Does anyone worry... (Wasilla: home, zoning, prices)

[Dipper]

I have to be the devil's advocate here. I like the Anchorage/Palmer/Wasilla area. It's close enough to the wilderness and great outdoors yet not so far away that there are no conveniences. I like having a Wal-Mart or Best Buy nearby. I recently drove through places like Haines Junction, Beaver Creek, Tok, and Glennallen. Those places have the beautiful scenery and small-town feel. However, they might as well be on another planet. As I stopped in the gas station to pay for my gas and food for the road, I desperately wanted to ask the cashier what is the draw to such a place? Why would someone want to live in a place like Beaver Creek (pop. 100)? I didn't ask because I'm not rude. But the question was a burning one.

By the way, I was in Juneau as well on that trip. It could easily qualify as Alaska's best kept secret. It's probably the only place outside the Anchorage-MatSu area I could see myself living.

[akck]

Originally Posted by Xa'at

Yes, I worry sometimes that Juneau will be "discovered"... It's already pretty big but the amount of usable land is limited. I don't think that will be a problem for a while, though...

I agree, with most of the build-able land locked up, there's not many places to put more people.

[karfar]

Where I live, everyone drives because our transit system kinda sucks & no one seems to want to make this city more pedestrian. I hate driving everywhere, I would much rather walk or take the bus, but everything is so spread out it's a little hard to do. I loathe Wal-Mart so if that were eradicated, I would be a happy girl Suburban sprawl has become a cancer here, it's depressing visiting my parents in the town I grew up in because it's been overgrown by people who want to move away from the big bad scary city to the 'burbs to have their 2.5 kids, Mcmansions w/no soul or trees to speak of & SUV's that spew out gas w/every 1 block trip they have to take. Not to mention the onslaught of strip malls that try to disguise the fact they are just that by having clever architecture Sometimes I temporarily don't know where I am because it's so unfamiliar now. It's kind of a catch-22 because I live in the city & it's unsettling watching the explosion of condos that have gone up in the blink of an eye in every spare space, but I guess I'd rather have that than watch the disappearance of all the farmland, fields & forests as they get gobbled up by consumers. I used to go up north to Washington Island every year to go camping, I considered it my secret spot. Unfortunately, our local papers have caught on & started running articles about it I haven't been up there in 5 years, I'm apprehensive about what it's going to look like now. I suspect not much has changed even w/all the publicity, I'm keeping my fingers crossed And that's the end of my rambling

[cobolt]

Originally Posted by karfar

Where I live, everyone drives because our transit system kinda sucks & no one seems to want to make this city more pedestrian. I hate driving everywhere, I would much rather walk or take the bus, but everything is so spread out it's a little hard to do. I loathe Wal-Mart so if that were eradicated, I would be a happy girl Suburban sprawl has become a cancer here, it's depressing visiting my parents in the town I grew up in because it's been overgrown by people who want to move away from the big bad scary city to the 'burbs to have their 2.5 kids, Mcmansions w/no soul or trees to speak of & SUV's that spew out gas w/every 1 block trip they have to take. Not to mention the onslaught of strip malls that try to disguise the fact they are just that by having clever architecture Sometimes I temporarily don't know where I am because it's so unfamiliar now. It's kind of a catch-22 because I live in the city & it's unsettling watching the explosion of condos that have gone up in the blink of an eye in every spare space, but I guess I'd rather have that than watch the disappearance of all the farmland, fields & forests as they get gobbled up by consumers. I used to go up north to Washington Island every year to go camping, I considered it my secret spot. Unfortunately, our local papers have caught on & started running articles about it I haven't been up there in 5 years, I'm apprehensive about what it's going to look like now. I suspect not much has changed even w/all the publicity, I'm keeping my fingers crossed And that's the end of my rambling

