Viewpoints
RE: Questions About The Bridge
by Penny Eubanks
July 01, 2004
Thursday
Peg, I do not have any answers to your questions below - just
speculations or additional questions...
- Who will be responsible for
the infrastructure to develop Gravina Island? -- Citizens of
Ketchikan? - through additional taxes, mil rate increases, or
bond measures?
- Who will develop the water/sewer
systems? the streets/roads? police/fire protection? -- Same speculations
or additional questions as above...
- Who will pay for a harbor
facility on Gravina? -- Again - same as above...
- What types of businesses/employment
will developing Gravina attract? -- Possibly a wetlands sanctuary
manager, wetlands veiwing platform with interpretive tours?
- Who will pay for the maintenance
of the bridge? -- Again - same as the first three questions posed
by Peg and additional ones added by myself...
- How will Ketchikan handle
the additional traffic through downtown to the Mall and WalMart?
-- Here I think the question was posed incorrectly - possibly
it should actually be asked how Ketchikan will handle the additional
traffic traveling through the downtown tourist areas when in
route to the airport - perhaps during the summer months travel
to the airport could be re-routed to utilize the airport ferry
system (after all one of the ferries is fairly new still - was
that our tax dollars at work?)
As a PROUD resident of Ketchikan
do not take my comments as against the bridge being built...
Although I am not certain I am thrilled with the idea of my beautiful
Ketchikan, Alaska (note I say my Ketchikan - I love Ketchikan,
it is MY home - I am an Alaskan native - with a small "n"
not a capital "N" Mr. Hoff, of whom I respect your
right to express an opinion but disrespect your attitude of present
day discriminatory remarks and behavior) being marred by the
vision of a "bridging the gap between islands"... I
am certain it WILL feed our local economy for a period of time
while being built - a bandaide until our economy heals? After
it is completed, I am not certain it will provide more opportunity,
or land for developement (aren't wetland areas south of the airport
protected due to species of indiginous wildlife?) but perhaps
if we build the road to Seley's mill we can extend it even further
(pour more money into it) on the north end where there are no
wetlands and then upland lots could be developed into housing
areas?
I wish/dream... of a road built to link with a mainland road
system so I could drive out of Ketchikan (I don't like flying...),
of a road built past Settlers Cove to Naha area and beyond (hasn't
a proposed road this direction been in the planning for the past
20 - 40 years? Wouldn't this also open up areas to develop?),
of Cape Fox opening the White River gate to locals for recreation
purposes (I seem to recall that was the plan when all those logging
roads were built - that it would provide residents additional
recreation areas after the logging was complete - the tourists
sure must enjoy those 4x excursions... for a price of an excursion,
I suppose I can enjoy the beauty of the area also... after all
it is private land, and some irresponsible locals have trashed
the remote land private access areas forcing ownerships to lock
them down to all good people of Ketchikan)
Yes I have dreams - and they all seem to center around accessing
other areas besides our 36 miles of drivable road (no - I will
NOT move south for more roads to drive!) - I guess then I do
want a bridge to Gravina - the bridge to "nowhere",
yet, it is a bridge to somewhere, and an additional 4 or 5 (?)
miles of road to drive...
Yes - some of my comments here have been satirical, I was raised
on one station of British TV while growing up north of town in
MY (Mr. Hoff) beloved Ketchikan!
Do I make any sense to anyone besides myself? Maybe this will
not make sense to anyone other than myself, as this was a ramble
of thoughts - it was good to verbalize them though! - thank you
Sitnews for the public forum and thank you to all those who have
read my posting - hope I haven't offended anyone as that certainly
is NOT my intent - if I have - blame it on that dry British TV
humor!
Best regards to all my fellow community citizens - have a GREAT
4th of July! After all we will be celebrating our freedom, and
our rights to that freedom, being fought for and defended by
our military units - God Bless them.
Penny Eubanks
Ward Cove, AK - USA
Related Viewpoints:
Questions About The Bridge by Peg Travis - Ketchikan, AK
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