Martin F. Betkouski
Martin F. Betkouski | |
---|---|
Member of the Los Angeles City Council for the at-large district | |
In office December 10, 1909 – July 1, 1917 | |
Preceded by | District established |
Succeeded by | Walter Mallard |
Personal details | |
Born | 1860 |
Died | 1942 (aged 81–82) |
Martin Francis Betkouski (1860 – 1942) was a member of the Los Angeles City Council between 1909 and 1917.[1][2]
Public service
In 1906 Betkouski was a member of the Los Angeles Fire Commission.[3]
A Los Angeles County grand jury in 1917 accused him as a City Council member of misconduct in office in connection with property transactions in the area where Union Station (Los Angeles) was eventually built.[4]
According to the Los Angeles Times, the councilman, from the Seventh Ward, was alleged "to have realized a profit of more than $50,000 by securing options on property within the terminal site, before the owners were aware of the proposed improvement." He was also said to have received a check of "several thousand dollars" from attorney Isadore Dockweiler, who represented the terminal company.[4]
Betkouski ran for reelection in 1917, placing 15th in a field of eighteen candidates, of whom only the first nine were successful in a first-past-the post election.[5]
The grand jury accusation was dropped after Betkouski lost the election on the grounds that the only penalty he might suffer would be removal from office.[6] In the same year, 1917, Betkouski was elected a member of the Los Angeles Board of Trade.[7]
Personal life
He was born in
References
- ^ a b "Betkouski Last Rites Due," Citizen News, Hollywood, May 8, 1942, image 14
- ^ a b "Deaths," Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1942, image 24
- ^ "Non-Partisans Name Ticket," Los Angeles Times, October 7, 1906, image 4
- ^ a b "Council Head Accused," Los Angeles Times, March 3, 1917, page 1
- ^ "City Election Final Figures," Los Angeles Times, June 7, 1917, image 18
- ^ "Norton Fights Ouster Trial," Los Angeles Times, September 18, 1917, image 10
- ^ "Martin Betkouski, Former Councilman, Elected to Fill Vacancy on Board of Trade," Hollywood Citizen, October 5, 1917, page 1
- ^ "Official Death List," Los Angeles Times, May 8, 1942, image 14
Additional reading
- Paul R. Spizzeri, Homestead Museum, "'In the Big City Class': A Progress Map of the Union Terminal Warehouse District of Los Angeles, April and September 1917," The Homestead Blog, September 17, 2019 [1]