Letter to the Editor
Raise the dome
Published Thursday, May 8, 2008
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To the editor:
Economic growth, development and quality of life demand that a community strike a balance between the interests of small government, low taxes and minimal regulation with the publicly financed support of important services and facilities that the private sector cannot provide. The time has come for the Fairbanks community — conservatives, liberals and independents — to come together to support the construction of an indoor turf and track facility.
Inflatable dome technology has recently become relatively inexpensive and reliable under our winter conditions. We have the Carlson Center, the Big Dipper and several swimming pools in our wonderful community. We now need to take the next step. An indoor dome turf and track facility is desperately needed for adults and youths alike. It is an endeavor that cannot be supported by the private sector just as the construction, operation and maintenance of roads, ice rinks and retirement facilities for the elders who created our great community are not.
We must build an indoor dome turf facility now. It can be located on borough land between the Big Dipper and the Fairbanks Youth Soccer Association complex. The priority just needs to be created and the political will energized to make it a reality. Please support this important endeavor leading to an enhanced quality of life for all Fairbanks residents. We can all enjoy it together in the depths of winter. Let’s show our true community colors — Fairbanks is a great place to live and a wonderful community to raise children. Technology and economics has made this a feasible project. Let’s get it done together.
Community Discussion
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Can we make the dome out of the corn bale technology and kill two birds with one stone?
I would love my property taxes to go for this idea!!!! I am sure it would pay for itself - just like the Carlson Center.
Maybe we could use the dome to house the overcrowded prison population?
Why don't we take this a little further.
Let's include a shooting range, bowling alley, video game center, water slide park, skate park, swimming pool, tennis courts, library, car dealership, dirt bike track, snow machine track, mushing trails, climbing wall, movie theater, auditorium, curling center, radio and television stations, and a giant 40-foot flat screen television playing nothing but Star Wars.
K-mart building?
Any greenie out there know how much it would cost to heat a big @#!@!#$ dome?
Since the author states "we 'must' build" this thing now...because it is an "important" endeavor, we better hurry....sign me up for a 10 or 20 mil increase - its only money
Korn - don't you think the shooting range would 'pop' the dome - and what if a bowling ball got loose and hit the side! Think of the lawsuits then.....
see ya'all in the dome!
If a dome is so darned important, why not get everyone who wants it together, pitch in your own money, and the build it with private money rather than public?
If there isn't enough interest to garner private sector support, then there isn't enough interest to build it at all.
Swanny
This subject comes up every year or so. It is the people who play soccer that support it. I don't play soccer and I sure don't want to pay the bills for those who do. If you want to play soccer year round, the Alaska Highway has a southbound lane. Drive Carefully.
Are you saying that this inflatable dome is more important than my life-sized-gold-plated (with donut shop and Orange Julius) diorama of Helen Keller at the Well proposal for Fairbanks?
Dave Veazey, where have i heard that name before,, ?? Sounds like someone who is good a spending other peoples money. Swanny is right on, Please look at the history of at least two Fairbanks groups that took their "hobby/sport" and did their own thing. The Greater Fairbanks Racing Assn. and the Middnight Sun Radio Control Club, both of these were started and continue to be funded by private money and time. A lot of good people gave their time and money to make these clubs work, why is it that there are those that always wont someone else to pay for their hobby/sport?? Are these the same people who run around collecting money to get elected to a job that includes spending other peoples money??? Dave who ??
akguy, you keep using the same tired corn bale joke. You're funny like Carlos Mencia standup.
Can't help but wonder why Dave (and others like him) feel like they have a right to have their hands permanently grafted into my pocket book. If you want it, raise the money for it and build it on your own! My taxes are high enough already without building something that I will probably never use.
Outside of the use of public money, do any of you think that it is a bad idea? If it the money was raised in the private sector, would you support it?
I have long thought that it would be beneficial to have such, I personally do not think that it should be built or maintained with public money, but the need for such a facility is there.
Bugger- just come out and say it, he was a local elected official in the past ( or was that his brother?)
if you feel so strongly about building this dome thingy then by all means circulate a petition to get an initiative on the ballot. i personally can't ever envision using such a facility (i like playing outdoors in winter instead), but i'll listen to the debate and then decide.
Dave Veasy was the former borough assembly member that volunteered to head the group that supported retaining the IM program. Jim Thompson's (former Mayor of Fairbanks ) son was the vice chair. Thompson's son got the job at the borough working for the IM program after the vote to keep it. Veasy has for years argued the need for an indoor sports dome. If this is such a good idea, then let Veasy convince the interior delegation to get the money from the State, like Anchorage and Matsu do for sports facilities. Then he can get a grant from Ted Stevens to maintain it for years. Let the tax payers in Fairbanks concentrate on surviving next winter.
JB--I think an indoor sports facility would be a great asset to the community, though I agree with most of those commenting that it shouldn't be done with tax money.
Anchorage's O'Malley Gardens might be a good model for Fairbanks to follow; a privately-constructed indoor sports facility with an artifical-turf field on one side and volleyball courts on the other side. The place has always been packed whenever I've been there.
