Getting it right (Anchorage, Kenai, Wasilla: work, home, community)

[DannyL]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

I've seen quite a bit -- around the Caswell area in particular. Maybe not trash per se but old appliances, junk cars, et al.

POW is pretty cluttered up also. They really need to find something to do with those old logging camp trailers.

[Metlakatla]

POW is pretty cluttered up also. They really need to find something to do with those old logging camp trailers.s

It's bad. I've got some photos somewhere of some of that.

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Honestly--I don't know anymore.

My son was born in this state and yet I chose not to educate him here--tough decision but it ended up to be right on. But that decision was location specific--Alaska is a huge state and you can probably find what you are looking for...but.it ain't all that different from the lower 48 in a lot of places. People move up thinking it will fix their lives and be so different from what they are trying to leave behind...

but what they've left behind is usually right behind them.

I'm not saying that you or anyone else shouldn't move up; I am saying that you should do so with as clear eye as possible. Moving a family up here is a major commitment.

So many people think that the North is going to be a miracle cure. I'm not saying that you're one of them. But I am saying that it isn't all Little House on the Prairie or in the Woods. Lower 48 bs has taken hold even in the rural areas and that trend is only going to continue.

Sigh....yes, the lower 48 has invaded Alaska. I had a friend move up here who thought it was the miracle cure for her and her family. I tried to explain to her that problems are everywhere. After 2-years they left Alaska and moved back down and are very happy. They had a hard time finding work; hated the commute from the Valley to Anchorage; hated Anchorage with it's traffic congestion and drivers, etc.

Also, alot of people who move here and have family in the lower 48 begin to feel very isolated from them. So your post is so true. Anchorage has lost it's Frontier City charm; the yuppies are screaming about what they want and let's change it to the place we left.

Problem I see is that it now seems that Alaska is the "place" to be and this will lead to serious overcrowding, taxes imposed, lower 48 mentality rampant and one big mess. What do you think?

[Metlakatla]

Problem I see is that it now seems that Alaska is the "place" to be and this will lead to serious overcrowding, taxes imposed, lower 48 mentality rampant and one big mess. What do you think?

I think you are absolutely correct. That's one reason I'm in no real hurry to leave the lower 48 mountain town I'm in right now and go back up North.

I think in the next few years there will be a huge influx of people to the Anchorage, Mat Valley, and Kenai areas.

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

I think you are absolutely correct. That's one reason I'm in no real hurry to leave the lower 48 mountain town I'm in right now and go back up North.

I think in the next few years there will be a huge influx of people to the Anchorage, Mat Valley, and Kenai areas.

Well for the last couple years the Mat-Su Valley was the fastest growing region in the State. Now if you can believe this, KGB (Knik Goose Bay Road), is the fastest growing. I quess they have built homes and apts. galore there. Also alot of Russian immigrants have moved there, they joke about it being called KGB.

If you are familiar with the Glenn Highway (only way in and out of Anchorage), the traffic has become a real pain in the bu**. And the drivers, omg, we won't even talk about those maniacs.

What town are you living in? Did you once live in Alaska and do you mind my asking why you left?

[Metlakatla]

I'm in a small town in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon right now.

I've lived in various places in SE, the upper Su Valley, and Denali, and visited quite a few other parts of the state.

Last summer I got a house down here and didn't spend any time there until the last three weeks of Dec. A couple of weeks ago I came back and I simply am not in any hurry to leave. It isn't anything much to do with Alaska per se; I have family down here with long roots in this community. I'd been planning on spending more time here anyway.

[arctichomesteader]

Anchorage and Mat-Su don't strike me as being even remotely like the rest of Alaska. They could be anywhere in the lower 48 except they just have better scenery in the background. The area I bought some property at (in the Interior) is like a different world compared to Anchorage, and there's (to me) a rather noticeable difference in the attitudes of the people btwn. the two, with Anchorage being more like the people in the urban hells I stay away from in the lower 48 whenever possible (overall, more worried about silly frivolous crap and defininately in a rat race, out of touch with the real natural world, all the while thinking they're superior to the rural or bush residents). I hope the residents of the rest of the state where the lower 48 hasn't invaded don't let Anchorage et al dictate them into the lower 48 with taxes and such the way cities like NYC, Chicago, etc., try to dictate to the rest of their respective states. And I hear some even want the capital to be in Anchorage...

I'll probably get some people riled up with my statements, particularly given that I'm not yet a resident, but I've heard enough people who are residents in the more rural/bush parts of the state (both in person and on other boards more heavily visited by rural/bush residents) say the same thing so I know it wasn't just an outsider's ignorant perspective (and I know not everyone in those locations fit the generalizations but enough do so it's a valid general observation so don't get too riled up)...

[Metlakatla]

Well, Anchorage is a city and it does what cities do. And that area and Wasilla are attracting the most newcomers. There is, though...quite a difference between the Mat valley and the Susitna Valley.

Who knows what'll go on in the future...your observations are valid, though. What part of the interior did you buy land in?

[arctichomesteader]

Yeah, I do believe that's why Jefferson (and obviously me too) hated cities so badly, because they inevitably lead to, well, what you see in cities...

In the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (part of the unorganized borough), a little Northeast of Manley Hot Springs...

[Metlakatla]

It's lovely there. I went up around that area a couple of summers ago on a road trip.