The Secretive Courthouse Hustle
A last-minute meeting at the courthouse reveals deep dissatisfaction with the proposed Seventh Street site for new county buildings.
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 mass meeting held at the courthouse last night to consider the location of the new county buildings was a hasty affair, in which the business and tax-paying element of the community was but poorly represented. Notice of the meeting was not general, and we doubt if one man in ten of those most interested knew that such a meeting was to be held. A resolution urging the commissioners to proceed with the construction of the proposed buildings on the Seventh street site was passed, but upon the motion of interested parties. We undertake to say that this resolution in no sense represents the sentiments of the business and tax-paying community. The Seventh street site is too far removed from the business district to be convenient. It has no single point of fitness, and, should the buildings be located there, it will for all time to come be a source of annoyance and regret.
“The Seventh street site is too far removed from the business district to be convenient.”
The late 19th-century struggle over the 'convenience' and 'business district' placement of public buildings mirrors modern debates about urban planning in Seattle. Seattle has a long history of centralized municipal development versus the sprawl that often relegates civic institutions to the periphery.
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