Who gives a rat's butt about Fairbanks history?! I think we should demolish all buildings over 50 years old and build either new buildings and/or roundabouts in their place. It will create jobs, better looking buildings, and smoother (slower) traffic. It would be a win-win-win situation! All the new buildings should be modeled after the "Spring Hill Suites" downtown. That way, the tourists will have continuity when they travel from place to place. They can go from McDonald's to WalMart to Marriott and never even realize they've left their lower 48 hometown.

so what if the big i dosen't fall within the foot print of the plan. let's buy it anyway, what the heck its only money. maybe we could demolish the church across the road. it's made out of wood, you know. it must be a fire trap. how about the old court house it's getting up there in age, too. the key bank should be left alone. it fits right in with the box store motif that seems to be in vogue.

If they do take the I,the dumpster should be put on display at the Pioneer Museum.

They are tearing down all the buildings in this strip except for the Big I? Heaven Forbid we should tear down a bar! We can't destroy an eyesore like the Big I for something as silly as progress!

Come on folks...it's not like it's the only alcohol-swilling, drug-infested, crime-ridden place like it in town! And the pitiful argument that it's historic? What do you call Samson Hardware - in it's original location for longer than Alaska has been a state!

Just bulldoze the piece of ____ and be done with it. Make the road and try to forget we ever had a bar there!

First off, full disclosure of my bias - I went to school with John Jackovich's brother, consider their family to be pretty upstanding people, and am 100 percent in support of John Jackovich's particular vision for this area.

I've talked with John Jackovich enough to understand that he has very ambitious plans which would be of great benefit to this community. It's a pretty far cry from the usual "downtown revitalization" agenda which is solely based upon begging Juneau and Washington D.C. for more money, with results such as the parking garage.

However, for John Jackovich to be able to do anything of future benefit, he has to be able to have a revenue stream right now. In this particular case, that's kind of tough when the media coverage leads many in this community to believe that his business is closing or has already closed.

Vision Fairbanks can be of some long-term benefit, if we can get past the "throw more money at the problem" mentality. The problem I have with it right now is its inclusion as part of the comprehensive plan. What this means is that anyone wishing to develop their property in a certain area of Fairbanks has to conform to specifications which may have nothing to do with their plans (either short-term or long-term) and may prove financially impractical for any development to occur at all. Which would lead us down the path of more "throw money at the problem."

escoria: That building housed many different business over the years which so far haven't been mentioned by Dermot. It's like Mr. Whitekeys said: "Going out of business regularly in the same location for over 30 years."

The deal to keep the Big I building standing was brokered years before this new owner stepped in. The Vision Fairbanks group started this conflict by wanting a round-a-bout in their future Fairbanks look.

Those of you who support Vision Fairbanks should take this incident as an indicator of how things are going to work if the Vision group gets its way. Vision folks have no money and do not purchase properties to meet their design. They will use government to take the property for their idea of the public good.

The Big I is a local business. The owners are local and their attitude is local. How many others can say that about their business?

If you got a problem with the Big I then don't go there. Don't even drive by the place if it bothers you that much. This redneck don't want your whining face there or anywhere else I decide to go for my beer.

The Big I will come down when the price is right. The present owner is a shrude businessman who bought the property for one reason, to make money. He will in the long run, and could care less about "history". Not bad, just the facts of life. Drug dealers will find a new hot spot very shortly.

And the stupidity continues. Demolish everything except the Big I? For the love of Pete, bulldoze the rotten looking thing already. Leaving that one pathetic building makes absolutely no sense.

Won't someone regret not tearing down that one building in 6 months from now when it's no longer the "hot" spot. Look at the old sunset. It was a hot spot, now its an eyesore.