Mudslinging does little to move debate forward

The best thing about serving on the Borough Assembly for District 2, Greater Palmer, is listening to the ideas and dreams of others and working together to find creative solutions to challenges. The worst thing about serving on the Borough Assembly is when people don’t speak up and participate in the process and when false accusations and mudslinging occur. At every meeting of the Borough Assembly we deal with issues such as local schools, building and repairing roads, and providing basic road, fire, and emergency services. Everyone wants to live in a safe, healthy, and opportunity rich community. Government directors, staff members, other employees, and elected officials can only succeed at providing this to the level of productive participation by those they serve.

The voter turnout at the most recent borough election was too low. Why don’t people vote? Is the right to vote something we take for granted in this place? Is there a lack of access to the polls? Bad weather certainly wasn’t a problem this year. I’m not trying to be accusatory. Rather, I’m honesty asking for insight to the issue. What would encourage more people to vote? Part of my wonderment to this dilemma is whether people distrust their local government so much that they don’t bother to vote?

One thing I’ve found true over the past two years of service is that despite our many dreams and ideas, we don’t always accomplish what we’d like to according to our level of expectation. There are many situations and circumstances that can be dealt with using a variety of different approaches. People don’t always agree on the best way to handle matters and we aren’t always happy with the outcomes. It seems to me that unmet expectations would be motivation to be involved, as opposed to not being involved. The best meetings of the Borough Assembly occur when many people take the time to write in to share their opinion, choose to come to speak in person, or perhaps, do both.

Many problems have been solved and challenges met when we’ve worked together as neighbors over the past two years. I wish that I could say you’ll always be happy with the outcome, but I know that is not possible. Hopefully, the satisfaction comes from being a part of the decision making process despite a shortcoming to our expectations.

One recent issue dealt with by the Borough Assembly that strongly demonstrates the kind of lengthy challenges that arise amidst the public process is the development of a new shooting range. Many of us have met with people interested in this matter, talked on the phone at length about it, read many pages of public opinions, and participated in passionate public testimony. People are all over the place with regards to support and opposition to the matter. Many possible ideas have been proposed and brought to the table for consideration. Despite all of this, we still haven’t reached a solution that satisfies all involved. I think many would agree with me that there is still a possibility to be found if the right proposal is brought to the table, but it is going to take good faith effort of everyone involved. We have heard public testimony from an Alaskan Native group that owns land that would be willing to work with the group in favor of the shooting range, but no one from the shooting club has reached out to them yet to research that further and come up with another possible solution.

Instead, accusatory comments are publically stated that I’m “anti-gun,” which couldn’t be further from the truth. I have publically stated on the record how I’ve witnessed a gun club, similar to what has been proposed, prosper and result in some great community development in Billings, Montana, where I lived as a boy. I own guns. I grew up hunting. I’ve shot skeet at multiple gun clubs in Alaska from time to time. Mudslinging is a poor example of working together to find acceptable outcomes. Setting emotions aside, I’ve made the most recent decisions around the matter of the shooting range out of concern for protecting the tax paying citizens that stand to lose the most if this is done in the manners proposed thus far. Why would the government provide this service, when there may be other partnerships available to help make it happen in the private sector or other organizations?

I look forward to our continued communitywide collaboration, as together we make the Mat-Su the best place to live in Alaska. I hope that the number of people involved in the work of accomplishing this goal increases. That begins at the polling booth and continues through public opinion and testimony. Through this process, I hope we can exercise good faith in what we say and how we conduct ourselves as neighbors in the Mat-Su Borough.

Matthew Beck is a member of the Mat-Su Borough Assembly.