City dynamics are pretty interesting. I grew up in Chicago. There was a period of "white flight" where the city was emptying out and people were moving to the suburbs because of the crime, housing projects, etc etc and the suburban sprawl started. So...the city underwent alot of gentrification, Daley kicked out all the homeless, bulldozed the housing projects, and the city experienced a resurgence, where people started moving back in. But the problem now is that the city is sooo expensive that middle class people are being priced out of it, with alot of downtown being occupied by "hipsters" and many of the older neighborhoods that had solid middle class blue collar people also moving away. The suburbs extend farther and farther out every year as more middle class move away from a city that has become expensive, and even the suburbs are now feeling that pain. All those misplaced people from the housing projects are now wandering around in surrounding suburbs that were once decent. And the public transit, which you must know is a pretty decent system and moves over 600,000 people a day, is now under a huge budget crunch, and they're cutting lines and service in a region that is already way too congested. It's almost the opposite of Milwaukee.

[karfar]

Originally Posted by cobolt

City dynamics are pretty interesting. I grew up in Chicago. There was a period of "white flight" where the city was emptying out and people were moving to the suburbs because of the crime, housing projects, etc etc and the suburban sprawl started. So...the city underwent alot of gentrification, Daley kicked out all the homeless, bulldozed the housing projects, and the city experienced a resurgence, where people started moving back in. But the problem now is that the city is sooo expensive that middle class people are being priced out of it, with alot of downtown being occupied by "hipsters" and many of the older neighborhoods that had solid middle class blue collar people also moving away. The suburbs extend farther and farther out every year as more middle class move away from a city that has become expensive, and even the suburbs are now feeling that pain. All those misplaced people from the housing projects are now wandering around in surrounding suburbs that were once decent. And the public transit, which you must know is a pretty decent system and moves over 600,000 people a day, is now under a huge budget crunch, and they're cutting lines and service in a region that is already way too congested. It's almost the opposite of Milwaukee.

Yeah, all the condos going up downtown or in the Third Ward start at probably $500K, there are also a few that start at 1MIL They like to call it "luxury living". And all the people moving in, I'm not too sure who it is, I do believe it's hipsters, probably yuppies & the like. I just know I can't afford it. Milwaukee is really getting known as a city w/ridiculous taxes. Again, this is something I can't relate to as I rent, but I've heard it & because of that lots of people are moving away from here, because of that & crime. But hey, there's crime everywhere & as long as you know to stay away from certain areas, you'll be fine.

[Barkingowl]

Originally Posted by Xa'at

Yes, I worry sometimes that Juneau will be "discovered"... It's already pretty big but the amount of usable land is limited. I don't think that will be a problem for a while, though...

Milepost refers to Juneau as the San Francisco of Alaska.

[cobolt]

Originally Posted by Barkingowl

Milepost refers to Juneau as the San Francisco of Alaska.

No it's not. That's just stupid. Who writes this cr*p? You can't equate Juneau to anything in the lesser 48, certainly not SF. I once heard on an Alaska Airlines commercial them refer to SE AK as the San Juan Islands on steroids. Why must we equate everything to the -48?...OKay I'm done with my rant....but JNU is NOT the SF of AK....

[Barkingowl]

Originally Posted by akck

I agree, with most of the build-able land locked up, there's not many places to put more people.

Sure there is, just build up.

[Xa'at]

Originally Posted by Barkingowl

Sure there is, just build up.

Oh god, don't say that.
Juneau isn't the SF of Alaska, it's the Juneau of Alaska. We don't want it to become SF with huge buildings and polluted bays, we just want it to stay the way it is. There's still plenty of space for people as it stands right now- on Douglas Island, down Thane, out the road. We're set for now.

[ASpilot2be]

Originally Posted by Xa'at

Oh god, don't say that.
Juneau isn't the SF of Alaska, it's the Juneau of Alaska. We don't want it to become SF with huge buildings and polluted bays, we just want it to stay the way it is. There's still plenty of space for people as it stands right now- on Douglas Island, down Thane, out the road. We're set for now.

You should be happy they didnt choose LA I consider SF a compliment of the cities down in the -48 they could have chosen