Spokane's Year-Long Franchise War: Will the Railroads Get In Without a Public Vote?
After more than a year of bitter fighting over the North Coast and Milwaukee railroads' applications to enter Spokane, the City Council appears ready to grant franchises without the terminal rate clause — leaving open whether voters get a say.
SPOKANE — One of the most bitter and most determined fights which has taken place in Spokane in many years has been waged for over a year upon the applications of the North Coast and Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound Railroads for franchises to enter the city. That is, it has been more than a year since the first application for a franchise was made, and neither has yet been granted. The fight is not yet entirely over, but it is a fact generally conceded that the City Council will admit the railroads without the terminal rate clause, and upon such other terms as will be acceptable to the roads. The one point which remains unsettled in the public mind is whether the franchises should be put to a popular vote before they become valid.
“The one point which remains unsettled in the public mind is whether the franchises should be put to a popular vote before they become valid.”
A century later, Spokane still argues over who gets to decide when private rail and utility interests want access to public rights-of-way — and whether the public gets a vote. The 'terminal rate clause' fight was an early version of the franchise and rate battles that shape modern utility and transportation politics.
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