Wow-this is what you want the public to rally together and solve? What about fire protection and police? Do you think maybe that is a bigger priority?
suomi: I'm with ya on having our state's delegation put it in the budget. Then we'll all get to watch as Sarah takes her veto pen to it (as well she should).
Why don't we just get a huge chunk of parachute cloth, fasten the ends to the ground, gather up all of our local politicians underneath it, and have them breath their usual hot air? That would take care of both the inflation and heating issues at minimal cost. The downside is, anyone using the facility would have to listen to the politicos grandstanding 24/7.
Geez Goat, now I am craving an Orange Julius!
P3T the fire protection issue is easy to fix, people without it need to elect to tax themselves to pay for their fire protection, same as myself and others in the Steese area have done. As for the dome let the users pay for it and the maintenance/upkeep.
The SAME Tired Arguments against anything that requires public money.
I envision a team of curmudgeons--scouring the letters to the editor for anything that might be for the good of the community but might cost any kind of public money, and when found the alarm sounds!!! My guess is that each of the above complainers has his or her own area that he or she uses. So one uses the public parks, one uses the Carlson Center, one uses the shooting range, one uses the Big Dipper, one uses the recreation areas and boat launches. etc. The rest of the complainers probably either work for a government entity (borough, state, city, UAF, army, airforce, Statewide UA system, school district) or draw financial benefit by being contracted by one of these agencies... for example joe six pack complains about taxes but makes 50,000 a year being contracted by the army or DOT or whatever. Or sells products making profits to the many government employees in this community. There is so much hypocrisy in this town--why is it that anytime someone suggests an improvement in our community everyone freaks out that their taxes might go up! I think such a multi-use facility is long overdue. I ski and snow machine and skate and I enjoy winter. But I would still love to play some full sized softball, some football, and some Frisbee when it's pitch dark and 45 below. Have you people ever thought about thinking big and doing something that makes your community stand out rather than complain about the potential minor financial impact on you? get a life.
A. Ummm, some of us just want an Orange Julius. Unfortunately, no time this weekend to drive to Muldoon & get one.
B. For many, the rehashing, complaining & arguing is more fun, for both sides.
Get real Dave.
Half the people in this town are wondering where their next tank of heating oil is going to come from and how they'll ever sell that worthless gas-guzzling SUV they just had to have.
Just wait until 20% of the FSNB has left for warmer areas and then see how many "quality of life" domes we can afford.
Lets have a DOS for the dome. We can hand out cards to everyone when they ask why we are quiet. Don't be alarmed though, this won't disrupt anyone's work day.
Aw heck. With Alaska going tropical due to Al Gore's incontinent truth of global warming(thank you so much dangerous greenhouse gases); soon we'll be walking barefoot through green grass all winter long. Only losers would need a "heated" sports arena under such conditions.
Bozoboy says: "I envision a team of curmudgeons..." I resent this remark, Bozoboy. We curmudgeons are well known for our inability to get along with others. We couldn't form a team if we wanted to. We'd each be far too suspicious of our fellow curmudgeons' motives. Heck, we don't even have much respect for ourselves. Long before the first team meeting, we would have all crawled back to our respective hovels where we could mutter about the uselessness of the human race.
You sound like a guy who hasn't had much curmudgeonly exposure.
Yeah, bozo is right all right...
bozoboy,
As a federal employee, I spent 80% of my last six years of salary in Alaska. Like everyone with a good job, I paid over 20% of my net back to the Feds for income taxes or 25% of another Federal employee's salary. The small increases in pay have gone toward maintaining my standard of living here but don't cover the increases in the cost of living. The money my salary brings into the community from the Federal budget (not state or local employer) is spent in the community. I pay for local public and private services rendered, goods received, and facilities maintenance.
My spouse has a job in the local private sector, and that salary comes from the tourist industry in the summer and other out of town visitors in the winter. I don't see a difference in the way we spend our money or the sources. The construction industry is funded by the owners of the projects being constructed. There is only one industry that brings "new" money into the state and that is the natural resources industry. Even that is subsidized by Alaskans at the cost of depleting our state's resources, which we Alaskans own and are supposed to be managing with our state government.
Did I miss some big windfall increase in the city budget? Last year I was reading articles that said the city was broke. I see Dave wants to use borough land to build a city complex. Maybe the borough residents outside the city will just forget that small detail. The private sector has done more for sports facilities than the he gives credit.
The local fitness club, the local racing clubs, the curling club, and laser tag facilities were not publicly funded to my knowledge. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. Yes they charge members fees to maintain the facilities and they require membership. It can be done by the private sector, however, if it is not economical, we can't get the bankers from wall street to cover the losses.
If the author's assertion that technology and economics make it possible is true, then it is profitable and can be funded privately. If the city says it has the money, I would want to see their financials. The new mayor is doing a good job rebuilding from what I have seen, but the city is not booming and the citizens are not overwhelmed with excess funds. If it makes sense financially, my dollars will be well spent and I will get a good return on my investment through facilities, services, or recreation.
If it is publicly funded, we have an obligation to ensure this project is done responsibly. We deserve to see the contracts, financials, and projected impacts. Like many who came before me, I don't have any need for turf in the winter in Alaska, unless it follows the surf on a menu. However, if there is profit in it I don't mind making an investment.
did someone say Orange Julius? Im in!
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