I am writing this letter in response to the April 17 article in the Alaska Landmine regarding the Holtan Hills development in Girdwood. In this article, Paxson Woelber’s opinion was passed off as fact. Woelber claimed that it was a handful of people behind resistance to this development, but one merely needs to drive the streets of Girdwood and see the Halt Holtan Hills signs melting out of the snowbanks all over town to see that there is widespread opposition to this plan. We actually paid for those signs. They weren’t just spread around by a small band of greedy elitists.
Or one could have attended the Anchorage Assembly meeting, where more than 100 residents showed up in a record snowstorm to testify against it. There was only one person in the crowd for it, and he wasn’t even a Girdwood resident.
I could explain why I am opposed to this project, from corruption and inexperience in the Heritage Land Bank to the reality that this development does nothing to assuage the housing issues in Girdwood, but I don’t have enough words here. Girdwood is demanding a seat at the table. This is nothing less than anyone else would ask if something major were happening in their neighborhood.
— Eben Stone
Girdwood
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