I believe the ConocoPhillips building is taller than ten. Maybe some of the others as well.
Posted on 12/16/2005 7:04:19 AM PST by AmericanDave
Alaska's governor outlined a plan Thursday to spend almost $200 million on two bridge projects, including one dubbed the "Bridge to Nowhere" that triggered sharp criticism across the nation.
Congress recently dropped its funding provisos for the bridges in Ketchikan and Anchorage, but let the state keep the money and left it up to state officials to figure out how to spend it.
Gov. Frank Murkowski in a budget proposal Thursday said he wants to use $91 million for the Ketchikan project in the fiscal year beginning in July.
The two-bridge project would connect the town's airport to Revillagigedo Island, where most of the 13,000 residents of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough live.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
(The constitution may be flawed but its a whole lot better than what we have now.)
Your tag line..... took me a second, LOL.!!!!
Ketchikan is 97% developed. Anchorage is 94% developed. They are in a development bind without bridge outlets. On the other thing, Murkowskis have owned that land for 30 years and did not buy it in anticipation of a bridge.
So, how's that "limited government" thingie you've been promising us for decades coming along . . . . hmmmmmm?
The keyword is development, not conservative. The issue in Alaska has been pro-development versus non-development and it has been that way since the Territory was purchased. Don't know if the conservative versus liberal labels apply so well.
That is incorrect. The PFD is available, but not all take it.
Heard the Gov this morning. Long term, the Natural Gas Pipeline should provide significant revenues to the State, enough to start doing some of these major development projects. The surplus this year, and there aren't often such surpluses, is being plowed back into education and a stake in the Gas Pipeline, and it sounds like a fine idea since Alaska will need a lot of educated construction workers once the Gas Pipeline begins and after it begins to operate.
Back in the dark ages, when Alaska was in the throes of becoming a State, the Feds (that's you and me, folks) promised the good people up there that we'd give them all the land that wasn't already tied up in military bases and National Parks.
We lied.
All that land they thought they were going to get suddenly became "toO valuable" for the Feds to lose; after all, there was oil under it. In order to keep them pesky Alaskans quiet though, we 'let' them have some of the land and danged if they didn't find oil under it. Oh well, we win some and lose some, but we're not going to let that happen again, are we?
As a Devil's Advocate, let's consider what would have happened if we had let them have all that land when we said we would: For one thing, they'd have a helluva lot more oil, wouldn't they? And with all that oil money they could build that bridge and six just like it every year!
But they can't, 'cause we (that's you and me, folks) stole it from them. Not only that, but now we get to berate them when they come asking for the money we owe them!
Ain't life grand?
Old Teddy is the only repub that I'd give a pass on anything and everything. If I looked outside at midnight in july and stevens told me it was dark; I'd take it to the bank. The repubs support him, the natives support him, and smart dems support him. They'd make him King Teddy up here if they could and 99% of Alaskans would be happy about it too.
Met Sarah Palin years back in the Mat-Su. She is for real and would bring honor & decency back to the repub party up here. You should see her record and the good things she accomplished in the Mat-Su. I don't think she will ever burn bridges to repub party even if the repub good old boy network doesn't support her. She is the real deal though and I sure hope the repubs ain't too awful proud to let her take a crack at governor race. They're going to need someone of old Teddy's stature down the road.
Hmm...would letting the funding remain without a specific earmark be the Pro Quo for THIS Quid?
Congress May Block Plan for a Wind Farm in Nantucket Sound
From the article...
"A plan to build what could become the first large offshore wind farm in the United States would be effectively killed by a proposed amendment to a Coast Guard budget bill now making its way through Congress, people on both sides of the issue say.
The amendment, offered by Representative Don Young, Republican of Alaska, would prohibit new offshore wind facilities within 1.5 nautical miles of a shipping lane or a ferry route.
That would rule out construction of the installation, proposed for Nantucket Sound.
So...in exchange for allowing the funding to remain...with NO restrictions or earmarks...Kennedy/Kerry get the Windfarm off Nantucket killed by an Alaskan Congress-critter!
Methinks Rush or Tony Snow need to look at sources behind the scenes to see if my suspicions are true!
This looks like the Modus Operandii of RINOS, Corrupt pols, and DemonRATs like Kennedy who are the Ultimate NIMBYs!
I take it he feels like giving his job to Tony Knowles if he wants it.
"Saint Sarah is the democrats great hope to divide the republican party. If she is successfull she will put in office another Tony Knowles democrat by pitting conservatives against each other just the way Knowles did."
That may be true. However, after the next big earthquake, there will be plenty of opportunities for "re-development" in Anchorage. Especially after that new Federal courthouse downtown falls into the Knik Arm...
Can't build high-rise, have to spread out. What is the limit on height of buildings? Ten storeys?
Do journalists do journalism anymore? The second half of that sentence is incompatible with the first.
The word they left out is earmark. An earmark is a technical term. Earmarking allows the full funding to be allocated to a project at once. Since earmarking was removed but the funding was not, only $100 million can be allocated to each project this fiscal year. I do not know why some journalists leave out the technicalities when our society is nearly 100% technical to begin with. We know tech; we do tech; it's journalists who have a problem with tech, isn't it?
I believe the ConocoPhillips building is taller than ten. Maybe some of the others as well.
I was in AK in May and I saw a lot of land around Ketchikan. Why don't they just rebuild the airport on land that doesn't require a bridge this expensive?
Anchorage sure is an eyeful when the sun strikes it just right. The taller buildings still have a blocky look to them. The problem with earthquakes and Anchorage is the nature of the soil. The soil does liquify when shaken, and any building will suddenly find itself trying to float rather than being rooted in solid earth. Hopefully the taller buildings are built more like ships so they will hold together in rough seas, but whether they will be level after the event is probably beyond the power of architecture.
What I want to know is this: Did the city of Anchorage allow people to build homes on that Bootlegger's mud beside Earthquake Park? (You know, where the first subdivision sank during the Big One.)
They probably did through the process of neglect. Alaska was new to statehood and the planning and zoning process was in its infancy. There was probably just the Planning Commission and somebody to take minutes, and nobody else cared enough to come to meetings and say--what if we get a big earthquake?
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