The Battle Over Public Tidelands
A recurring civic headache resurfaces as the City Council weighs conflicting claims on the city's valuable waterfront property.
The Committee on Public Lands is again in a state of disagreement over the forfeited grant at the foot of Main and Yesler streets. Two years ago, the former council had to consider a bill to vacate the strip to the Northern Pacific, and a majority refused to grant it. A motion passed by the current council, despite the protests of one of the members, to vacate the strip for the apparent benefit of the railroad, which has caused much dissatisfaction among the public. The matter was essentially forced by a handful of citizens, but there is no doubt that the proposed act, by the reason of it being a total sacrifice of public rights, will be a matter of continued litigation until the question of whether the new railroad corporation can successfully maintain its claim is decided.
“The matter was essentially forced by a handful of citizens, but there is no doubt that the proposed act, by the reason of it being a total sacrifice of public rights, will be a matter of continued litigation.”
The struggle over the Seattle waterfront, where public access and municipal land were routinely surrendered to railroad monopolies in the 1880s, echoes the modern tension between the city's public commons and the massive private developments that now define the downtown shoreline.
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