Just say no to roads

I urge the Mat-Su Assembly to reject the Borough manager’s proposal for a road improvement bond. In the midst of an economic downturn and with the specter of prohibitively expensive heating bills looming just a few months away, now is not the time to saddle all borough property owners with higher taxes to improve the roads in just a few “core area” neighborhoods.

While many neighborhood roads in outlying areas of the borough aren’t even paved, Mr. (John) Duffy expects hard-pressed property owners to knuckle under once again and fund his staff’s latest great idea. Just because Anchorage has been overtaxing its property owners for decades doesn’t mean we should follow its lead.

If state transportation officials really are “fairly excited” about these road projects, perhaps Mr. Duffy’s team could try a bit harder to secure state funding. It seems that an inordinate amount of the borough treasury is expended in the Palmer-Wasilla core area while the rest of the borough goes without, even though we pay the same mill rate for borough services.

With the higher population density in the core area, if this measure goes on the ballot, those of us in other parts of the borough can easily be outvoted and be forced to contribute to projects of little value to our neighborhoods. Please exercise a bit of consideration for those of us living out in the sticks.

Lance Wilson, living at the end

of a dirt road in the Valley