The City vs. The Monopoly in Indian Addition
Tacoma moves to bring public electricity to the Indian Addition, challenging a private utility's hold on the neighborhood.
Recent developments indicate that the city electric light plant, instead of the T. R. P. company, may furnish electric lights for the Indian addition. Mayor Wright is an advocate of the proposition and in an interview he said: 'The city is now prepared to furnish electric current for lights in the Indian addition. This service will be furnished at the same rate and under the same conditions as it is now being given throughout the city. We are in the electric lighting business and we might as well furnish light to these people as anybody else.' Negotiations have been pending for some time between residents of the addition and the T. R. P. company, with a view to getting an electric light service in that section. The fact that the addition will in all probability soon become a part of Tacoma has led the city officials to look into the matter.
“We are in the electric lighting business and we might as well furnish light to these people as anybody else.”
Public control of utilities remains a central pillar of Tacoma's civic identity through Tacoma Power. This 1904 dispute reflects the city's early efforts to integrate growing neighborhoods into its public infrastructure, a precursor to modern debates over municipal broadband and utility expansion.
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