Letters to the editor (11/5/09)

The proposed highway-to-highway project assumes traffic problems that don't justify the $700 million price tag. I've driven in many major world cities. Anchorage Level of Service E (stop and go delays) is not comparable with same situations in Los Angeles, New York, Frankfurt (Germany), Tokyo or London. The key differences are duration and distance.

The Purpose and Need Statement specifies a goal of eliminating Level of Service E while failing to note that our stop and go traffic normally only delays commutes by 5 minutes or less.

Instead I would propose to eliminate or restrict types of secondary access or exit from the major arteries. The Glenn (Fourth Avenue along the Merrill segment), Tudor and the Seward segment between 36th and Fourth avenues should be modified to eliminate most if not all of the non-stop, light-controlled exits/entrances. This will improve flow for a very small expenditure and rightly push local traffic off the major arteries onto secondary roads.

-- Gary Roeder

Anchorage

AFN, corporations help state

Thanks to the Alaska Federation of Natives and the leadership of the Alaska Native corporations statewide.

When the AFN was organized under great duress and strain in the mid-60s, they had no idea what would be accomplished.

Sure, Alaska has oil-generated wealth, but without the Native corporations that are constantly ranked in the top 49 of the state, we would surely be groaning along with the rest of the nation about the economy.

The AFN brings an annual boost to the host city with an influx of cash and business. The issues raised and discussed also bring to the forefront what the shareholders face in rural Alaska.

The citizens of Alaska, Native and non-Native alike, should be grateful for the leadership that has been shown and support the AFN in its endeavors.

-- Paul S. Katchatag

Anchorage

Naysayers will kill this too

"Highway to highway frightens many" is an understatement. Those in the city who hope to make this happen will be overwhelmed before they start. Regardless of where the route ends up, there will be those who will sue, picket and protest in any form possible.

Regardless of the benefits, the reason a bypass will die is just like all the rest of the ideas that got pushed under the rug: Too many Alaskans no longer want growth. Those who do, which there are many, are constantly beaten down time and time again.

From no offshore drilling to no bridge, it will be the same old thing -- no progress and certainly no bypass.

-- Johnny Rusch

Anchorage

Nothing renewable with dam

Once again the Susitna dam project has crawled out of its well-earned crypt, into the media spotlight. The last thing this beast is is "renewable." The destroyed fish and game are not renewable. The hundreds of square miles of dead land beneath the reservoir are not renewable, especially when located on some of the world's most active earthquake zones. The small communities of the Upper Susitna Valley are not renewable.

If you want to take our incomparable native salmon, trout and grayling and their habitat, and trade them for hatchery trash fish swimming around in a large mud-hole of a reservoir, this turkey is for you. If you want to sacrifice our small, livable, relatively quiet communities for a few quick bucks and the nightmare of a mega-project, line up at the trough.

There is a lot of information out on vastly less destructive energy sources. Check it out. The possibilities are many, without the need to kill a mighty river. Otherwise, get ready for a pack of cement-wielding vultures, circling overhead, ready to pick our communities to pieces.

-- Denis Raney

Talkeetna

Let the booze makers pay

In response to Elise Patkotak's column "Bush booze: controversy, contradiction," (Oct. 21), it's very interesting to know where many of us rate on her sympathy meter. I fail to grasp the motivation behind her critique.

Unfortunately, once alcohol gets its claws into you, your physiological and biological system deteriorates to the point of either institutionalization, incarceration or death.

Much like an EIS, or Environmental Impact Statement, how about conducting a CIS, or Cultural Impact Statements, before allowing alcohol into ANY community. And more importantly, how about forcing alcohol manufacturers to pay for any social effects and consequences as a direct result of alcoholism within Alaska society?

-- Ron "Tigusiaq" Man

Wasilla