A Street Fight Over Page Street’s Gulch
Contractor I. Liberman prepared to bill Olympia about $100 a day after the city suspended work on an Eastside street improvement.
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It is expected that I. Liberman will tonight present a claim to the city council of about $100 a day for damages sustained by stopping work on the Eastside. As nearly as can be learned, Engineer Lemon recommended that a bridge be constructed across the gulch on Page Street, at a cost of about $700, but some property owners wanted the gulch filled in at a much greater expense. Now that Page Street is a separate assessment it is considered an extravagant policy, and the council at the last meeting ordered work suspended.
“It is expected that I. Liberman will tonight present a claim to the city council of about $100 a day for damages sustained by stopping work on the Eastside.”
The Page Street dispute shows how quickly a street improvement can become a fight over money, assessments and contractor losses—issues that still dominate local infrastructure debates. The council’s decision to suspend work put a price tag on delay, and Liberman wanted the city to pay it.
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