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Alaska's Road to Nowhere
NY Times ^ | August 20, 2005 | HEATHER LENDE

Posted on 08/20/2005 4:25:48 PM PDT by neverdem

YOU have probably already heard about the pile of cash going to Alaska from the federal transportation bill. There's about a quarter of a billion dollars for a bridge to connect the airport on Gravina Island to Ketchikan (population 14,000). The bridge will rival the Golden Gate and Brooklyn Bridges in length and height.

Then there's $230 million or so for "Don Young's Way," a bridge between Anchorage and a swampy, undeveloped port, which is named for the man who got us the money, Alaska's lone congressman.

But it's the $15 million designated for a road between Juneau and Skagway that is dearest to me. Haines, the small town I live in, is close to Skagway - separated from it only by the waters of the upper Lynn Canal, which is not a canal at all, but the longest fjord in North America. The transportation money will go toward the first road ever to be built along the canal. Actually, the project will cost about $300 million to complete, but Gov. Frank Murkowski assures Alaskans that he'll get whatever he needs from the federal government.

The communities directly affected - Haines (population 2,400), Skagway (population 870) and Juneau (population 31,000) - have voiced opposition to the road for a host of good reasons: it is a waste of money; with at least two dozen avalanche chutes, it will be too dangerous to drive in winter, which is most of the year; we already have a fine ferry system that gets us just about everywhere we need to go in all kinds of weather; some places are too nice to be paved over.

Oh, and did I mention that the road won't fulfill its ostensible mission? The whole purpose of the new road was to connect Juneau to the Klondike Highway...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Alaska
KEYWORDS: donyoung; frankmurkowski; murkowski; young
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To: HostileTerritory
In 1992, Alaska got $1.26 back for every dollar it spent. The forests haven't gotten any bigger or needier since then, but Alaska's federal politicans have amassed FAR more power since 1994. You do the math.

You must really be a sucker when it comes to statistics. When I do the math, I see many factors that could determine this. Maybe the population of Alaska hasn't grown as much as other states between then and now. Maybe the income (on which the taxes are based) has lost ground on a real basis. Maybe the spending on things that benefit AK citizens directly has gone from nothing to $.57, where under Clinton it was entirely spent on administering Fed land. Maybe the vanishingly few people in the top 5 earning percentiles don't live in AK.

The problem is you are using the single-factor statistic that was wrung out by the Kerryites during the last election cycle to support the notion that the "inner city urban areas" were getting screwed. Which is bogus.

For example, the income taxes in Redmond, WA might not bring back $1 per capita in Fed money compared to every $1 that goes to DC. Yet, that might sheerly be due to the fact that Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer pay taxes there and everyone else gets more in Fed benefits than they paid, save those two.

Alaska has a very small population base (of which an abnormally large percent are exempt native reservation dwellers). A single multi-million dollar project that would be lost in the budgets of Los Angeles County in just cost overruns easily blows the curve on the stat you are depending on.

141 posted on 08/21/2005 7:11:24 PM PDT by LexBaird (tyrannosaurus Lex, unapologetic carnivore)
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To: porkchops 4 mahound

Maybe if they get ticked off enough at us, they'll disown us. Make Alaska another country drill for oil and keep our oil. Close OUR borders, and maybe we'll get some relief and peace from the treehuggers, PETA, etc. LOL!


142 posted on 08/21/2005 7:11:51 PM PDT by Chena (I'm not young enough to know everything)
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To: Chena
I was trying to have a little tongue in cheek humor there. Failed.

Been to Alaska once, winter time. Flown over a good share of it. Did not care for all that white stuff.

143 posted on 08/21/2005 7:13:04 PM PDT by cynicom
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To: LexBaird

Maybe the moon is made of green cheese, but Occam's Razor does apply. A billion dollars of public works projects in a state with about 600,000 people is going to tip the balance in a big way--that's about $2,000 per man, woman, and child, and the children aren't paying income taxes.


144 posted on 08/21/2005 7:15:52 PM PDT by HostileTerritory
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To: Chena
Alaskans have got to be the most self-sufficient people in the U.S.

Oh, that IS a laugh. If the U.S. pulled its troops out of Alaska, all of you brave hunters would be learning Chinese within about six months--a bunch of accountants and lawyers in Anchorage who happen to live within the same state boundaries as a big pool of oil will find out really fast that living near the oil doesn't mean they put it there.

If you're so self-sufficient, why not replace your sorry pork-hugging excuses for representatives with real conservatives and show us how you do on your own.
145 posted on 08/21/2005 7:18:28 PM PDT by HostileTerritory
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To: porkchops 4 mahound
You wouldn't last a month of winter.

