The View From ‘Nowhere’

Ok so Palin had clothes for the campaign but why did the family have to have new clothes? What happened to cutting funds when you can $150,000.00 is more than my house and many others that are military families that are in foreclosure or filing for bankrupcy. I am school teacher, special education to be exact, and I will never make that much in a teaching year. And as for her knowing alot about special ed services for families with special needs children, she is using her child to make brownie points with parents with special needs children. Their lives are not to be played with campaign promises she knows can not be met or made light of. I love my students about as much as their parents do. I have taught pre-k through 12 grade and their are parents that exploit their kids to make a buck and I see this in Palin. What next... a promise to nowhere for special ed parents?

Where is your bridge??? Ask your Governor Palin, the money was sent to Alaska for the bridge and not returned. What did the bridge money get spent on???? More clothes for Palin?????

Haven't any of you people who live in the lower 48 ever heard of Google Earth??? Take a "trip" to Southeast Alaska and see for yourself what the country is like. There is no flat land in southeast; water and mountains. The islands are just the tops of partially submerged mountains. They had to flatten out part of Gravina Island to make an airport. You don't have to go to Alaska to see this. That's what computers are for. Google Earth is free, for G-d's sake!

I have lived in Ketchikan for 15 years. So I know first hand the importance of that bridge. Our town dies in the winter. All of the tourist shops close and get boarded up,which make up the majority of our downtown. Having that bridge would allow growth for more local businesses that just dont cater to tourists and would help the unemployment problem that comes with winter. And maybe in th future we could put a few businesses on Pennock Island,which is the island that is between Gravina and Revilla which Ketchikan is located. All of you can be outraged by this,but until you come and live here, you will never understand the huge difference that bridge would make for our community.

The government IS responsble to maintain and build the infrastructure of the country. That is why there are highways that span the entire country. We pay taxes to build and maintain that infrastructure. If the country believes there are better ways to spend the country's money, so be it. But there have been many government projects to build and maintain the countries infrastructure. Some of you seem to think you have the ability to pay for maintenance of the bridges and highways in your area without federal dollars. Freethinker79, I sure hope you appreciate all the federal taxes paid by us in Alaska that have helped pay for your highways, airports, and other public access ways. Too bad you can't see how Alaska should recieve the same benefits you enjoy. by the way, I have never heard anyone in Alaska call people in the lower 48 "scum". We tend to be pretty tough and individualistic, but we also should get our share of the tax benefits the lower 48 has received for hundreds of years now.

Instead of sending oil revenues collected by the state back to the residents of Alaska, why don't they use that money to build their own bridge?

I lived in Ketchikan for six years. A bridge to Gravina would be a good idea. It is still a good idea. Sarah Palin as anything -- not a good idea!

It's nice to see that someone has finally come out and told more people about the "Bridge to No Where." Having grown up and lived in Ketchikan for 20 years, I know first hand how valuable the bridge would be for the community. No longer would people have to wait for a ferry every half an hour to get to the airport. No more would the few people that have chosen to live on Gravina have to suffer the weather conditions in their boats just to get their groceries. Most people do not realize that Ketchikan is classified as rain forest and has an annual rainfall averaging 13 feet a year. Ketchikan is a beautiful place to visit, but would be a much nicer place to live with the advantages of the bridge.

It is still a Bridge to Nowhere. Look at all the aging bridges and road infrastructure we have elsewhere in the country. There are hundreds of bridges in need of rehabs or replacement, that are servicing 100's of Millions of commuters yearly in this country. And yet this mayor thinks it's important we spend huge piles of taxpayer money for a pitiful community of 14,000. I want my tax money spent on the major bridges and roads that support the major aspects of the US economy, not some rinky-dink area out where the Caribou outnumber to people.

Ketchikan is a very sociable,town that has citizens who are doing their best with what they have been given.
The people are very friendly to visitors and love to talk to tourists.
But let's turn the picture around-- what if this was San Francisco or New York and you had to take a ferry to work or to the airport just because your "governor" didn't need it so "they" opposed the bill?
We, my wife and I, were there in August on our Honeymoon and we wandered around town, went into several stores, and never heard a store employee telling anyone they coouldn't help them find what they were looking for. And we had over 1300 ( that's one thousand three hundred Mr AK rider). and we were just one of FIVE cruise ships there at the same time. So if YOU haven't been there, don't talk like you know what you're talking about.
Proud Army Veteran and PROUD AMERICAN.

Financial crisis was caused by people spending more on credit than they could repay.

Coming from a small town in a narrow valley, I know about the expansion problem. It's a pain in the rear.

