The Battle Over Sidewalks: When Seattle's Poor Were Forced to Pay for Progress
In 1885, a divided City Council grappled with whether to tax struggling residents for public infrastructure or use the city's general fund.
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.
During the City Council proceedings on May 15, 1885, the body considered the equalization of the assessment roll for the planking of Commercial, Mill, and Front streets. Councilman Latimer moved that the assessment roll be dispensed with, suggesting the improvements be paid for by the general city fund. Councilman Yealer spoke in favor of this proposition, noting that these streets were public improvements enjoyed by all. He argued that forcing the residents on those streets to pay for the work would work a hardship on 'poor folks,' many of whom did not even own cows or cattle to travel on the new planking. City Attorney Hanford explained that the work had been done under the city charter, which mandated that abutting property owners pay for grading, sidewalking, and planking. The vote to reject the assessment was a tie, and Mayor Leary cast the deciding vote in favor of rejection, effectively stalling the charges against the residents.
“The planking of those streets were public improvements, enjoyed by all, and that the property abutting on Front street to pay for this work would work a hardship on poor folks.”
This 1885 debate echoes modern Seattle's perennial friction over who bears the financial burden of rapid civic improvement. Just as 19th-century councilmen worried about the 'hardship on poor folks' paying for street planks, current debates over Local Improvement Districts (LIDs) and property tax levies often reveal the same tension between city-wide benefits and individual displacement.
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