Why I’m voting in favor of Juneau’s ballot propositions

My wife and I chose to raise a family in Juneau two decades ago because it is an exceptionally livable place, with biking, skiing, indoor recreational facilities, boating, hunting, and fishing that doesn’t require spending most of your weekend stuck in a car to access. When I talk to my brother who lives in the suburbs of Seattle, he is always in his car, driving an hour to mountain bike, two hours to ski, or multiple hours to get to a soccer tournament with his son.  

My kids might complain about the terribly long drive to the field house, but after 15 years of making this drive three nights a week, I can assure you that it takes 16 minutes to get there from our doorstep — assuming nobody forgot their cleats. I can get to the Eaglecrest parking lot in 22 minutes. I can pick which harbor to launch our skiff from, getting to four quiet ramps and docks with adequate parking, and the longest drive is 25 minutes. These amenities — an indoor turf field that benefits our collective mental health, well-plowed roads that get us to an affordable ski lift, and docks and harbors with impeccably maintained facilities — are what make Juneau a place I’m proud to call home.  

As several of these amenities are on the ballot that just landed in your mailbox, I’m writing to urge you to join me in voting yes, yes, yes on the three propositions before us. Others have outlined what's at stake in these pages, so it's enough to note that I prefer a livable community to some kind of mythical "affordable Juneau, and I hope you do too.  The alternative — letting basic services and public infrastructure erode because wealthy landowners didn't want to pay for them — has its own cost, and Juneau's kids inherit it.

Kevin Maier

Juneau