Palmer city election time

There is one sole election in October and it is the Palmer city election. It happens next Tuesday, on October 3. No other elections happen in October except Palmer’s. All the other elections, at the borough, state and national level, will occur in tandem in November. In addition to City Council seats, the Palmer Library Bond Issue is on the ballot. Palmer loves its’ library. The library serves everyone. Our library collapsed this past winter. It is definitely a time to support our library because a town library is a clear indicator of a strong and healthy community.

Palmer Area of Influence is NOT the same as Palmer City limits—In other words, many, many people who love and claim Palmer as their town, do not vote on city issues or candidates. Not everyone understands the parameters here. So to be clear…if you LIVE within city limits, you get the privilege of voting in City elections. This is only fair. As a city resident, you pay taxes and receive services ( ie. police, water lines, trash pick up, and safety/zoning), and representation. Approximately 7500+ people live in the city’s approximate 5.2 square miles.

No You Can’t Vote… If you live outside of city limits. Instead you only pay sales tax and benefit from what Palmer has to offer. There is one estimate of 37,000 people living close to and surrounding Palmer—in Butte, Lazy Mountain, Farm Loop, Buffalo Mine, Hatcher Pass, Palmer Fishhook, Equestrian Acres, College area, Trunk Road, Hospital area, Kepler Lakes and Glenn Highway—all of which affiliate with Palmer. But these areas are not in city limits and therefore people who live in these places are not voters in this local city election. The “99645 area of influence” is large and rambling with subdivisions, rural routes, large acre residential homes, and both small and large farms and businesses. Many of us happily depend on Palmer for shopping, entertainment, medical services, banking, libraries, schools, fuel, markets, shops, restaurants, Senior services, ice skating, tennis courts, gardens, museums, walking and running routes, yoga, dry cleaners, hair salons, barber shops, and many other services. Palmer benefits from outsiders’ patronage and gives a lot in return, like any small well-loved town. However, non-city residents do not vote in city elections.

Fall Equinox in Palmer—We just passed the Fall equinox and it was, in some ways, the most beautiful time of year. Palmer looked fine this weekend. There were open shops, farm stands, football, frivolity, markets, and outdoor concerts. There were rainbows, the milky way and shooting stars in the skies and even a touch of the aurora. There are hard-core flowers still blooming and busting a move in the gardens. There is snow waving from the mountain peaks and golden leaves still hanging on to the trees. How lucky are we to live in this land?

Week of the Autumn Equinox—It’s now officially fall and the Autumn Equinox divides the day and night equally. We have just slightly less than 12 hours hours of daylight today. And it will decrease for a few months until Winter Solstice in December. This advancement of darkness is somewhat of a sacred and melancholy time of year in September in the Palmer area. We begin the process of saying goodbye to Summer. We continue the preparations for Winter. It’s sad and beautiful. We harvest all the remaining vegetables and seeds. We preserve memories for the dark times. This is a yearly ritual. There is still joy in the sun’s warmth.

Palmer’s Cloud Theater—This year, more than most, we’ve been given front row seasonal seats to the ever-changing Cloud Theater. It is everywhere you look. After a fully cloudy summer, we are now entertaining vast varieties of layered clouds which appear, accumulate, stack, dissipate and disappear with prompt rapidity. Sometimes we take our interesting medley of clouds for granted. But this year we couldn’t help but pay attention. It is our immense view-scapes and expansive vistas that allow us this special time to observe and appreciate the wonders of the atmosphere.

Barbara Hunt is both Palmer writer and artist. She works hard to keep the robust pulse of Palmer, Alaska. She shares the good stuff on the weekly Palmer Alaska Buzz in the Mat Su Valley Frontiersman and daily on the Palmer Alaska Buzz Facebook Group. Contact at bhunt@mtaonline.net or text 907.315.3222