The alley behind Evan Aeschlimann’s Eastside Tacoma home is rundown, peppered with potholes full of dirty spring rain and used most frequently by garbage trucks and neighbors accessing rear parking.
Tacoma offered a solution: For an estimated $408,000 to be borne by 23 property owners, the city said it could fix the entire gravel path splitting two rows of about a dozen homes each, including Aeschlimann’s, east of Pacific Avenue between South 43rd and 45th streets.
The project didn’t come out of nowhere. It was part of a proposed Local Improvement District (LID) , which is designed to be neighborhood-initiated and allow property owners who seek infrastructure upgrades to partner with the city and invest in the cost…