Answer Sent on Russell 'Shantytown'

Daily Review, Oct. 17, 1950

Full Text:

Mrs. Ruth Manwarren, Russell City resident, took the bit in her teeth this morning to reply to Peter Gulbrandsen, who branded Russell City as one of the worst shanty towns in the nation in a signed article in the Daily Pacific Builder, publication for the construction industries, last week.

Writes Mrs. Manwarren, "In reply to your article in the Daily Pacific Builder, also parts of it printed in The Hayward Daily Review.

"I, as a resident of Russell City for the past five years, only agree with you on one point-the fear of a plague breaking out due to sanitary conditions. I have been trying to put that idea across for the past four years, but our state and county officials never agreed with me.

"Russell City is not a war mushroomed casualty. According to the record on file at our library here it was sub-divided in January, 1907 by F. J. Russell. Further information can be found in Book 23 of Maps, page 51, in the Alameda County of Records, at the court house in Oakland.

"Our supervisor, Mr. G. Janssen, owned property here until a few years ago. There are still quite a few of the real old timers here yet and I am sure they resent your statements as much as I do.

"As for being a 'shanty town', the worst in the nation... we do have some very modern homes here, the rest did not get theirs finished before the county building inspection office, of which Mr. Carlson is the head, put those restrictions on us, so how can we improve our homes?

"In the second place, what chance have we for improvements, such as water and sewage.

We got to Supervisor Janssen with our problems and he gives us the run-around and then takes a vacation. Then to, Mr. Bartell, the head of the Alameda county board of supervisors. He is "not in the right frame of mind to discuss our problems:" I write to Gov. Warren; his secretary refers us to Berkeley, they in turn refer us to Oakland, then back to Janssen.

"Such a pretty merry-go-round, and right back where we started from."

In concluding her letter Mrs. Manwarren. asks Gulbrandsen for his suggestions for solution in cleaning up Russell City's problems.

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