Gov’t put many small businesses out when they sold land to build the Marriot.

The parking garage is the biggest fiasco. Before the garage there was a gravel lot in that space. That lot could hold at least one hundred cars when a special event was occurring downtown PLUS there was parking on the street all around that block. By building a parking garage the city effectively lost close to one hundred parking spaces downtown…. I’d guess 80. Now the only people to use the parking garage are state employees. The public (read: customers) will drive around downtown looking for a parking spot. Few will venture into that idiotic parking garage. The parking garage looks nice, but it helped make parking scarce and forced people from downtown.

And I could go on.

In the words of a great man, “Gov’t isn’t the solution. Gov’t is the problem.”

B) There are three traffic circles in the Fairbanks area. I assume the one you are forgetting is at the front gate to Ft. Wainwright.

The town I grew up in, Grand Jct. Colorado, faced this issue almost 40 years ago, when malls (called shopping centers back then) first started to appear in the suburban areas. The city planners dubbed it “Operation Foresight”, and it fulfilled its promise.

The four lane Main Street was reduced to a serpentine 2 lanes, with on street parking and landscaping and art spaces interspersed. Traffic slowed down, but did not diminish, and continues to this day, as the downtown businesses retained a market share even while the malls proliferated. And the old core has more charm with each passing year, with a lot of historic and unique buildings and way more character than the newer developments.

I was excited and pleased to hear a roundabout was being considered for that spot, and now very disappointed to hear its out. If anything, in a cold climate the roundabout is more needed and appropriate than elsewhere. I wonder if the planners can be persuaded to reconsider this decision? I’m willing to do some lobbying…