City Council Denies Police Expansion Amidst Infrastructure Debates
Aldermen reject a bid for fifteen additional officers while debating the undergrounding of electric wires.
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The proposition to increase the police force by fifteen men was taken up and Alderman Stocks, as chairman of the police committee, reported unfavorably. The ordinance was then rejected by unanimous vote. President Sweeney's ordinance providing that electric wires be placed in conduits underground was called up. He explained that it did not require that the wires should be taken down now, but only that companies should be required to do so when so ordered. Mr. D. T. Denny, who was in the lobby, expressed concern about the potential cost to consumers. After further discussion regarding the importance of hearing from utility companies, the bill was laid on the table.
“Dr. Sweeney replied that, as to the cost, companies consolidated to save expense, yet the cost to consumers was increased.”
Debates over the city's growth, utility infrastructure costs, and police staffing levels remain perennial flashpoints in Seattle's local government, echoing the legislative wrangling of 1893.
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