Airport Runway Work
Dear Editor: The following letter was sent to Al Clough, Southeast Regional Director of the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
Dear Mr. Clough: On behalf of the City and Borough of Sitka and the Sitka community, please accept our thanks for the completion of the runway overlay work at Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport. The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has made major improvements to Sitka’s airport with its runway run-out area upgrade project which will directly benefit everyone who uses Sitka’s primary transportation link to the rest of the world.
You, your staff, and your contractors deserve everyone’s thanks for the excellent job and great communication with the public. In addition, your cooperation with the City and Borough of Sitka, Alaska Airlines, Mt. Edgecumbe High School, the U.S. Coast Guard, and other airport users to ensure the nighttime closures and limited use of the runway were as non-disruptive as possible were exemplary. Everyone associated with this project can be justly proud that this large, complex and costly project to improve Sitka’s airport has been successfully completed.
Best wishes for similar success on DOT&PF’s other large Sitka area projects! Sitka greatly appreciates these much needed upgrades and DOT&PF’s great collaboration with the City and Borough of Sitka and our community.
John P. Sweeney III,
Interim Municipal Administrator
City and Borough of Sitka
SB 21 Petition
Dear Editor: Less than a week ago I drew the short straw and wound up on the receiving end of a phone poll about attitudes toward the oil industry in Alaska. There were, as well, questions about SB21, the withdrawal from our schools, roads and harbors of mineral royalties to be fed into accounts of oily boys in Alaska and elsewhere.
Someone is worried. Perhaps you noticed BP’s recent announcement that it thinks it might spend some effort on exploration. A number of dollars is mentioned, but the important part is that BP’s announcement, not to say commitment, not to say actual performance, cites Parnell’s giveaway as triggering its hitherto latent lust to drill – following a resounding silence while the bill was being debated. Indeed, no company could refer, when asked, to any contemplated increase in trying to pump more oil if it were injected with money taken from Alaskan royalties. Parnell reminds me of a slightly drunk cashier giving his buddies deep discounts while the manager of the store is away.
If you negotiate, don’t lead with a flop – unless you’re negotiating for the other side. Parnell’s lightweight role playing regarding the state’s interest shrivels compared to his profound, spiritual dedication to being an oil industry lobbyist, dating to pre-Palin days. Two years of wheedling on behalf of his past and future employers produced SB21, which needs to be repealed.
To accomplish this, signatures on the petition to rescind will put it on the ballot this fall. Find a booklet at the Back Door or held by Keith Nyitray, Kitty LaBounty, Adam Andis, Mike Litman, Ann Stepenson, Sarah Jordan, Reber Stein, Sig Rutter, Alex Weissberg, David Kanosh, Arnold Johnson or Albert Judson.
For more information, contact SB21 organizers at sitka.repeals.the.giveaway@gmail.com.
Floyd Tomkins, Sitka
