South End Club Moves to Take City Hall Out of the Ward Bosses' Hands
A hundred petitions, 4,000 signatures and a charter committee of fifteen: South Tacoma's improvement club launches a drive for commission government before the council can bury civil service for good.
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The South End Improvement Club has again taken the lead in the movement for the commission plan of government and last night put the matter in concrete form for bringing it before the people.
The club authorized the starting of 100 petitions at once to compel the council to call for the election of 15 citizens to constitute a new charter committee, empowered to draft the new city charter to provide for the commission plan of government.
The matter was brought up by William Crehan, who was then named to head the committee and is already busy. The 100 petitions will be printed and will be out for the signatures of the voters in a couple of days. It will require about 4,000 names, and when they are secured the council must call the election for the committee of 15, which will then begin work on the new charter.
This move is expected to effectually dispose of the lingering on the charter which the council has been trying to get through to abolish civil service and put the city in the hands of the ward politicians in the council who want the jobs to hand out to their friends. It is doubtful whether the council tonight can get enough votes to put the scheme through.
The petitions will be signed up rapidly for the charter committee and an effort will be made to get them in in time to have the committee elected at the coming spring election. This means they must be in ten days before the election at least.
“It will require about 4,000 names and when they are secured the council must call the election for the committee of 15, which will then begin work on the new city charter.”
A neighborhood club going door to door with 4,000 signatures to restructure city government is a direct ancestor of every modern Tacoma charter fight and anti-patronage reform campaign. Then as now, the question was who actually writes the rules — the ward politicians handing out jobs, or the voters outside the downtown core. The South End, a newer district, wanted a seat at the table and used the initiative machinery to demand one.
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