per passenge~ pe~ year paid to the City for the privilege of riding over its streets. The average automobile owner pays to ~he City alone for this same privilege not less ~han $15,00 per year, in addition to a large t~x paid beth directly or i~directly to the State, The result~of control by State lmw in Virginia so far as the bperation of traction systems is concerned, has been to permit traction~c~mp~uies to evade S~lemu and Specific agrep- merits and provisiop~ of contract~ and franchises. ~ities, conseqUently,~h~ve n~turally evinced n~ particular emthusiasm in relinquishing local con~rol of their re~ining means of urbe~u transportation- the autobuso In the past, the President of the Company in conversation with me; has often em- phatically e~ud ~ might say ~lmost violently denounced the me,er bus and absolutely refused to consider ~t, pc~nt~ng out ~hat his 9omp&ny*had ~rzed it in Richmond with ~Unsatisfact~ry re- sults; yet, according to h~s advertisement, he ~s now willing tO operate ?Z~emunder .tare * regulation. I can find no fault with him for changing his mind, especially When he seems to be tending to views which have been held by me for two years past. It should here be pointed out, however, ths~t no State regulation should h~ve be~n necesss~ry to permit the.Virginia Rail- way and Power ~empazry to operate motor b?~.ses. The existing system in Portsmouth has been developed by individuals With little c~pi~al and without State regul&tion. A great corporation like the Virginia'Rail~y & Power Company should have been willing to take the same risk as ~hese individuals, ~any of whom have put their all in the venture. The City of Portsmouth has made es~rnest eff~rt~ during the past four years to put the stree~ railway system of this City on a satisfactory basiS, and inthe spring 6f 19~, it advertised a franchise for street railways, every essentie~l D~i~t;of ~d~ibhh~been agreed to and aPPrevedby ~he ~resident of the Comp~uy. Yet, whem ~e bids were opened, the Company n~t bnly ~tt~e~ted to evade its pr ope~ responsibilittes by bidding through a subsidiary com- pmny,but inserted such ra. dically changed conditions in its bid, that this bid could not have been legally accepted by the City ~ouncil had ths. t body been disposed to do se. The City Cou$cil ~hen, of necessity, passed an'ordinance for the regulation ef jitneys, for which a p.etition for referendum to the ~eeple, signed by a majority of the Usual vote Of the people had been received. Had the ordinance not been passed, it was a foregone _conclusion that the vote by referendum would have approved the ordinance and no modification in it for t~o years would the~ have been possible. However, if t~e ~reside~ o~ the Traction Company is ~incere in his ~esire to operate motor~busses, ~, while fully convinced of the advisability of muhiqip~l oVa~ership and~operation, in my desire to be fair to vested capital, would gladly go in'to the melter with him, provided the capital invested in the motor busses now operating is properly protected mhd provided further that an'~greem~ent can be arrived at between the City and the'Cor~pany, which would fully protect the City'm interests.for the present and for the~uture.. The City Eanager and the City Council in drafting and passing the franchise ordinances of last year acted probably in opposition to the then views of a l~rge ~ajority of ~the citizer~s, thereby risking and almost incurring political disaster. Tet, they a.re new charged l~y the ~irginia Eailway & Power Company with conspiring to destroy capital! In conclusion, let me say'in all kihdness and fairness that in my'humble opinion the failure of the Virginia Railway and Power Company to solve the transportation'problem in this City and elsewhere in Virginia has been due to l~hree principal C~uses: first, Dot only has it failed ~o recegnize that it ~.st have the good will of the co,unity Whibh*itserves, b~t apprarently it has systematically sought to vex and antagonize that community; second~, it has failed to realize that serv~ice nfo. st precede profits and t~h~ if service is not given by i~, the ~e~rab~e law of supply and demand, will necessarily and naturally develop a co~oeting ssrvice; ,~ird, it hms not shown clear vision in realizing t~t ~*ban transportation like any ether business must prpg~ess. Particularly, it has failed utterly in the past to grasp the importance and v~lue of me,or busses though its President now tardily admits that it is at leastma supplementary service. Until it ~ad]ica~ly changes its methods of de~ling with the public and shows a willingness to ~cce~t improvements in urban transportation de~a~ded by the needs of the p~esen~, it can have no hooe of improying its economical position or its standing ~th the ~blic. Wen with a complete change in its methods, its rehabilitation spiritual and physical ~y be* brought about 0nly slowly and by heavy sacrifice, as its ri~al the motor bus is too strongly entrenched in the habits, lives and affections of the people to be readily displaced. ~ possible compromise is a friendl~ consolidation in which the importance ~f the motor bus is fully realized fbr short hauls, the street cars being possibly retained for long distance t~ax~fic. The s~ternate result will probably be the dis~opemr~ce from our cities of the surface street cars operated on rails.'~ Yo~s tautly, On motion cf~Lr. ~hite, the ~etter w~s adopted, The following cormuunication ~zon¢~ Cit~ ~Yttorney was referred to Finance