Those supporting the new Bike Plan will find the following information of interest (an initial e-mail of inquiry comes first, my response follows):
Growth in the Anchorage’s air cargo industry has been a tremendous boon to our local economy so it was bad news earlier this week when UPS announced it would begin furloughing pilots. There are quite a few pilots for UPS and FedEx “domiciled” in Anchorage and, while not every one of those pilots actually make their homes here, quite a few do. But while it’s reasonable to shake our heads in frustration at effects of the global economic downturn on our local economy, it’s better to focus on factors closer to home that negatively affect us.
Clark Yerrington, a Mountain View resident and activist with a blog of his own, sent me a thoughtful list of questions to answer for posting on his site. You’re welcome to review them there or here:
The street upon which I live doesn’t meet the municipal definition of a street – it’s narrow, isn’t “crowned” (meaning water collects in the center, rather than at the curb), lack curbs and has nary a sidewalk. None of this bothers me since, as I once explained to a new neighbor, it remains quiet enough that sometimes it feels like time stands still. Indeed, I commented, sometimes the 72 hours by which the city typically plows all roads can feel like 96 hours, or even a week on our little street – primarily because it often takes that long for crews to find their way past my home. Again, I don’t find this particularly bothersome, but others are less patient.
Quite a couple of weeks, no? On Tuesday, June 16, the Anchorage Assembly held a special meeting to hear yet more public testimony on the proposed Equal Rights ordinance.
So here’s the deal: Anchorage has an incoming mayor and we have differing opinions on when and how a Knik Arm Crossing should be built. Anyone who follows local government knows that I’ve helped initiate a process that would remove the proposed bridge from Anchorage’s Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). As I’ve stated before, I’m not opposed to any bridge ever, but I do object to the proposed bridge now. So what happens next?
An acquaintance who resides well north of my hometown once observed that the difference between Fairbanks and Anchorage is that everybody from Fairbanks has been to Anchorage. Point well taken – many Southcentral Alaskans never have, or take, the opportunity to experience other parts of our great state. I consider myself fortunate that various aspects of my work have afforded me the opportunity to spend a fair amount of time in Southeast and Interior Alaska, and a little time in Southwest and Northwest Alaska. Never been to Barrow, but I digress.
On Monday, October 6, I attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Glenn-Bragaw interchange. It was a nice event where I got to meet Frank Richards, the Department of Transportation‘s deputy commissioner, in person and exchange greetings with several folks I know through the Mountain View community council. I took away a couple observations about the project that inform some of my thinking about transportation planning for Southcentral Alaska. (more…)
[update] I received a call from Jason Lamb at KTUU, who read the post below and was looking in to doing a story on the subject. I recommended he review articles in the Prince George Citizen, that community’s newspaper, about the project. It’s a big issue in northern British Columbia and there’s lots to learn. [/update]
As regular readers of this site know, I generally try to focus my posts on issues related to Anchorage generally and the Assembly district I represent specifically. This one will be something of an exception.
My decision to request a new evaluation of the proposed Knik Arm Crossing generated quite a bit of interest in the local paper, which published two different stories and an editorial. The local television station also covered the issue twice, and an AP writer did a piece from a broader perspective. But what does it all mean?
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