Borough assembly negligent again

To the editor:

During the early portion of the Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting Dec. 7, I found myself wondering if our current assembly members have considered the overall implications of the Occupy Wall Street protests.

This movement has in part drawn attention to the deleterious effects of corporatization on the well-being of citizenry.

By the evening’s end, I knew the majority of our assembly members have dismissed it. One example is the proposed gravel ordinance. In the course of discussion, it was determined that several of the proposed amendments need more work. Rather than do as Assemblyman Warren Keogh suggested and work on this further prior to the next meeting, it was decided to “finish it up.” The expressed rationale was that “we’ve been working on this for a long time.” And so, they “tweaked” it.

The unexpressed rationale is that less specific is better. This way, area contractors can continue to do as they please with little regard for the environment or area inhabitants. A case in point: reclamation. No specifics were provided as to what constitutes reclamation or how it might be carried out; rather, some joked about what constitutes fill, the terms soil, organic matter, wood chips and dirt were bandied about.

The inference is that those in charge will act in a responsible manner. This hands-off attitude is disturbing. We don’t have guarantees that as far as gravel mining goes things will be done correctly.

Alas, the current Mat Su Borough Assembly has again employed a slap-dash method of doing business, one that panders to area corporatization and large-scale resource extraction.

Occupy Palmer — this has a nice ring to it. Anyone else up for this?

Alys Culhane

Palmer