Dont forget at ballot box
To the Republican majority caucus: Let me see if I've got this right. Returning money to the oil companies is good for Alaska, but receiving money from the federal government to expand Medicaid is bad for Alaska. Good luck in the next election!
— Gary W. Gantz
Anchorage
Righteous ignore suffering
Yea, though they walk through the valley of the shadow of death they will fear no evil, for they are the legislators!
And those tens of thousands of constituents and their children? Take a glance towards the end of the line, in the emergency rooms.
— Hal Post
Anchorage
Loussac traffic changes set
The renovation of Loussac Public Library has started and will be ongoing for at least 18 months. Despite the construction, the library will continue to be open to the public seven days a week. Throughout this massive project, access to and use of the library may be affected.
By Wednesday, there will be new traffic patterns instituted. Most significant to the public is the closure of all entrances to the main Loussac public parking lot except by way of 40th Avenue, off Denali Street, through the Cuddy Family Park. The drive-by book drops will be moved to the staff parking lot and the traffic pattern changed.
Sharrock Road will be closed from Barrow Street to the Alaska Collection bridge. Handicapped parking next to the building and the small parking lot east off Sharrock will remain open.
The current construction work schedule is 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and occasionally on Sundays. For regular updates on the Loussac project, text RENOVATION to 888-777 or check the website at www.anchoragelibrary.org.
— Toni Massari McPherson
Anchorage Public Library
community relations coordinator
Time to recall legislators
According to what I've read—see the reference below — all elected public officers in the state of Alaska can be recalled. It only takes 10 percent of the voters who voted in the previous election to put the matter on a ballot for a special election. This is doable.
Most Alaskans want a good education for children, the expansion of Medicaid, a way to make the state fiscally solvent, Erin's Law passed, a healthy tourist industry, etc. But after not doing ANY of this, our legislators asked for two weeks of vacation and a change of workplace?
Time for a recall! They are not doing what we elected them to do and this is not acceptable.
Reference: www.elections.alaska.gov/pbi_rc_gi.php and Article XI of the Alaska Constitution, Alaska election law and the Alaska Administrative Code.
— L.L. Raymond
Homer
Don't ruin magical theater for vulgar skyscraper
I remember being 20 years old and living in Anchorage, then a rather dowdy and uninteresting place. Ah well, I thought. My own hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, had been an ugly place as well. In the days of urban renewal, the good citizens had torn down a street of lovely Victorian mansions in order to build monstrous looking businesses. After all, beauty did not pay in the minds of mistaken entrepreneurs. The city demolished a train depot that could have been included in a photo history of American train stations. Now in Anchorage the same thing has been, and for some time, about to occur. When I was young I went to my first movie there. I was used to the classic Pantages theaters of the late 19th century, but the 4th Avenue Theatre was splendid in a post-modern manner. The panels and the ceiling of stars moved me to awe. The experience was magical. So unlike the experience of viewing some business group's idea of beauty, the vulgar skyscraper.
I call on all of Anchorage to stop arguing once again about whether to save this structure and save the thing. It should have been done years ago. You must understand that it is iconic and could easily bring in tourist money. Git'er done.
— Kelli Mahoney
Wasilla
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