April 16, 2004
Friday

Thursday I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and guiding a group of Alaska Marine Highway System "Relocation Implementation Team" members (from Juneau) through the former KPC/Gateway Administration building at Ward Cove. I am happy to report that they had the exact same reaction that I did when I toured it recently (for the first time in my adult memory): "Wow! This is a REALLY nice facility!" and "why has there been any controversy at all over this building's condition?"

There have been comments in this forum recently that speculated about environmental conditions at Ward Cove -- and I want to make it clear that I would never minimize any known hazards. I simply do not believe that cutting corners in any way warrants a risk to health, especially when there are perfectly sound methods of eliminating potentially unsafe conditions. That being said, I am not particularly fond of hypothesizing about what the dangers may or may not have been present in the case of an industrial process conducted over 7 years ago in the same general vicinity of what has always been an office building. In any case, the Borough Assembly will receive a full, unbiased, environmental hazard assessment report on the AMHS Building at Ward Cove next Monday night. This report will enable the Borough to make sensible decisions regarding any potential hazards that may exist.

Finally, since I had such a enjoyable experience escorting the fine folks from Juneau through the building Thursday, I'd really like to take this opportunity to invite anyone from OUR community to take a similar walkthrough with me - anytime! Give me a call at home (247-1719) or email me and we'll figure out a convenient time. I know you'll be pleasantly surprised!

David Landis
E-mail: david.landis@borough.ketchikan.ak.us
Ketchikan, AK - USA

 

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