The View From ‘Nowhere’

Great Story Mayor. I am glad you decided to write it. You should Twitter this and get some reads to go out to people everywhere. It is a shame that political agendas continue to stop progress for you and your town. You are right, you are in America too. Best of luck with the bridge. Get the story out there....

they get to the island by boat if the weather is ok. this bridge is needed. if you needed a bridge and your town was small and in the lower 48 you'd get it from the feds or the corps of engineers. the only way in is by air or boat and if the weather is bad they are cut off. no city in most of the states would tolerate this , they have been promised help for 30 years we should help them

I hope all this publicity gets you your bridge and much needed access to the airport.

Great story Mayor. Sad that your town has been put through the ringer again because of political agenda. I hope you get your bridge soon. Keep on trying. You are right you are in America just as we are. Great article and I am so glad you wrote it. Great Job.

If what you say is true, then we really don't need SARA for VP. If she cannot stand up for 14,000 people (spent the money for other things that was for the bridge) then we really don't need her failing this way with the nation.

In election time you will receive promisess of all kind, that are going to be left in the other side of the island...

I hope all this publicity gets you your much needed bridge.

missing the ferry is really not a great argument, it sounds selfish.

posted by MMB: now living in Moldova, Eastern Europe:

Mayor Kiffer seems to be just one more casualty of Mrs. Palin's reign in Alaska. My family and I visited Alaska as a possible place to relocate for a couple of years, about 1 yr ago. I feel for his need for his community, we evalualted an area on flat ground, no islands, and found it would have been quite difficulty just to meet everyday needs. The needs of a community in Alaska are tough enough without having to relay on a ferry for transportation to a probably frozen runway, across a frozen waterway. I believe that the term 'earmark' is something to let the politicians know that this has been 'heard' before and not to be 'listened' to again. It is unfortunate, when a community wants to better life for its residents, that it cannot receive funding or assistance from a government that will spend money on the most laziest person it can find, to write about the effects of being lazy on the human body. PEOPLE!!, who cares about that kind of infomation. PALIN, wake up, work on getting a bridge and do what is right for a change. You abused your position in Alaska, ignored your own people, and the state you represented, and now you want everyone to love you and put you in the potential position of running the greatest country in the free world!!?? If you cannot bridge the gap between a town and its airport, how do you think you can bridge the gap building between the US and the rest of the world!? Thanks for reading this, at least I feel better now.

Mayor Kiffer's articulate discussion belies the picture of brew-carting yahoos painted by Gov. Palin. Hooray for you Mayor Kiffer! I couldn't agree more. Often, when politicians send a message to the barely literate, who often constitute their constituency, they write the message in very bold strokes, often neglecting logic or the truth - the "bridge to nowhere" is apparently another one of these times. And, guess what? It worked!

As a former Californian I am reminded by my husband ( an Alaskan and former business owner in San Francisco) that the Golden Gate Bridge was labeled in the same fashion and after being bulit it opened up the Marin Co .and we all know about that!!!

How about no man's bridge? The numbers don't justify the expense.

As I recall, when this whole thing was coming down, even the media portrayed this as a "bridge to nowhere" and held it up as the crown jewel of pork barrel spending. I believe that Governor Palin was speaking metaphorically when she talked about the "bridge to nowhere" as a comparison to the kinds of projects the government chooses to fund. Maybe, if the town had presented its case better it would have convinced the powers that be, that the bridge was necessary. In any case, 250,000 people passing through is not something that the taxpayers shoud be involved in. I agree, let the cruise lines and the airlines pony up for the bridge, maybe charge a toll to pay for it. By the way, how do people get to the airport now, backstroke?

rename it the no man's bridge

For all people against the bridge, I suggest you go to Ketchikan and see it for yourself. Imagine being isolated from one of your only ways to depart the island and being confined by a specific ferry schedule (missing a ferry by 1 minute may mean missing your flight by 30). This was not a choice that the residents of this town made; this was a choice that the goverment made (to put the airport on another island) with the promise of a bridge to connect the two. Yes, Alaska is a state that always has a surplus every year, but unless the government (including Sarah Palin) agrees to fund the bridge, then this city continues to be cut off from an important promise. No, I do not live there, but I have seen it. This may be a small town in the "middle of nowhere" to many of us who don't live there, but the bridge would go somewhere...

This is the same probleme of my own town. The people go to other places where they will have jobs. This regions have had a desertification process of their population. I have been learning English.

oops sorry, 4score, I wasnt talking to you... your comment popped in there before I could post