I’m working with some community groups here in Columbia, SC to do questions to city council candidates and then have a public forum.

How did it work there in Alaska?

Some candidates might resist this sort of procedure, preferring prepared advertising and press releases to uncontrolled situations where they are on their own and subject to questioning. Even noticing who didn’t show up at a “candidates’ night” would be informative.

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…

You talk about efficiency and economy of performance, with what accuracy I can’t say, but where is private industry’s willingness to accept responsibility for the welfare of others? There are rare examples like the Carnegie libraries and the Nobel prizes, but generally private industry’s interest is in maximizing return for the stock holders. If in a democracy we are the government, are we not our brother’s keeper?

You’re willing to look me in the eye and tell me you’ve never received mail that wasn’t addressed to you, despite having a well marked mail box?

Second, you’ve missed the point of the infrastructure statement. It’s not like the private companies doing the construction work for the state are acting on their own–they are fulfilling contract obligations under rules and regulations determined and paid for by the government. Driving on the roads around the Walmart/Fred Meyer/Home Depot juggernaut in winter or spring should be all the example you need that private enterprise is wretched in maintaining roadways they own even when there is a direct tie-in to their businesses. The only alternative would to make roads money-makers (like early toll roads) and then it would just be a tax under the guise of another name.

The postal service is the poster child of inefficiency. Private carriers like FedEx and UPS would crush the postal service if not for the legal loophole granting the post office a monopoly on first class mail. Both offer better service and better customer service than the post office. Without the postal service there would be more companies to fill the gap which would lead to even more competition amongst mail carriers. So what if it would cost extra to send a letter from Fairbanks. I’m not even sure it would cost more. Even so, lots of stuff is more expensive here, we accept it as a trade off for living here. Why should a person in New York subsidize our lifestyle?

Public transportation is a giant money pit. Six or seven years ago the math worked out something like this. The for the cost of the local bus line compared to the number of passengers, the burough could subsidized each passenger $10 cash for a cab ride and saved money.

Infrastructure. The state does a good job providing this because it contracts out the work to the private sector. I do agree that this is one area that needs to be done by the government, that does not mean they provide competent oversight, nor make good decisions on our behalf. Talk to any construction guy, he will have a story about gross inefficiency, like paving a road in the summer when it is scheduled to be dug up in the fall to replace sewer lines.

Safety regulations. For every company that fails in basic safety there are thousands of idiots who hurt themselves by not using common sense. Workers do not need to be protected from unscrupulous employers as much as they need to be protected from themselves. To portray OSHA and like agencies as the protector of poor workers from the mean capitalists is to stretch the truth as much as it can be stretched.

CDC. I’ll give you that one, but I will point out that the CDC is CenterS for Disease Control. It isn’t so much a big government agency as it is a small government agency with numerous affilliated programs. Much of it’s work is not done by bureaucrats but by professionals in their field. Every previous agency is (mostly) run by bureaucrats who are at the bottom of their field. CDC scientists and affiliated scientists are at the top of their field. They still highly regarded by the populace.

In the movie (King Corn) there is a fair bit discussion of the problems associated with corn-fed beef.

Is downtown perfect? No, but I sure enjoy walking to walk, leaving the car at home most days, and even walking to Gamby’s for breakfast before work. I’ve rarely had anything but a good meal there over the years. Is it always perfect? no, but it’s pretty good for the money.

Is there a problem with chronic inebriates? yes, but things are FAR better than in the 1970’s. There’s a famous shot of 2nd Avenue at 5:00 on a July morning, taken from atop the old First national bank. The street if full of drunks who stumbled out of the bars at closing time. Many were still around when I would arrive at work. Unlike those days, the community has responded. Shorter bar hours, more police presence and,

as to B. Lynn’s comment:

“The Downtown Association and Vision Fairbanks should be paying for policing the downtown area and their businesses . . .”

yes, they should — and they do — through the Community Service Patrol and the Downtown Ambassadors. Doing a cost efficient service that relieves the burden on City Police and Paramedics.

Finally, lately you will rarely see a real estate ad for the various condo buildings located near the downtown. That’s because they sell quickly by word of mouth, without a realtor’s ad.

A big part of the successful transformation of my bombed-out inner-city neighborhood in Portland were new breakfast places. They were the first new businesses that arrived in our neighborhood and marked a change for the better. Even the bad ones (not so sure I’d trust B. Lynn’s review of Gambardella’s anyway) were important in bringing people out and into the neighborhood.

Meet your friends for breakfast and change the world!

Kindergarten was excellent and First Grade started wonderfully. But when a six week substitute (who later was the head of the Fairbanks Education Association!) finished that first grade year for the teacher, who had a baby, we were thrown into great turmoil. This teacher had no skills at teaching, and her method of controlling the class was to yell – all day long.

My child, who cried when Kindergarten ended and couldn’t wait for First Grade, was no longer intersted in school at all and never wanted to go back! Unable to afford a Private Christian School I opted to Homeschool. It was the best option for my child, and also some of her classmates whose parents ALSO pulled their kids out of public school!

After 11 years of homeschooling and graduating through the I.D.E.A. program, my child attended the University of Alaska and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. My child did great there, and was complemented by professors on her language and grammer skills, something our homeschool curriculum was very intense in.

My child NEVER suffered from lack of social interaction. There were neighborhood friends and also church and business friends to interact with. Schooling should have nothing to do with socialization. Schooling is about education.

In my opinion, any parent who truly cares and is concerned about their child’s education will choose to homeschool. After all, who knows your child better than you do? No one does.

Isn’t it wonderful to see a drunk woman sitting on one of the new benches along the River, as she pulls down her pants and pees on the bench in sight of the tourists?? Or a man trying to have sex with a drunk woman on the banks of the Chena in plain sight of anyone walking along the River? Stop feeding them downtown, close the bars and liquor stroes downtown and those people will go somewhere else.

Feeding people like that is not compassionate, it is stupid.

They need to be banished from the city just like they are banished from the villages. The downtown Association should concentrate on things that matter – policing the downtown core – if they really care about the tourist trade. They don’t really care, is the problem.
Their bottom line is that they can’t wait to screw the tourists out of every penny they can because they only get one chance! They won’t be back anyway, so take advantage of them while you can!!

I have compassion for people who are truly in need of help, and whose actions show that they are truly trying to change theor situation. These drunks are chronic and don;t care to do ANYTHING to help themselves.

The Downtown Association and Vision Fairbanks should be paying for policing the downtown area and their businesses, instead of worrying about oh, something like covering the sidewalks so people will like it more in the winter – or making an already crowded street TWO way – as I said before, once that happens, I will just avoid downtown altogether.

There is NOTHING there that makes it a destination for me.

EXCEPT, I will add, the Best Thai food place in town – Bahn Thai. Now THERE is a restaurant that can be walked to by tourists, and is a good decent price for excellent food, and the waitstaff is VERY good.

Now tell me again that Gambardella’s is so wonderful…. just because you can walk there??? Hahahahahahaahha what a joke….

I’d add a method made much use of in the Ester area, and so far as I know, generally throughout Alaska: the potluck. Potlucks, barbecues, the bonfire: people bring their neighbors, their friends, their kids. Barbecues, in my experience, tend to be smaller, more closed-circle affairs, then the potluck, with one family (the host) providing most of the meal and limiting the invites. In the potluck, everyone is expected to bring something, and usually someone, so all kinds of strangers and a much bigger, extended circle ends up meeting.