A Pillar of the Community
A Pillar of the Community, originally uploaded by lavocado@sbcglobal.net.
Thank you cahwyguy for sending me the link to the obituary of John S. Todd. He was one of the "Pillars of the Community" of Lakewood, commemorated on this artwork on the Lakewood City Hall grounds. He was the man who originated the idea of a "contract city" and worked to make Lakewood the first one. A "contract city" contracts with the county for services such as firefighting and police rather than hiring it own force. Whether this is a bad or good idea in terms of city planning, it is a very popular one.
John S. Todd lived in the Lakewood area when it was "out in the country" before the Mark Taper, Louis Boyer and Ben Weingart built 17,500 nearly identical houses in less than three years. As a lawyer, he paved the way for development by getting rid of the hog farms, whose smelly operations vexed the residents. Then, he saved Lakewood from being annexed to Long Beach by leading the drive to incorporate Lakewood as a city in 1954.
John S. Todd continued to work as Lakewood's city attorney for 50 years. He died Saturday of complications from surgery, at the age of 89.