THE BONDAGE OF CITIES - The Community Environmental Legal ...

VI APPENDIX I.STREET FRANCHISES 3.Street franchises and local public works of a businessnature such as water and lighting plants, street railways andtelephone exchanges, shall be 'matters of sole municipal sovereigntybeyond the interference or control of the Legislature, andsubject only to this constitution : Provided, that all ordinancesor acts granting, extending, or renewing such franchises orproviding for the construction, purchase, sale or lease of suchworks, shall be subject to the referendum upon petition of 5 percent,of the voters of the municipality filed in the executive officewithin 30 days after passage and publication of said act orordinance.SPECIAL LEGISLATION.Special legislation affecting municipalities shall be invalid,except so far as asked for or adopted by the municipality affected.For the purposes of this provision, cities and towns are dividedinto three classes; 1st, those below 8 ,000 population ; thosect,between 8,000 and 100,000, and 3d, those above 100,000.Sometimes one of these single-minded provisions can be passedwhere nothing can be done with the broader measures. Work to getwhatever can be obtained now, even if it be only a clause against speciallegislation. Every step in the right direction makes future progresseasier. Even a statute embodying the substance of one of these provisionsis worth a great deal to the cause of municipal liberty. But anamendment is better and the full constitutional amendment of the lastsection (C) is the thing to get if possible. Perhaps the best plan of allis to get both the statute and the amendment get the statute for immediateuse, and at the same time take the first steps toward getting aconstitutional amendment.