The Price of a Transit Franchise
Tacoma’s City Council strikes a bargain for new railway depots in Old Town and the Narrows, bartering city streets for future development.
The story, cleaned up
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The city council, in committee of the whole, last night agreed to the passage of the Point Defiance franchise for the Northern Pacific railway, after providing for some concessions. The railway company is to put a passenger and freight depot at Old Town and run it for two years. If at the end of that time the business done there is 2 per cent of the business in the city, it must be permanent. When there is 2 per cent of the city business ready to be handled on the Narrows, the railway company must also establish a passenger and freight depot on the Narrows, at about the Sixth avenue extension. The company must put in a viaduct at Old Town to connect with the city dock there and go over the tracks. It must also put in subway crossings at Union Ave., Alder St., and North 49th St. The city may open streets through to the Narrows by formal condemnation, the franchise stipulating that the city shall take a decree in court for a nominal sum of $1 damages. The company will pay $100 a year for this franchise, which is estimated to be worth several millions.
“The company will pay $100 a year for this franchise, which is estimated to be worth several millions.”
Public-private partnerships and the donation of land for infrastructure remain central to how Tacoma shapes its growth today. The struggle to balance corporate rail expansion with civic access points in Old Town and the Narrows echoes current debates about who controls the waterfront and transit corridors.
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