Thank you for supporting Prop B-1

To the editor:

Mat-Su Health Foundation would like to publicly thank everyone who voted in favor of Proposition B-1, which would have instituted a borough-wide alcohol tax. While this ballot initiative did not pass, we feel it was successful in generating public dialogue about alcohol in our community.

We got behind this initiative because we knew it could have a positive impact of Mat-Su residents. Earlier this year we completed an extensive “Community Health Needs Assessment,” and during that process we asked hundreds of residents at 24 different meetings to vote on what they felt were the top health issues facing us here in the Mat-Su. The message was loud and clear: alcohol and substance abuse is having a deeply negative affect on our community. We knew that an alcohol tax could help in this arena.

In addition to thanking everyone who voted, we celebrate those who publicly supported the proposition: Assemblyman Steve Colligan, who introduced the measure; John Lee, CEO of Mat-Su Regional Hospital; and the Frontiersman itself, which published an editorial supporting the initiative. And then there were the public faces of the campaign: community members like Phillip Licht of Set Free Alaska, who helped rally support in our faith community and also participated in direct mail and social media campaigns; MSHF Board Member Nathan Dahl, who did the same; and Mat-Su Regional Medical Center ER physicians, who sent a letter to the community urging people to vote yes on the proposition. In particular, we need to thank Dr. Robert Neubauer and Dr. Anne Zink, both of whom also publicly supported the effort.

We look forward to continuing to engage the community as we work together to become the healthiest borough in the U.S.!

Elizabeth Ripley

Executive Director

Mat-Su Health Foundation