After celebrating 41 years of living in Haines and seeing the town go through good times and bad, I feel as though I have a pretty clear understanding of community needs in terms of an economy. I have never seen the downtown core look more dismal! There are currently four major properties on Main Street, from the boat harbor to L.A.B., that are vacant. Since 1970, this has never been. The town needs jobs, good-paying jobs. Tourism and the attendant lemonade stands will not solve the problem. Downtown theme construction will not provide those jobs. We currently have more families on welfare and public assistance than ever before! More than 52 percent of the children in our schools come from homes who live at or below the poverty level! Cosmetic, government-funded changes to downtown facades will not solve this! There are projects in the planning phase that would connect the interior of Alaska and Canada via rail through the Port of Haines which would provide huge economic impact. The Connelly Lake hydro project offers immense benefits to the community and other industries that need to get much more serious about real-world solutions to help our economy. Government does not create jobs. They are supposed to create an environment for the private sector to create jobs and business opportunity. Waste no more time and money on folly!

Terrance W. Pardee