The Rising Cost of City Progress
An editorial analysis questioning whether the tripling of street improvement spending under the current administration is delivering value to taxpayers.
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.
The cost of street improvements has steadily increased during the last four years. For the fiscal year ending July 1, 1900, the total outlay amounted to $7,346; for the last fiscal year, under the Hunt administration, the total was $21,578.78—nearly three times the expenditure in 1900. Every citizen can judge for himself whether or not the improvements made are commensurate with the increased outlay. To the off-hand observer, it would seem that Walla Walla has hardly got the worth of her money. East Alder Street, which last winter had no sidewalk at all, is now getting two sidewalks on the south side in order to make up for lost time. Now if one of them could only be moved over to the north side, everybody would be satisfied.
“To the off-hand observer it would seem from the general condition of the streets and sidewalks of this city that Walla Walla has hardly got the worth of her money.”
Debates over municipal budgets and infrastructure priorities are perennial. The frustration with 'misspent' tax dollars for sidewalk projects feels like a dispatch from any modern city council meeting.
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