People's voice overcomes bad decisions

With a municipal election on the horizon and the opportunity it brings for citizens to have their say, it is worth noting that two recent events in the local news underscore the importance of citizen awareness and activism.

The wheels of democracy don't always turn predictably, or easily. It is easy to understand how people often may feel disconnected from government or disenfranchised from the process.

But two groups of Valley residents last week learned firsthand the power of collective action in swaying government decision-making away from "official" positions that would have negatively affected them.

The first happened Thursday evening in Trapper Creek. A week earlier, Mat-Su Borough School District officials announced that Susitna Valley Jr./Sr. High School would not open for the school year because of safety concerns arising from structural issues and the building's inability to hold up under a heavy snow load on the roof.

While renovations were made or a new school constructed, Su Valley students were expected to attend Trapper Creek Elementary School, whose regular students would switch to Talkeetna Elementary School. Talkeetna-area residents, unhappy about this plan, stood up and voiced opposition.

After a week of meetings and reconsideration, a compromise was worked out that will likely enable Su Valley to remain open and Talkeetnans to resume their daily lives as anticipated.

Facing a similar threat to the quality of their own daily living, residents of the Shadowood Valley Estates subdivision in Wasilla breathed a momentary sigh of relief Friday afternoon when borough attorney Teresa Williams handed down a decision that effectively nixed an expansion of their Lucille Street-area neighborhood. The proposed extension would have put nearly 200 homes on a parcel of land smaller than 60 acres.

Residents of the area were rightly worried about safety issues that would've arisen from the population increase, as well as the negative impact the high-density development would have on their property values. The battle is not over for Shadowood residents, since the development can still go in with modifications, but they have at least dodged a potentially devastating bullet - and learned a lesson about civic activism.

Both cases illustrate the often roughshod manner in which government bodies make decisions. The right thing to do was obscured by something that was either easier to do or that would have meant extra government revenue.

But the outcome of both cases, more importantly, illustrates the value of standing up for what is right. Only then can we be sure that the government we get is truly of, by and for the people.