A Sidewalk Battle on G Street
Property owners spar over mandatory concrete upgrades in the face of recent plank-walk investments.
The improvement of G street between Division and Sixth avenues with cement sidewalks will be commenced without delay. At a meeting of the property owners on this beautiful street held in the Chamber of Commerce last night, it was decided by the majority, after a thorough consideration of the matter, to go ahead and order the improvements. After the meeting a contract was signed and the George Milton Savage company will lay the walk at the rate of $22.50 per lot. A number of speeches were made by those present, but the property owners were not all of the one opinion. There are 60 lots on this street and the owners of ten of these were opposed to the improvement. Within the past two years the minority owners have laid new plank walks and they did not feel justified in laying cement walks at the present time. The majority nevertheless decided to go ahead, and extended an urgent invitation to the minority to cooperate in the work. Dr. F. H. Hill presided at the meeting and F. C. Walker acted as secretary.
“There are 60 lots on this street and the owners of ten of these were opposed to the improvement.”
This 1904 dispute over mandatory infrastructure improvements mirrors modern debates in Tacoma's older neighborhoods, where property owners often grapple with the cost of required city upgrades and sidewalk maintenance versus recent personal investments.
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