Viewpoints
WE NEED TO SAVE THE BEACH!
By Kathleen Wiechelman
July 07, 2008
Monday
On Monday, July 7th, beginning at 5:30 p.m., the Ketchikan Gateway
Borough Assembly will consider two items relating to the Borough
s proposed purchase of South Point Higgins Beach. Item 9e would
put a bond issue before the voters of Ketchikan in October 2008,
which, of course, may or may not pass. If it does pass, it would
cost the people of Ketchikan $5,000 in attorneys fees, in addition
to other related costs. Item 9d would take $400,000 from the
Borough s land trust account towards the purchase of South Point
Higgins Beach and leave the remaining nearly $800,000 of the
purchase price mandated by the owner Alaska Mental Health Trust
to be raised by community organization Ketchikan Beaches Association
and its partner Southeast Alaska Land Trust. This option would
give the citizens of Ketchikan a much better chance than the
bond issue option of turning South Point Higgins Beach into a
public park for the use of current residents, as well as future
generations.
If you feel strongly about the future of South Point Higgins
Beach and/or favor the use of money from the Borough s land trust
account rather than a bond issue in the Fall, please either show
up at the July 7th Borough Assembly meeting to make your feelings
heard or just to help out by being a physical presence in support.
Another very useful thing to do would be to contact the following
Borough Assembly members who voted against the acquisition of
the Beach using land trust funds at the last Borough Assembly
meeting and make your opinion known to them:
Mike Painter: mike.painter@borough.ketchikan.ak.us
Mike Salazar: mike.salazar@borough.ketchikan.ak.us
Jim Shoemaker: jim.shoemaker@borough.ketchikan.ak.us
Glen Thompson: glen.thompson@borough.ketchikan.ak.us
Kathleen Wiechelman
kwiechelman[at]gci.net
Ketchikan, AK
About: "Co-chair of Ketchikan
Beaches Association"
Received July 04, 2008 - Published
July 07, 2008
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