January 05, 2005
Tuesday

Suzan, despite your tedious lecture of all the fun and exciting things to do in Ketchikan, YAWN, the fact remains that activities and enjoyable recreation for the 18-35 market is severely limited and certainly restricted for people not interested in outdoor activities. Venues for our younger adults to gather and have fun are essential to fostering a healthy community. Although your list of exciting activities seemed long, to a careful observer such as myself, it seemed strained and certainly reaching. Our community does not have much to offer this important market segment. This is to our detriment because our best and brightest young adults are Ketchikan's biggest export. As a 26 year old, trust me, the educated young leaders of tomorrow are getting a one-way ticket out of here as soon as possible because the community cares nothing for the age bracket. I can safely say that children through high school have enough activities to keep occupied, although considerably much less than every other community I have ever lived in (including small towns). Certainly the community caters to our middle aged and senior citizens with programs and services tailored carefully for these groups. I partially hold the local government and stingy special interest groups for this ill-conceived prioritization.

Young adults need dance clubs, lounges, professional dinner theaters, adult entertainment, gambling, concerts, and other forums for both informal and sophisticated social interaction. This age bracket is not nearly as impressed with hiking, ballet school, walking, Swim club, playing board games, bingo, or painting as much as the other age brackets in our city. Just because the city of Ketchikan is your dream town that satisfies your every interest does not mean that it has no further obligation to appease the interests and motivations of an important market segment in Ketchikan.

I, further, think that a casino is a wonderful idea for the community of Ketchikan. With the tourist infrastructure already firmly in place, a Ketchikan casino industry could make money concerns a thing of the past for the local government. Hailing from Las Vegas, I am partially biased to the potential the casino and gambling industry can bring to Ketchikan. By the way, please spare me the lecture on what gambling will do to the social fabric of our community. People do have a choice whether or not to take part in gambling activities.

Remember that it is unfair to think that the work in the community is done just because you are content. Do not forget that everyone in our town should have a voice and place in the conception and direction of our future.

Joseph Branco
Ketchikan, AK - USA

 

Write a Letter -------Read Letters

E-mail the Editor

Sitnews
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska