Jefferson Street Was Graded on Paper
Homeowners refused to pay an assessment for street work they say was never properly authorized—or finished.
In the civil action brought by the city to foreclose an assessment lien on the property of Elizabeth Anderson et al., growing out of the grading of Jefferson street, the defendants yesterday filed an answer to the complaint, in which they allege that the pretended assessment was void for several reasons. No petition, it is alleged, was ever filed by a majority of the property owners asking for the grading of the street, and at the time the ordinance providing for the work was assumed to have been passed it was not passed by a vote of all the members of the council, and was not supported by a vote of all the members present. Bids were not called for, but the contract was awarded, the defendants say, before an ordinance authorizing the work had been passed. The contract, it is alleged, provided for the payment of exorbitant and unreasonable rates and prices for the performance of the grading and sidewalk building. At present Jefferson street, the defendants say, is only partially graded, and no sidewalks have been constructed. No estimates have ever been presented to the council upon which to base the pretended assessment, and a large part of the property embraced in the alleged assessment has not been assessed at all or included in the assessment in any manner.
“At present Jefferson street is only partially graded, and no sidewalks have been constructed.”
Seattle still uses local improvement districts and street assessments to pay for sidewalks and paving, and disputes over costs, process and unfinished work remain common. The Jefferson Street answer reads like a modern neighborhood complaint about a project approved on paper but never completed.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.