Seattle's Sewer Scandal Exposed
Newly unearthed records reveal massive overspending and corruption in the city’s sewer construction projects.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The excitement attending the municipal election has passed away, but the disclosures made since that event show that the new administration has a stupendous task before it. Mayor Ronald admits in an official communication that an error of no less than $10,000 existed as to the Front Street sewer alone. He admits that while witnesses were swearing that the West Street sewer would be completed for less than the estimate, the account was overdrawn by $4,117.80. Front and Commercial streets have already exceeded the appropriation by over $16,000. Witnesses swore that all poor brick had been rejected, although others swore that the contractor ordered them to be accepted. The city has paid $637.50 for rotten brick that was so inferior it could not be used. If a man employed in the city department dared to admit that anything was wrong, he was immediately discharged.
“If a man employed in the city department dared to admit that anything was wrong, he was immediately discharged.”
Public works scandals and cost overruns have been a hallmark of Seattle civic life for over a century. The pattern of internal whistleblowers being fired for exposing waste in infrastructure projects remains a familiar, frustrating narrative in contemporary city hall politics.
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