Streetcar Ambitions Stalled by Charter Flaw
A bungled provision in the city charter leaves rail companies unable to lay tracks, as no legal mechanism for compensation exists.
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 arrangements for the building of street railways in Seattle have come to a temporary halt caused by a defect in our city charter which must be remedied before the companies can go on with their preparations. The section of the charter referring to the subject gives the city power to provide for grading streets, laying street railway tracks, etc.; but goes on to say: 'But no railway track can thus be located or laid down until after the injury to property abutting upon the street, alley or public place upon which such track is proposed to be located and laid down, has been ascertained and compensated in the manner provided for compensation of injuries arising from re-grade of streets in section 106 of this act.' Referring, now, to section 106, it will be found that no provision is there made for compensation of such injuries. The railway companies are thus put in the rather peculiar position of being compelled by the city to do a certain thing, and of running the risk of losing their charter if this is not done, while the thing referred to is impossible.
“The railway companies are thus put in the rather peculiar position of being compelled by the city to do a certain thing... while the thing referred to is impossible.”
Regulatory gridlock over transportation infrastructure is a perennial Seattle theme. Whether it's the 1883 charter or modern light rail extensions, the intersection of city law and transit development remains a high-stakes civic hurdle.
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