"Will the Real Alaskans please stand up?" (sale, real estate)

[Alaska Deb]

Originally Posted by rotorhead

Pardon me if I sound a bit cynical, but that article sounds to me like a re-tread of that most common of human tendencies: "OK...I'm here, now lets shut the gate behind me."

Yes, he gets considerable credit for sticking it out in SE for twenty long, rainy years. Yet, he's got a VERY valid point about the corrosive influence of Outside Money on local real-estate prices (just looked at a ~500 sq. foot house here in town that's listed at $120k ). As has been pointed out by at least one other posting, anyone that's not an Alaskan Native is by definition a newcomer to this country no matter how long they've lived here.

Complaining about change itself is an inherently futile endeavor; the best that you can hope for is to adapt to the new reality and make the best of it for yourself. Better yet, find a way to either mitigate the worst of the negative impact or somehow make it a benefit to your community.

Thank you Rotorhead,

I typed up a response last night, and then, in the spirit of us slime-ball lower 48ers, didn't post it :-)

There are great people everywhere you go...and...just plain mean ones.

I've received such great advice from this board...I'll be forever grateful--I'll just try not to take these snide, snotty, superior attitudes to heart as they are from a small minority.

Coming from the back woods of Vermont, I'll say I know how to keep my mouth shut and my eyes and ears open till I figure out the 'lay of the land.'

Happiness comes from inside...if I'm happy here...well then, I'll be happy in my new home...if spring *ever* comes!

Thanks Rotorhead-who-told-me: "DO NOT BUY TILL YOU SEE THE PLACE WITH YOUR OWN TWO EYES!!"

Deb

[DannyL]

Originally Posted by rotorhead

Complaining about change itself is an inherently futile endeavor; the best that you can hope for is to adapt to the new reality and make the best of it for yourself. Better yet, find a way to either mitigate the worst of the negative impact or somehow make it a benefit to your community.

All you said is true up to a point. Since when is change based on an overnight economic shift a good thing?
I saw the same thing going on in Montana with my own eyes.
yes, the guy seemed a little bitter about a dying lifestyle, a lifestyle that WILL CHANGE whether he likes it or not. Alaska is being dragged into the 21st century kicking and screaming, and the Internet is going to be the biggest contributor to that change.

[rotorhead]

For some people, any change is unpleasant. For almost everyone dramatic and/or sudden change is painful and unpleasant, but as with all natural processes it's usually unavoidable.

If you take the rough sketch of where I'm living now it's a pretty good example. The history of Haines is full of painful and relatively sudden upheavals and dislocations, both social and economic, but it's still a good place to live. The economic base here has undergone numerous dramatic transitions going way back: the collapse of the aboriginal euchalon oil trade routes, the bypassing of the Dalton trail, the closing of the pre-WWII Army base, the closing of the salmon canneries (more than once), the closing of the Porcupine area goldmines, the closing of the sawmill, the closing of the military fuel depot, etc. Not to mention that each of these dislocations affected all of the associated support industries, the local housing market, the schools, the groceries, the bars and restaurants. Every one of these upheavals undoubtedly caused at least some people here their livelyhoods, and many affected the whole community in some way.

Time and time again, one industry or another has shut the doors and closed down operations, but the community as a whole never rolled up the sidewalks and quit. The problem is that people almost never take the long view, it's hard to keep things in true perspective when you think in terms of a year or two, instead of a decade or two. Something else will eventually come along, and while it may never equal the "glory days" of whatever has just passed, it'll have to do....it's not like there's any choice in the matter.

If it's any consolation, keep in mind that the only thing that's demonstrably worse is stagnation, no change at all.

[User 2]

Originally Posted by rotorhead

.....the only thing that's demonstrably worse is stagnation, no change at all.

I'd have to disagree, rotor, the 'changes' you describe have nothing to do with any 'natural' process...

Those changes are imposed upon said environments through the direct injection or imposition of 'unnatural' outside forces, the 'upheaval' is a result of poor planning and lack of long term vision. There's nothing natural about it.

I know a few places that haven't gone through any major changes, the populations have remained stable, (very small), the economic bases are unchanged, .....and the overall feeiing amongst the residents is one of immense relief that they've so far avoided the changes being attempted to be imposed upon them from 'the outside world'.

Now, you can call that stagnation, but the communities would beg to differ,

....the dynamics of those communities still undergoes changes, there's births, deaths, generational transformation as the younger members grow into the positions in the community which are yielded as the elders withdraw to different hierarchic stations in the community.

The communities are as vibrant and inclusive today, as they have been for generations. But there are none of those 'changes' you vaunt as necessary, implicit, or inevitable.

They are stable and 'sustainable' communities, basically unchanged. One might say 'stagnant'.



Contrast that with where I live now, ...less than a generation ago, there was a vibrant inclusive community here, ...today, there's several hundred times more population than 40 years ago, the stable economic base we once had, was as a first step, displaced, and subsequently, has now been all but destroyed, to the point that a return to that original base is no longer viable because of the overharvest of limited resources, .......and what are we left with? There is near economic desperation, and there is very little or no sense of community at all.

Which is worse? The communities that are 'stagnant', (as you would portray them), ...or the community that has experienced the absolute opposite of what you would term stagnation?

Stagnation can be likened to equilibrium, and equilibrium has it's own appeal, .......quite apart from the alternative.......
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[Blueberry]

Alaskans want newbies to accept us for who we are and not try to change us. Why then, don't we return the favor? Why do we think all newcomers to the community need to be remade in our image? I'm not talking about the seasonals who come here merely to get the most they can then leave. There are an awful lot of sincere people who want to fit into Alaskan communities but are met with resistance because they haven't lived here forever, they don't have the skills we've acquired over many years, they don't do subsistence living the same way we do, etc., etc. In reality, most of us have pretty cushy lives, so why do we begrudge others the same experience? Just because some of us have suffered in the past, does that mean we should want others to experience the same hardships?

Rotorhead is spot on when he says we need to "adapt to the new reality and make the best of it for yourself. Better yet, find a way to either mitigate the worst of the negative impact or somehow make it a benefit to your community." We also need to honestly evaluate the situation. I've seen good people driven away by elitist attitudes, and I've seen just as many greedy locals as I have newcomers who drive up prices. Both sides need to take responsibility for causing strife in the community, and it will take both sides acting responsibly to solve the problems.

[Xa'at]

I was hoping that the article would spark a good discussion, and it has. Carry on, folks...

[Tressa]

This arcticle was a bit insulting to me, those who claim to be a Sourdough after one year is a slap in the face of those who earned the right to be a Sourdough and spent the 30 years up here.

Beside Southeast winters are so much more tolerable than say Seward, or even Anchorage where we are currently sitting at -3 degrees and expected to go down to -25 tonight.

[warptman]

Its Minus 21 here now. Thinking of warmer climates. Hawaii anyone?

[Tressa]

Headed to Northern Nevada Christmas morning, climants are only a few degrees above us, but it's still above us.

[Rance]

Originally Posted by warptman

Its Minus 21 here now. Thinking of warmer climates. Hawaii anyone?

I am! Sweden! It's warmer there where I'm going than it is at my house in Sterling. T minus 7 days and counting. My son said it was 17 below this am at the house, and the forecast is down to 25 below for tonight. Gotta love it. It can only mean one thing. Rain in January.
Currently here in Kuparuk the windchill is a cool -72 degrees.