Thanks to Senator Don Young and uncle Ted Stevens, huge freeways now drop you at the end of a line of big box stores and fast food joints. Wal-Mart built one big box then abandoned it and built another on the other side of the highway. Fred Meyer built their super store right on Wasilla Lake, but oriented their big box with its ugly backside towards the lake. They overbuilt so much that the formerly semi-upscale Creekside shopping mall stands mostly derelict replaced by miles of crappy half empty mini-malls. Traffic can be hell in Wasilla, especially weekday morning because of all the commuters going to work in Anchorage or on a Friday night when the Kings are running. Yeah, think about being in Alaska and sitting in a 20-minute line of traffic. Wasilla and the surrounding area is nothing but sprawl. Wasilla is a town with no center and no soul. Sarah was city councilor then mayor for 10 years when all this development was going on.
Sarah is governor of Alaska. Alaska has a small population. More people live in the Portland area. Alaska is a state that operates mostly on oil money and Federal handouts. Now there's an economic model. Apparently Sarah shares the propensity of most Alaskans to want to mine, drill, cut down, trap, catch, and shoot everything they can. The State of Alaska has put forward time and again its plan to shoot hundreds of wolves, including pups, each year. I imagine if McCain/Palin are elected there will be enormous pressure to exploit ANWR. I've driven the pipeline, I've been on the North Slope, and I've been in the oil complex at Prudhoe Bay. You don't want to open ANWR now.
So if this is the type of background and results you want, vote for McCain/Palin.
Curtis Bradfish
