Sutton voters pick Masteller

To the editor:

Mayor Larry DeVilbiss says he wants the people of Mat-Su to be able to work where they live. As a sound bite, that sounds good. But if he and his cohorts on the assembly get their way, I wonder if people will want to live where they work.

Turning the Mat-Su into a giant surface coal mine; littering it with tall towers located wherever industry plunks them down; allowing it to be a place with shoddy housing is built with inadequate attention to water supply, drainage or traffic patterns; planning recreation areas that will be roaring with motorized vehicles making quieter pursuits risky or impossible; and possibly not learning a lesson from an expensive ferry sitting idle to the tune of $70,000 a month in insurance costs — aren’t these the things many of us live here to avoid?

The recent borough election may actually show that mayor DeVilbiss does not have a mandate; rather, it may predict the future. It may show that when the possibility of unfettered and destructive development becomes clear, we will realize that we want to preserve what’s best about the Valley, not destroy it.

In the precinct where the possibilities of destruction are perhaps most vivid — Sutton (which encompasses the proposed coal mines) — mayor DeVilbiss’ vision was rejected and Mark Masteller out-polled him by a comfortable margin.

Judy Donegan

Palmer