Saturday, October 03, 2009

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.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please just walk the Redoubt site. It is a catch basin for runoff, melt-off. Subtracting the non-usable wetland and the roadway/utility area the remaining Redoubt area for planting your loved one's carcass is less than 4 to 5 acres.

I will not vote for a silly group of "the coup of the dead", "Fassler's Four", or those that want the Cemetery their way at any cost, that does not realize they can not have the Boro's adjacent 30 acres. I want to see the EIS for the wetland portion of the Redoubt site. Where are the ECO tripping, save the River people when it comes to a valuable wetland. Where the hell is The Kenai Watershed Forum oh, they are Peggy people.

Peggy is a great old gal that got her panties in a bunch over this dead people turf war. Blind in one eye to the truth about costs and a closed mind to any possible outcome that does not involve Redoubt.

Hartman did not know how to spell "Counsil" when she filed her APOC forms to be a candidate for city council. Peggy grabbed her customers and got them to run. This is not how a city should pick the people that will decide important issues and costly matters.

To make the Cemetery the critical, pivotal turning point in Soldotna’s election says a lot about what is happening in the city. Please vote down the “Dead Platform” and get cremated.

Anonymous said...

With an eye on the cemetery vote and beyond:

Vote for Peggy Mullin

Vote for Nels Anderson

Vote for Brenda Hartman



Unless Bagley has gone through a thorough and complete transformation, he's still an uncomprehending slave to Repugnant indoctrination with a capital R.

Don't vote for Bagley if you think you're getting someone with progressive ideas. Bagley is a true blue fan and cheerleader of the policies of failure.

Vote for the candidates running to replace the mayor's appointees.

The mayor and his neighbors he put on the council have too much conflict of interest and were obviously appointed by the mayor on the qualifications of being his immediate neighbors and not much else.

The single issue candidates on the slate are the mayor's appointees,

vote to overturn the mayor's attempt to load the council with his neighbors.

Souldotna said...

FYI: An EIS is only required for major federal projects, not for local small time development. As far as Brenda's spelling, Jay also offers a lack of editing skills.

S


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