| May 27, 2005 Ten Reasons To Stop The Knik Arm Bridge by Brian Yanity, insurgent49 My neighborhood of Government Hill is under threat from the Knik Arm Bridge project. The close-knit and diverse neighborhood of Government Hill is the oldest neighborhood in Anchorage. The city’s first permanent homes were built here, back when the tent city of Anchorage was still just an Alaska Railroad construction camp. The Knik Arm Bridge And Toll Authority (KABATA) website (http://www.knikarmbridge.com/index.html) claims the total project cost to be somewhere between $400 million to $600 million. But based on past promises made by boosters of Alaskan megaprojects, there is a good chance that it will end up being a lot more than that. Read a little Alaska history from the not-to-distant-past, and decide for yourself. I thought that I would rattle off a top ten list of reasons to stop the bridge. 1. All that money (lets assume that its around $500 million) is best used for other purposes, like schools and other community improvement projects that Anchorage needs. Also, more money could go to proper maintenance of our existing roads and streets. That money should not go to satisfy the construction and real estate lobbies, who will immediately reinvest most of it outside the state. 2. To make room for the connecting highway, parts of Government Hill would be bulldozed. In the most likely scenario, several homes and other buildings would be destroyed, including the Anchorage Curling Club and the Hill’s only video store and hotel. 3. The connecting highway, if built above ground, will cause a physical division of the neighborhood - the negative social effects of the Cross-Bronx expressway in New York City comes to mind. 4. The connecting highway would bring more pollution and noise to the Government Hill neighborhood. 5. The Anchorage area doesn’t need more space for development, but smarter and denser development. All the bridge would do is create more low-density environmentally destructive sprawl development on land that is now pristine. When combined with real estate speculation, the bridge would turn everything between Port MacKenzie and Big Lake into a morass of subdivisions and strip malls, which would also affect commuting time. Rising oil prices will make this style of development obsolete in the coming decades. 6. The commuting time from Wasilla to Anchorage wont decrease that much, at least not enough to justify spending $500+ million. For that kind of money, you could certainly start a high-speed commuter rail service between Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley, and still have money left over. 7. The bridge could end up being named after Don Young! 8. The construction lobby in Alaska needs to be weakened, not strengthened. Otherwise we will have 10 more unnecessary convention centers built before we know it. 9. Lisa Murkowski owns a home in Government Hill. It is in the interest of humanity to pit the House of Murkowski against the House of Young, as we could use this issue as a strategic schism in Alaska’s Congressional delegation. 10. And last but certainly not least, because the construction of the bridge might impact the Beluga whales that go up Knik Arm in the summer time. Now for Plan B: What kind of compensation would be fair for the neighborhood if we cannot stop the bridge project? Here are some starter ideas: - investment in a community
center or other public space
- extensive improvements in neighborhood parks - demand more frequent transit trips to downtown, including an electric bus or trolley line to connect Government Hill to downtown - consider burying the connecting highway underground In my hometown of Portland, residents of the Lair Hill neighborhood are receiving an extensive neighborhood improvement package in compensation for some homes being demolished to make way for an aerial tramway. In all, 22 separate homeowners were forced to sell their properties to the city. The $40 million tramway project was at first strongly opposed by the neighborhood, but opposition ceased when the city government promised more than $7 million in neighborhood improvement projects. These include a new pedestrian bridge over a freeway and traffic improvements. Using the Lair Hill scenario as a background, Government Hill residents should be demanding at least $100 million in compensation! Think about it: $100 million could buy us the nicest trolley to downtown, as well as a fabulous community center. The future is ours to determine. Brian Yanity is a student activist and freelance journalist who resides in an undisclosed location in Southcentral Alaska. He can be reached at byanity@insurgent49.com. |
-
Columnists -
- also by this
writer -
|
||||||
| Copyright
2005
Insurgent Media. All Rights
Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
|||||||
