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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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and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sitnews.

 

 

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