Sec. 233. 

(1)  The Board of Public Works shall have and exercise all the powers and duties possessed by the City under this Charter, and all the powers and duties that are now or may hereafter be imposed by general laws of the state upon the Council or any board or officer of the City under special assessment, as well as all other proceedings relating to:

(a)  The advertising for and inviting of proposals or bids for doing any work or making any improvement ordered by the Council or by said board under authority elsewhere granted in this Charter to be done or made, including the construction of sewers and all other public improvements in, upon or under any streets, avenues, alleys, lanes, boulevards, crossings, courts, bridges, viaducts, subways, tunnels and other subterranean avenues for travel, public places, rights-of-way and property belonging to the City;

(b)  The examining, considering and preparing of such proposals or bids;

(c)  The awarding, letting, reletting, entering into and signing of contracts on behalf of the City for doing any of said work or making of any said improvements so ordered, the giving of notice of such award or the rejection of proposals or bids for doing such work or making such improvements, and the granting of extensions of time for the completion thereof by the contractor therefor;

(d)  The fixing of the amount of bond required to be given by contractors and the approval of such bonds prior to or at the time of executing contracts for such work or improvement, the fixing of the time when such work or improvement shall be commenced (when such time is not specified by law); and the fixing of the time within which the same shall be completed;

(e)  The exercise of all the powers and duties that are now or may hereafter be conferred or imposed by law upon any board or officer of the City relating to the approval of the award of contracts for any of the work or improvements mentioned in this section;

(f)  The exercise of all the powers and duties that are now or may hereafter be imposed by law upon any board, officer or commission provided for by law to estimate or determine the benefits, damages and costs incident to a proposed change of grade of, or any improvement of any public street or other place mentioned in this section, the making and levying of assessments upon property to cover such damages and costs.

The grading of one block of a city street located a considerable distance from plaintiff’s property, and beyond another cross-street, which in no way interferes with the easy and convenient access to plaintiff’s property by other streets, does not show that damage contemplated by Section 14 of Article I of the Constitution although the use of the street as a thoroughfare near plaintiff’s property was not as extensive as before such grading.

Wolff v. City of Los Angeles, 49 Cal. App. 400.

It is not only unobjectionable but quite commendable for the Council on ordering the Board of Public Works to prepare a new assessment to direct the form which it shall take.

Cake v. City of Los Angeles, 164 Cal. 705.

If from the nature of the improvement it can be said that the lots to be assessed are susceptible to some substantial benefits from it not depending upon any special use to which they are voluntarily presently being put, but if benefits would be received by the property if devoted to any use which might reasonably be made thereof, the question of the extent of the benefits received is one which, in the absence of fraud, gross injustice or demonstrable mistake, rests peculiarly in the determination of the assessing authorities, and their action will not be interfered with by the courts.

Howard Park Co. v. City of Los Angeles, 119 Cal. App. (2d) 515.

Howard Park Co. v. City of Los Angeles, 120 Cal. App. (2d) 242.

(2)  The secretary of the Board of Public works shall have and exercise all the powers and duties that are now or may hereafter be conferred or imposed by law upon any board or officer of the City, relating to.

(a)  The receipt, care and custody of proposals or bids for doing any of the work or making any of the improvements mentioned in this section;

(b)  The care and custody of all checks and bonds accompanying such proposals or bids. (Sec. Added, 1925.)