Mayor on right track to move Wasilla toward a better downtown feel

The Mat-Su Borough maintenance building in the heart of Wasilla is a blemish the town doesn’t need or want.

For its part, borough would like to move to a facility that can handle its larger, more advanced emergency equipment. The only thing holding it back this agreement seems to be money. Isn’t that always the case?

This time, though, it seems like a true win-win proposition.

Wasilla has long been the butt of jokes because of its strip mall look and attendant traffic congestion. We’ve all seen the bumper stickers.

Mayor Verne Rupright would like to change this perception by creating a downtown business district.

His effort is admirable. There is a semblance of a downtown around Main Street on toward Swanson Avenue with the library, a restaurant or two and a few shops.

With a little planning, a traffic loop could be created with ample parking in the area to attract people who would like to get out of their cars and enjoy walking from store to store with a pause for a cup of coffee and a doughnut.

A city planner who addressed the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce a couple of years ago told that group what its downtown could become in the future. She discounted those possibilities for Wasilla because she didn’t think the city was interested in becoming much more than a big-box conglomeration and a drive-thru town.

The mayor is fighting an uphill battle here, but with the help of the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce and other forward-thinking residents, Wasilla can be better than it is and still keep the big box stores that so many people find convenient and affordable.

And therein lies one of the problems. Big boxes tend to run off small shops because they deal in economy of scale small stores can’t match. To support a downtown business district, the city is going to have to figure out a way to help these businesses thrive. Maybe there could be tax breaks until a boutique or café gets on its feet.

The public relations effort should begin now, so when it comes time to find money for a new borough maintenance facility — and possibly for the Mat-Su Borough School District as well — residents can see why it is needed and why Wasilla needs to be free of the out-of-place building.