Soldotna City Council Showdown

I hope you all do get out to vote this Tuesday - it's your chance to have some influence on the direction that SOLdotna takes.

The big issue is the location of the cemetery. I've written about the absurdities of the search for the cemetery site often on this blog. For the record, I began with no particular notion of where it should be. As I've said before, I want my carcass placed on a pyre, Viking and Hindu style, and set adrift on a nearby bay. It would be way cool to throw some fireworks on the pile too. As far as a burial in SOLdotna, at least one close family member and a few friends have expressed their belief that being laid to rest here would be a guarantee that they would spend eternity in hell.

So, as a neutral side-liner, I need to be convinced by sound logic and analytic reason. Those opposed to the Redoubt site have done little to win me over. All of their arguments reek of NIMBY. There will be no excess pollution from embalming fluids; there will be no connecting road through the MOR (Mooring on the River) subdivision; the MORons' property value will not go down; funeral processions can be coordinated with school schedules to avoid traffic problems; and the 500' from a school demand that Councilman McLane made was quickly abandoned when someone pointed out that the Knight Drive property was also within that distance of a school (and besides, why is that even important?). The latest argument I heard is the desire to protect the integrity of the neighborhood. I see. Let's protect the integrity of the MOR subdivision by putting the cemetery in the neighborhood of someone else. Who cares about the integrity of THAT neighborhood.

If the Redoubt site was developed, the city could sell building sites and and collect taxes on what would surely be the McMansions that would spring up. That impact on the river would be a bit more than a cemetery, that's for sure. There's a few bucks to be made. Fair enough, but I dunno...do we really need any more people here right now? Do we need more traffic? Do we need more people on the river? Maybe we should solve a few problems first.

And of course, we would have to pay over $300,000 to buy the Knight Drive site. We own the Redoubt site, so it would save some significant money to choose Redoubt.

Let's do a quickie side-by-side examination of the council candidates.

Seat A: Nels Anderson v Jim Stogsdill. I was disappointed when I heard Jim speak on KDLL's candidate segment and listened to him describe the cemetery site search. He conveniently left out how the committee could no longer bring up the Redoubt site in their discussions. In the election info booklet, Nels, while part of the Redoubt site slate, promises to be more than a single issue candidate.

Seat B: Brenda Hartman v Eugene Fowler. Eugene was recently appointed to finish out Shane Horan's term. Brenda is running on the Redoubt slate. While Fowler was on the Orwellian-named Unified Memorial Park Committee (unified meaning that to get on the committee, you couldn't bring up the Redoubt site)I wish Fowler had stated his point of view on the cemetery search as that is the main issue this election cycle.

Seat C: Dale Bagley v Jay Rohloff. As a former borough mayor, you would know what you are getting with Dale. Can't say I agreed with too many of his decisions in that role, but he is approachable. I don't know Jay, but friends say he really is a nice guy with some good ideas. But I can't understand his crusade against the Redoubt site as he has been one of the most vocal in the opposition of it - and all for reasons that have been discounted (see above). Jay did send out a nice postcard to SOLdotna voters. In one of his print ads, he pledges not to listen to just the vocal few. Does that mean he won't listen to himself?

Seat D: Peggy Mullen v Scott McLane. Scott did not submit any info for the election brochure, and that is troublesome. I can certainly understand a reluctance to do the whole baby-kissing, glad-handing election posturing, but I would like to know that a candidate cares enough to at least put the basics down. And I can't help but have tremendous respect for Peggy who has resided in the community since it became one. As a small business owner and as a concerned community member she has always had a sense of responsible and sustainable growth in mind. She has truly been one of the reasons why one is not completely SOL in Soldotna. At one point, Scott had some financial interest in the Knight Drive site and didn't vote on the issue because of it. He then said he divested that interest, but unless I missed it, he really didn't say how he did so.