Defiance Park Club Pledges Every Vote for a City-Owned Power Plant
At a meeting of the Defiance Park Improvement Club, Assistant City Attorney Baker makes the case for municipal power — and every man in the room stands up to promise his vote and his legwork.
The Defiance Park Improvement club last night held a meeting to consider the power plant project. Assistant City Attorney Baker went out and spoke to the club, which was represented by voters.
At the close of the address Mr. Baker answered questions and the question was put to a vote, and every man present stood up and declared he would vote for the power plant tomorrow.
Not only that, but they all pledged themselves to get out and work for it.
“Every man present stood up and declared he would vote for the power plant tomorrow.”
The municipal-power fight of 1909 was a fight about who should own the electricity a city runs on — private companies or the ratepayers themselves. Tacoma answered that question by building a public utility that still lights homes today, and the Defiance Park neighbors who stood up in this hall are the reason the argument was settled in the ratepayers' favour.
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