BILL NUMBER: ACR 15 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Furutani
JANUARY 29, 2009
Relative to the John Sanford Todd Memorial Highway.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 15, as introduced, Furutani. John Sanford Todd Memorial
Highway.
This measure would designate the portion of State Highway Route
605 between Carson Street and Del Amo Boulevard, in the County of Los
Angeles, as the John Sanford Todd Memorial Highway. The measure
would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the
cost for appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon
receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to
erect those signs.
Fiscal committee: yes.
WHEREAS, The young community of Lakewood, that John Sanford Todd
joined in 1949, had gone from practically no population to nearly
100,000 residents in 1953. This population growth raised a huge
question of whether the unincorporated community should be absorbed
into the City of Long Beach or whether the families of Lakewood
should take on the risks of cityhood; and
WHEREAS, John Sanford Todd joined the battle to keep Lakewood
independent when the City of Long Beach began a series of annexation
elections in 1953. With other community members, John Sanford Todd
mounted a spirited campaign to prevent "piecemeal annexation." It was
his strategy of appealing each annexation election as soon as it was
announced that stalled the City of Long Beach's plans, although
Lakewood Village and a few other neighborhoods accepted annexation;
and
WHEREAS, Annexation was stopped, but Lakewood's future was still
in doubt. John Sanford Todd took up the next challenge, working with
other leaders to circulate incorporation petitions based on the
radical idea that Lakewood had the resources to be a city; and
WHEREAS, The heart of the argument for cityhood was a plan, which
was called "the Lakewood plan." John Sanford Todd conceived the idea
that unincorporated communities did not have to choose between
annexation by a big city or building a costly civic infrastructure
from scratch. Instead, he believed that city councils could turn to
the county to deliver municipal services through a system of
contracts; and
WHEREAS, Convinced that the plan would work, Lakewood voters made
their community a city in 1954 and the first in the nation to supply
all of its services by contract. Today, the contracting plan that
John Sanford Todd created shapes the future of one-quarter of
California cities; and
WHEREAS, The Lakewood plan's "father" became its chief interpreter
when the first Lakewood City Council met on April 16, 1954. The new
council members appointed John Sanford Todd as Lakewood's City
Attorney. He held that office until 2004, a period of 50 years, and
was one of the longest serving city attorneys in California history;
and
WHEREAS, As the city's legal counsel over that period of 50 years,
John Sanford Todd drafted hundreds of ordinances, policies,
regulations, and resolutions. The quality of everyday life in
Lakewood can be directly attributed to the body of law of which John
Sanford Todd was the principal author; and
WHEREAS, As important as that work was, it was not Todd's greatest
achievement; and
WHEREAS, Almost as soon as Lakewood was formed, some cities sought
to undermine the basis of the contract plan with the county. The new
contract cities were threatened by a series of political and legal
maneuvers that would have made the Lakewood plan impossible; and
WHEREAS, With John Sanford Todd's guidance, contract cities fought
back. In 1957, they formed what would become the California Contract
Cities Association. With John Sanford Todd as lead counsel, those
cities took their cause to the Los Angeles County Grand Jury, the
California Legislature, and the courts. The Lakewood plan was finally
vindicated in a landmark ruling by the State Court of Appeals in
1977; and
WHEREAS, John Sanford Todd served in other ways, including as an
officer in the contract city association and in the statewide League
of California Cities. He was, for a time, the City Attorney of Pico
Rivera as well as Lakewood. And he was the first legal counsel of the
California Joint Powers Insurance Authority, an agency that provides
member cities with insurance protection; and
WHEREAS, "Preservation" might be one of the major themes of John
Sanford Todd's career as city attorney, legal counsel, and defender
of the Lakewood plan. "Innovation" was another major theme of his
career. John Sanford Todd saw more clearly than others that new forms
of local government were needed for the new cities of California;
and
WHEREAS, John Sandford Todd died August 30, 2008, at the age of
89, and is survived by two sons and five grandchildren.
WHEREAS, Future Lakewood City Council members will miss John
Sanford Todd's wise advice. They will remember his contributions with
pride. Lakewood residents will honor him always as a true "Lakewood
legend"; and
WHEREAS, There will always be only one John Sanford Todd, "the
Legend of Lakewood," and Lakewood's first City Attorney; now,
therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature designates the portion of
State Highway Route 605 between Carson Street and Del Amo Boulevard,
in the County of Los Angeles, as the John Sanford Todd Memorial
Highway; and be it further
Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to
determine the cost of appropriate signs, consistent with the signing
requirements for the state highway system, showing this special
designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources
sufficient to cover that cost, to erect those signs; and be it
further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the Department of Transportation and to the author
for appropriate distribution.