There’s a rich history at stake in Palmer

This column is being written to alert the residents of Palmer, the 25,000 or so people who live in the surrounding countryside, and to all people who value this town as a part of their lives. The time has come for us to become involved and to speak up for our community. There is a strong effort afoot within the confines of City Hall and beyond to bring considerable change to this place we call home.

Make no mistake, these individuals are ready to act, and their thinking involves much more than the removal of the railroad tracks from downtown.

The immediate issue are plans to garner permission from the Alaska Railroad Board of Directors to remove the tracks, from the State Fairground’s South Palmer Station all the way to the Palmer Depot. (A proposed small section of the track around the Depot is mentioned as being left as a “historical reminder.”) The Alaska Railroad’s Board is due to meet on July 28 according to a City Hall staff member. However, the city has a “stimulus package” deadline of July 17 in order to submit a funding request of $4.5 million, funds that would be used to create a proposed park strip along the rail’s roadbed. The project would include the removal of the tracks, and the city likely would prefer to have the railroad’s approval of track removal for attachment to their Washington, D.C., stimulus money request. Hence, the immediate need to contact the railroad directors.

To believe the railroad tracks divide Palmer, visually or otherwise, is preposterous. The traffic pace at the four-way stop light is typical of any downtown area anywhere. What the track presence does do is to protect the historic district from any developers who might have aspirations for business development on the east side of the tracks. Unbelievable as it may seem, some 15 to 20 years ago it was rumored that a local group of entrepreneurs had a vision of their name on Palmer’s water tower.

The railroad track strip is not an ugly eyesore as long as its right-of-way is kept groomed and maintained as any other open space would be. And that responsibility, of course, belongs to the city. Does maintenance lag because someone is eager to see the tracks removed? In actuality, benches and abundant flower plantings, spotting scopes looking to the mountains, historic markers, pathways, and trails to accompany the rails remain an option for today, just as they have always been. All these things and more could be accomplished by stimulus funds without lifting the rails.

Why should keeping the railroad tracks be such an important consideration for Palmer? The railroad’s directors representative at the city council meeting of June 30 specifically asked if anyone from the State Historical Preservation Office was present. Historically speaking, that rail bed was

the first commercial development for our area. During the building of the Alaska Railroad 1915-1921, the federal government constructed that spur line to the Matanuska Valley coal fields to Chickaloon because the government wanted access to that coal as a source of Navy ship fuel.

The section of rail between the fairgrounds and Palmer is in need of upgrading, but that is something that certainly could be accomplished. The railroad has not said it wants that track section removed, but rather that removal could be permitted if the people of Palmer wanted it done. Positive economic options are possible to put the track into not daily but more frequent use. The Chamber of Commerce’s Colony Christmas celebration, with the train arriving from Anchorage filled with holiday celebrants, creates an irreplaceable event for which our community should be proud. In addition and prior to this proposed action from City Hall, the Railroad has never said it did not ever want Palmer as a train destination. In fact, the railroad maintains operational rights to the road bed in perpetuity. Would the railroad, with community support, consider the tracks’ upgrade using some of their considerable and newly acquired upgrade grant funds?

Information from the city via a July 3 Frontiersman article states that the city council would not choose to remove the tracks until at least two public hearings were held about this decision. One would be unwise to believe that at this point there would remain a role for you to play. What this information actually means is that the council will hear public testimony on two occasions, and that each member of the public will be allowed three minutes to testify at either or both hearings before the council decides to lift the tracks. This same procedure was followed at the regular council meeting of June 23 and the special council hearing of June 30, where nearly all public testimony (probably 95 percent) spoke against the lifting of the rails. Yet the council, after more than six hours of discussion and public input, held to the direction coming from city hall and voted to request permission from the railroad to lift the tracks. In fairness to council members, one spoke definitely for and one against their carefully crafted resolution that eventually passed 5-1 with one absence.

This action totally disregards public input which resulted in the city’s 2006 Comprehensive Plan the Urban Renewal Plan that followed. Both of these directives specified a “rails and trails” concept, which would allow for many ideas but not this one. What is to prevent the dismantling of the Historic District?

Author John Muir reflected that Palmer is the only community in Alaska begun as a place where a group of people went to where they planned to stay. In 1935, Will Rogers and Wiley Post visited here on their last full day of life, because Will wanted to see how those Matanuska Valley farmers were doing. (He commented that “It’s a lot different prospecting for gold than prospecting for spinach”. Imagine, in 1939, a play was presented on Broadway called “200 Were Chosen.” It was the story of the beginning of Palmer. Our town site was planned in Washington, D.C., during the Great Depression, and next year our town will be celebrating its 75th year. (The City of Palmer itself was incorporated in April 1951.)

Now is the time to act if you would hope to preserve Palmer’s special history. And what is so special about that history? We are “Small Town America,” a “hometown kind of place.” Our residents choose Palmer to raise their families. Businesses establish themselves here for something other than “get rich quick.” It’s a “family town.” Visitors remark at the beauty and appeal of the community, the pleasantness of the place. Palmer’s beginnings were a huge national and even international news story. Our historical rail link will not keep our town alive on its own. But to throw away the spirit of Palmer just for “change,” taking a first bite out of Palmer’s greatest treasure — its history — would be a decision of irreplaceable loss for the historical memory of our state and for our country. Just think what Palmer would have going for it if the city would use its position to promote the community that it serves.

I once read a quote, “The Soul of a country lives on in its small towns.” And I would add this question: “What better place to visit the soul of America than right here in Palmer, Alaska?” Isn’t there a quality that is valuable and worthy of saving for everyone? Something that never could be created in hindsight, at any cost?

Gerry Keeling is a resident of Palmer.