Letter: Who’s building the roads?

Joel Salvino may want to stick to apples after his vague argument (“There’s a better way to solve Alaska’s outmigration problem,” Dec. 18) about how we attract people who are “producers” and not “government parasites.” The people we attract are not as self-sufficient nor as beneficial as he makes them out to be. And are nothing to fear nor anything to champion as some sort of pioneer. Who is building the roads to these homesteading opportunities? Oh yeah, our Alaska government rather than any of the foreign mining companies or private landowners with a stake in the resources that are being accessed.

Joel’s argument could use much more detail too. Otherwise, I feel his arguments are misguided and oversell the people he wants to attract. Where are they moving to? What roads are being built? What will they do to contribute to Alaska? As much as he wants to attract “producers,” homesteaders and home-schoolers who shut themselves out of communities and what used to be social mores, e.g., vaccines, don’t seem like the type of people that will make Alaska thrive beyond their own walls.

I’m going to continue to be biased toward government ideas to solving the outmigration crises until somebody has a better, more detailed, argument about how we fix it to the betterment of all Alaskans, not just some homestead off a government-subsidized road that supposedly houses a “producer” that is going to enhance the people around them — even if they are a hundred miles away or more from a community. Joel’s idea is off.

— Nate Cathcart, Anchorage

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