The Mayor Vetoes a 25% Street Grade
Mayor J. T. Ronald rejects a city ordinance establishing a steep street grade, arguing that a practical road is vital to the city's working-class population.
House of Delegates of the City of Seattle—Gentlemen: I herewith return, without my approval, house of delegates bill No. 84, entitled: 'An ordinance establishing the grade of Republican and Fifth streets from Lake street to Duwamish street.' I have made a careful examination of the street grade of the vicinity. The grades as recommended by the city engineer... give the street an incline of over 31 feet. This is more than a 25 per cent grade. It is an impractical grade. In view of the fact that the country lying east of Mary street is thickly populated by industrious and thrifty citizens who have now no outlet to get to the city... it is absolutely indispensable for their welfare that the city provide them with some or one practical route connecting them directly with the business part of the city. A street with a twenty-five per cent grade is of no benefit to these people and is entirely impracticable... In my judgment the grade recommended by the city engineer... furnished relief and the only relief to these people.
“A street with a twenty-five per cent grade is of no benefit to these people and is entirely impracticable.”
The infrastructure battles of 1892, where top-down planning often ignored the needs of the working-class residents, mirror Seattle's current struggles with transit planning and gentrification-driven infrastructure improvements.
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