Why? Does it take some esoteric backwoods skill to throw another log on the fire?

New Englanders aren't exactly stangers to winter, swifty.

146 posted on 08/21/2005 7:21:06 PM PDT by bikepacker67
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To: cynicom

Gotcha. :)


147 posted on 08/21/2005 7:21:46 PM PDT by Chena (I'm not young enough to know everything)
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To: Kozak
Yeah, and last time I checked you get back 1.89 for every dollar in federal tax you pay. Fact. Guess where that comes from. Hint, it's not the tooth fairy.

And, unless you are among the top 10% of wage earners, it probably ain't coming from you, either. If you aren't in the top 50%, there isn't any coming from you. There are more tax leaches in Boston than the whole state of AK.

148 posted on 08/21/2005 7:24:36 PM PDT by LexBaird (tyrannosaurus Lex, unapologetic carnivore)
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To: John Lenin
ewww. That is downright unseemly. Can you imagine the field day the press would have if a Republican did that right now? Sheesh.
149 posted on 08/21/2005 7:25:53 PM PDT by pollyannaish
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To: HostileTerritory

Ah yes, you DO need us don't you. Military presence in Alaska is rather crucial. And you know what? That military uses our roads and creates needs of their own.

Hey, I'm only "on step" with a couple of you FReepers because of your holier-than-though attitude. There are many factors relating to Alaska that you are ignoring.

As for my statement about Alaskans being self-sufficient. I'm not referring to the city folks who move up here from the lower 48. The ones trying to turn Alaska into a California. I'm talking about REAL Alaskans. You can twist that anyway you want. I could care less.


150 posted on 08/21/2005 7:26:17 PM PDT by Chena (I'm not young enough to know everything)
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To: HostileTerritory

Careful you don't cut yourself on that razor, HT. Every one of those factors weighs more strongly in the per-capita figure than political influence does.

A billion dollars was a month worth of cost overruns in the Big Dig, but it doesn't effect the math as readily due to the teeming masses in Mass. Maybe the graft that the Unions spread so liberally in MA to boondoggle the Dig is the reason their income tax revenues are so high.


151 posted on 08/21/2005 7:32:43 PM PDT by LexBaird (tyrannosaurus Lex, unapologetic carnivore)
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To: bikepacker67
New Englanders aren't exactly stangers to winter, swifty.

Let's see how well you'd get through a New England winter using native New England supplies of fuel oil.

152 posted on 08/21/2005 7:36:56 PM PDT by LexBaird (tyrannosaurus Lex, unapologetic carnivore)
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To: LexBaird

Guess what, it is coming from me.


153 posted on 08/21/2005 7:43:06 PM PDT by Kozak (Anti Shahada: " There is no God named Allah, and Muhammed is his False Prophet")
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To: neverdem

In the old days, progressive meant progress, connecting the nation with rails and then with roads.

A bridge OPENS up territory to development. Ironic how the author does not mention that the Golden Gate bridge opened up that whole area (now if only we could close it off).

Greece just did the same thing with one of the world's largest. (the ferry boat captains are very upset)

I hope someone revisits this short sighted pablum in 50 or 100 years.


154 posted on 08/21/2005 8:25:03 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE!)
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To: Chena

We can hope


155 posted on 08/21/2005 10:04:24 PM PDT by porkchops 4 mahound (Alaska, an actual STATE, NOT your colony, get over it!)
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To: bikepacker67

You really are funny!

Thanks so much for playing.


156 posted on 08/21/2005 10:06:19 PM PDT by porkchops 4 mahound (Alaska, an actual STATE, NOT your colony, get over it!)
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To: bikepacker67

"Why? Does it take some esoteric backwoods skill to throw another log on the fire?

New Englanders aren't exactly stangers to winter, swifty."

Be careful, your ignorance is showing. ROFL!!! If you think all it takes to survive an Alaskan winter (Interior temps -30 to -70's) is to throw another log on the fire, then you wouldn't survive in this neck of the woods. Oh, that just cracks me up!!!!!!


157 posted on 08/21/2005 10:08:27 PM PDT by Chena (I'm not young enough to know everything)
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To: Kozak

woohoo, aren't you just standing up there high on some pedestal. Emphasis on the word, "high". Go back your smoking lounge.


158 posted on 08/21/2005 10:10:55 PM PDT by Chena (I'm not young enough to know everything)
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To: Chena

Right after you crawl into your bottle.


159 posted on 08/21/2005 10:34:24 PM PDT by Kozak (Anti Shahada: " There is no God named Allah, and Muhammed is his False Prophet")
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To: porkchops 4 mahound

I think frostbite has claimed your brain


160 posted on 08/22/2005 12:30:35 AM PDT by youthgonewild
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