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My comments: The reason why that too many people complain that Juneau is only accessed by boat or plane to the capital. They're debating on moving to the larger metro area with road access.
Cybered, do you know more about it? Since you know lot about Alaska. :P
Is Juneau about to be dumped?
JUNEAU, Alaska - Is this some kind of dark plot to dump Juneau as Alaska's capital?
Political pundits drew their own interpretations this week after Gov.-elect Sarah Palin announced she would buck an unbroken tradition and take the oath of office outside the capital city.
She will be sworn in Monday in Fairbanks, more than 600 miles north of Juneau, the nation's most inaccessible state capital.
Palin, Alaska's first woman governor and at 42 the youngest ever to hold the office, said she chose Fairbanks to mark the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the Alaska Constitution, which was drafted in Fairbanks three years before statehood in 1959.
Her gesture, however, sent a shiver of anxiety through Alaska's southeastern region.
"Juneau, beware; it's the first step," warned an editorial in the Ketchikan Daily News, giving voice to a nagging fear that Palin's real agenda is to move the capital from Juneau, population 31,000.
Those who want to move the seat of government often complain that Juneau is too far from Alaska's population centers and reachable only by plane or boat.
Lawmakers must drive several hundred miles through interior Alaska and Canada to catch a ferry to Juneau. Those flying in are sometimes diverted as far as Seattle because of Juneau's cloudy and windy weather.
Almost since statehood, Juneau has fended off repeated attempts to move the seat of government to more northern and populated areas of the state.
"And that makes us try to parse every act and every word in a way that helps us figure out what the future of Juneau may be," said state Sen. Kim Elton, a Juneau Democrat.
While he applauded Palin's reason for holding the ceremony in Fairbanks, he also had worries, given Palin's anti-Juneau sentiment not that long ago.
Palin hails from Wasilla, part of the burgeoning Matanuska-Susitna Borough, a region just north of Anchorage that has long coveted the capital. In fact, the borough has already mapped out a location for a new legislative hall on 1,000 acres of undeveloped land.
Palin was Wasilla's mayor and backed a failed voter initiative in 2002 that would have moved legislative sessions to either Anchorage, the state's largest city, or Mat-Su Borough, Alaska's fastest-growing area.
Palin spokesman Curtis Smith said she was looking out for the prosperity of her town then.
"Now her job is to be the chief executive officer of all of Alaska and that means addressing the important issues that affect the state, not moving the capital," Smith said.
Juneau was named the capital during territorial days when it was a bustling gold mining town. But construction of the Alaska Highway during World War II changed the state's demographics to favor the northern cities. The building of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline in the 1970s led to another boom that further boosted the populations of Anchorage (278,000) and greater Fairbanks (88,000).
Juneau supporters argue that it should remain the seat of government, since Fairbanks is the academic center of the state and Anchorage is its commercial center.
But more than that, they argue, a move would be costly to the state and devastating to the economy, not only of Juneau, but of the entire southeast panhandle.
Joe Geldhof, a lawyer from Juneau, said he is not worried. Palin bills herself a fiscal conservative, and he said she probably wouldn't approve the cost of moving.
"Juneau should stop speculating and gossiping about what she might do and wait and give her a chance to govern," he said. "Juneau really is neurotic."
Cybered, do you know more about it? Since you know lot about Alaska. :P
Is Juneau about to be dumped?
JUNEAU, Alaska - Is this some kind of dark plot to dump Juneau as Alaska's capital?
Political pundits drew their own interpretations this week after Gov.-elect Sarah Palin announced she would buck an unbroken tradition and take the oath of office outside the capital city.
She will be sworn in Monday in Fairbanks, more than 600 miles north of Juneau, the nation's most inaccessible state capital.
Palin, Alaska's first woman governor and at 42 the youngest ever to hold the office, said she chose Fairbanks to mark the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the Alaska Constitution, which was drafted in Fairbanks three years before statehood in 1959.
Her gesture, however, sent a shiver of anxiety through Alaska's southeastern region.
"Juneau, beware; it's the first step," warned an editorial in the Ketchikan Daily News, giving voice to a nagging fear that Palin's real agenda is to move the capital from Juneau, population 31,000.
Those who want to move the seat of government often complain that Juneau is too far from Alaska's population centers and reachable only by plane or boat.
Lawmakers must drive several hundred miles through interior Alaska and Canada to catch a ferry to Juneau. Those flying in are sometimes diverted as far as Seattle because of Juneau's cloudy and windy weather.
Almost since statehood, Juneau has fended off repeated attempts to move the seat of government to more northern and populated areas of the state.
"And that makes us try to parse every act and every word in a way that helps us figure out what the future of Juneau may be," said state Sen. Kim Elton, a Juneau Democrat.
While he applauded Palin's reason for holding the ceremony in Fairbanks, he also had worries, given Palin's anti-Juneau sentiment not that long ago.
Palin hails from Wasilla, part of the burgeoning Matanuska-Susitna Borough, a region just north of Anchorage that has long coveted the capital. In fact, the borough has already mapped out a location for a new legislative hall on 1,000 acres of undeveloped land.
Palin was Wasilla's mayor and backed a failed voter initiative in 2002 that would have moved legislative sessions to either Anchorage, the state's largest city, or Mat-Su Borough, Alaska's fastest-growing area.
Palin spokesman Curtis Smith said she was looking out for the prosperity of her town then.
"Now her job is to be the chief executive officer of all of Alaska and that means addressing the important issues that affect the state, not moving the capital," Smith said.
Juneau was named the capital during territorial days when it was a bustling gold mining town. But construction of the Alaska Highway during World War II changed the state's demographics to favor the northern cities. The building of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline in the 1970s led to another boom that further boosted the populations of Anchorage (278,000) and greater Fairbanks (88,000).
Juneau supporters argue that it should remain the seat of government, since Fairbanks is the academic center of the state and Anchorage is its commercial center.
But more than that, they argue, a move would be costly to the state and devastating to the economy, not only of Juneau, but of the entire southeast panhandle.
Joe Geldhof, a lawyer from Juneau, said he is not worried. Palin bills herself a fiscal conservative, and he said she probably wouldn't approve the cost of moving.
"Juneau should stop speculating and gossiping about what she might do and wait and give her a chance to govern," he said. "Juneau really is neurotic."
Anyways ... I will try my best to find a link to explain about how Whitehorse is a sister to Juneau. And, yes there's a road accessin' to Whitehorse and even a train from Skagway to get there, too. It's called WhitePass & Yukon Route. 
