The Battle for the City’s Curbing Costs
Tacoma property owners fight to shift the burden of street improvement costs from private shoulders to the city's general fund.
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.
By a vote of 6 to 5, the resolution introduced by Councilman Hammond to rebate the assessments on curbing, sewer pipe, catch basin, and crosswalk improvements in local improvement district No. 54 of the Second Ward was adopted in a special meeting of the council last evening. Councilman Hammond read a petition signed by property owners asking for a rebate on their assessments, noting that many owners were unable to pay such a high amount. In many cases, they are taxed $3 a running foot. Hammond argued that it was unjust to assess abutting property owners for improvements like crosswalks, which are worn out by commercial traffic—such as transfer and lumber company wagons—rather than the residents themselves. Attorney Titlow, appearing for the property owners, argued that the city should force 'the million-dollar fellows, the speculators, and the outsiders' to help pay for these municipal costs. The measure passed, but the city attorney was instructed to draft an ordinance that would require at least nine votes to ultimately become law.
“The crosswalks that the city has made him pay for are not worn out by his neighbors, or by him, but by the transfer and lumber companies, whose wagons drive over them.”
This debate over who pays for infrastructure—property owners versus the general public—remains a core tension in Tacoma's planning today. As the city manages rapid growth and aging utilities, the question of whether 'local improvement districts' are an equitable way to fund public upgrades or an unfair tax on the working class continues to echo in City Hall hearings.
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