Barry Allen
Dear Editor: At the end of this month Lt. Barry Allen will retire from the Sitka Police Department.
Through the years I have lived in Sitka I have appreciated Lt. Allen’s quiet and confident leadership style.
Best of luck in your retirement, Barry, and thank you for keeping us safe.
Hugh Bevan, Sitka
Recycling Program
Dear Editor: The Blatchley Middle School Recycling Program would like to really thank a few people such as Aurora Business Supplies, SEARHC warehouse, the U.S. Coast Guard, Blatchley Middle School students, and other community members for donating electronics and ink cartridges, cell phones, e-readers and tablets to us for recycling.
You can take the things you wish to recycle to Blatchley Middle School and drop them off at the office during school hours.
For more information contact Mrs. Demmert at 966-1415. Recycling will continue until the end of the school year, and will resume in the fall.
Elias Erickson, student,
Blatchley Middle School
The Benchlands
Dear Editor: I read the KCAW account of the recent Benchlands report. It was proposed that the size of houses be limited, to make them affordable.
I have a couple of other ideas. First, the building budget could be given an affordable ceiling. This would encourage alternative materials and building methods, such as construction by off-site fabrication of Swedish panels, and so on. This could help revitalize the local building materials industry – a panels factory is a natural for Sitka. Second, builders could be required to join a development-wide builder’s co-op. This would function like old-fashioned barn-raising, cutting labor costs. You help me raise my frame; I help you raise yours, etc. Third, the city could establish “Habitat for Sitka,” something like Habitat for Humanity, where creative financing and philanthropy combine with sweat equity to support economical building practices and projects.
I previously have suggested creative property tax restructuring to promote affordable housing. This might include property tax cuts or suspensions for land owners who foster affordable housing on their property.
I appreciate the ongoing efforts by the Assembly, and particularly by Mayor McConnell, to direct the city’s attention toward the affordable housing crunch. I applaud the developers who gave the Benchlands report for the thinking they have done about making their project part of the search for solutions.
Thanks for listening to me.
John Welsh, Sitka
