On February 21, 1989, the Tukwila City Council adopts Ordinance 1503 officially approving annexation of the southern portion of Boeing Field and nearby areas. The action ends a long, sometimes bitter contest between the Boeing Company and the City of Seattle, which had sought to absorb the balance of Boeing Field and adjacent industrial areas.
The south Boeing Field area lies east of the Duwamish Waterway approximately between S Kenyon Street and S Roxbury Street. The then undeveloped area was not included in Seattle's 1907 annexation of South Seattle and Georgetown, and city officials long considered remedying the omission.
Finding a White Knight
Seattle Mayor Charles Royer and City Council Member John Miller launched a new annexation drive in the late 1970s. The abrupt manner of the annexation drive offended the Boeing Company, and other area industries feared higher taxes.
Boeing and other companies retained former Seattle Deputy Mayor Bob Gogerty and former City budget director Don Stark to organize opposition among the area's few score residents, whose approval was required for annexation (businesses had no vote in the matter). The consultants ultimately recruited the support of the City of Tukwila as a "white knight" and Boeing Field neighbors petitioned to be annexed by Tukwila in 1988.