And i response to the "Build your own bloody bridges!" comment from bgerardz: small towns can't afford to build multimillion bridges across deep channels, you fool. And if you are so smart, why didn't you go back a reread your comment before you posted it? In the first sentence, did you mean, "WE'RE Alaskan, too."?! You must be part of that group that wants Alaska to become an independent nation!! I think we should stick you guys on an island together and see how you get along, and it all works out.

Bayfield and Lapointe Wisconsin are seperated by three miles of Lake Superior. Bayfield on the mainland and Lapointe on Madeline Island. Lapointe has an airport, Bayfield does not. The economy and growth potential of both communities would be greatly enhanced with a bridge spanning between them, making them one community. With the Mayor of Ketchikan's logic we need a bridge also here in Wisconsin. Pork barrell us!

I traveled to Ketchikan in 2006. The new mayor seems to forget that all of that publicity over the bridge, sure brought a lot of visitors to Ketchikan. Ketchikan has as many as three cruise ships at on time docked at the port. This city lives off of tourist and publicity. If the new mayor does not all the attention on Ketchikan, he can tell the ships and tourist not to come there. See how popular he is with that move. This is just another Palin bashing artical, by people who only wish they were as popular as she is is. The funny thing is that so many of us respect and like Gov. Palin. Funny how MSN and others don't print much about Biden and his near daily blunders. Ketchican may not have it's bridge to nowhere, but Obama has to bridge the gaps in Biden's speaches.

this is liberal crap at its best. to check legitemacy, just read the end note: Kiffer is the NEWLY elected mayor of Ketchikan.

This is another side of the story the media forgot to look into. Instead they've been mezmorized by Palin and being VP. This chick is a terrorist to her own state and is fast learning to live of the taxpayers, just like a career politition. To be honest, when her and Mccain lose, I wouldn't give a plum nickel for her political future.!!!

i agree with wolf wolfman. except the obama osama comment. as much as i dislike obama i have to say that's obviously not true, though by the sound of his name you wouldn't know it. but i'm sure how we got to this but;
obama is socialist. or communist if you will. look at his veiws. spread the wealth. that's the start of all communist systems. it is a good idea, but never ever works out. it simply doesn't work. and it's certainly not suitable for the united states of america. people, not working, making money off of their laziness and inabillity to lift a finger for him/herself and him/her's family. it's ridiculous. that's what will happen. one man goes to work, works a 57 hour week. (i know a man like this) and one day, may make just as much as the lazy, ignorant man who refuses to pay his child support nor his bills. doesn't work, doesn't do anything, but still makes money for his LAZINESS. it's ludacrious. if barack hussein obama is elected as president i don't know what will happen. other than a huge decrease in our nations work force, because they don't need to because they'll be getting money for not working!!??? ridiculous! obviously nothing will get done. lazy people. nothing being done to increase the potential of our nation. also how does barack have any experience to do this job? on xm radio a host asked "give me one thing barack obama has done in his career to qualify himself to be the president?" out of everyone that called in (obviously only obama supporters called in) not one had an answer. "change change change. he's gonna change this he's gonna change that." but not a single person could say what he has done. he simply has a huge lack of experience. not to say the palin doesn't. but still. thankyou, connor

Wow! Eloquently stated! The "bridge to nowhere" is simply to correct the governments' placement of the airport on a seperate Island. It is merely the completion of a project started decades ago. A project that was "tweaked" after groundbreaking leaving the once whole project broken into segments or installments. The bridge was simply to be the next phase toward original project completion.

Mayor Kiffer, I think you should be given your bridge! Gov't needs to honor the completion of the agreed upon original project proposal... Take it to the mattresses. Best regards, R North in Fort Lauderdale, FL

Discuss something more important than a bridge like safety or the economy?? Did you not read what this bridge means to this small town. My family and I once had the priviilege of calling this "small town" home, and the birth place of one of my children, while my husband served in the military. That bridge you belittle signifies something much greater than the smirk you gave. Ketchian is a survivor despite the loss of its two largest industries over the past twenty years. You can divide issues and people along party lines, but this little town has an amazing population whose people has stuck it out and stuck together despite the continued broken promises and lack of funding. You have to ask yourself why the mayor and long time resident of a small town in a huge state feels strongly enough to speak out against the current government, when intuitively it would rather tout its strengths on a worldwide stage. Sure tells me its time to think hard about whether or not we want that for the country?

Any tourist who has started or finished a visit to Alaska in Ketchican -- as I did some years ago -- understands why the bridge was needed for both local users and visitors. Juneau has a bridge connecting it to Douglas Island across the channel, and there's no airport there, just neighborhoods and the small businesses that go with them. It's too bad that Sarah Palin felt a need to distort this story for political ends, and at the expense of a respectable Alaska community. She was far more generous with federal dollars to her own home town, before the nation was paying attention. I hope that, if and when Ketchican finds the means to expand, Mayor Kiffer demonstrates better sense and vision than his governor did in Wasilla.