My respects to to for living here as long as you say, I am still called a newcomer in some respects and I have been living here full time since 1992.
I remember the day I drove my 1977 Chevie PU into Fairbanks direct from Lake Tahoe on a job offer from Jim Binckly Sr. owner and patriarch of the Riverboat Discovery sternwheeler based near Fairbanks, I was the chief engineer on a near identical vessel the “Tahoe Queen” in Lake Tahoe and I even worked on our local competitor on a smaller sternwheeler nearby, I had dreams of living in a frontier state with nothing but my ambition and faith in myself.
But it was march in Fairbanks the Discovery was on blocks, the Chena was froze over and the job offer was nothing but a whimsical ploy to a cheechako such as myself by a person who later committed suicide, facts which you might be very aware of sir.
So after sacrificing some very expensive Snapon tools I migrated to warmer and more populated Anchorage, I became a service manager at the now long gone auto service center at C street and Northern Lights, I even forget them now.
Fast forward many years, I found my niche in the concrete industry at a family owned outfit in Wasilla, I saw in the shadows the manipulations of what companies were given the concrete contracts, who was given favoritism. Fortunately our company eventually backed off trying to be the lowest bidder when our competitors who have been around longer were bidding at a loss to get the contracts.
Its still all about favoritism, especially in construction and I doubt it will ever change much, such is the nature and demands Alaska has, its boom and bust, those that win fight dirty, those that live by the rules fall behind and if they don’t think well ahead fail eventually.
Ted Stevens had his hand with Howdie Construction, they in turn inflated the jobs, made them last longer and was full of bad engineering, I am constantly reminded of their ineptness from the bad expansion joints at the overpass on the Seward Meridian overpass to the constantly breaking down paving equipment brought up from the lower 48.
The first Walmart in Wasilla was too small, they moved across the Parks Hiway, then it had to be supersized, Wasilla had phenominal growth some years ago and I have seen it up front having participated with building many a school, overpass and any other project needing concrete, and politics played its hand surely.
No, I am not going to bring up Murkowskis affiliations, as an Alaskan you should know what they are, I don’t preach to the choir.
Perhaps you have made the most reasonable post I have seen today. Thank you for you thoughts.