The Water-Sprinkling Scandal
A taxpayer calls out city hall for permitting the wealthy to water their lawns for free while the rest of Tacoma pays.
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.
I have no use for those who preach 'Equal rights to all and special privileges to none,' said Michael Dowd of the post office department today. 'I live on the corner of Seventh street and Yakima avenue. On the avenue between Twelfth and Twenty-fifth streets, the abutters are allowed to sprinkle the street with city water, for which they pay not one cent. This is along the speedway and is for the benefit of a specially favored class. Myself and my neighbors have to pay the city 25 cents a month for water for our lawns and gardens, and are not allowed to put a drop on the roadway. I voted for the councilmen who are permitting this rank injustice, and who seem to have forgotten their campaign slogan of 'Equal rights and no special privileges.'
“I voted for the councilmen who are permitting this rank injustice, and who seem to have forgotten their campaign slogan of 'Equal rights and no special privileges.'”
Public utility equity remains a persistent tension in Tacoma's civic life. This 1904 complaint about favored neighbors getting free water mirrors contemporary debates over who bears the cost of city infrastructure and development.
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