Editorial: ‘Action’ is the Antidote to Despair
Alpine lupine, lazy in the sun, in the mountains above Girdwood Vally look down towards the forested future construction site of Holtan Hills subdivision. (Photo by Soren Wuerth)
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
On July 7, SHOW UP
A fundamental purpose of a free press is to serve as a watchdog on power. It's right there in the First Amendment, "Congress shall make no law ... prohibiting ... the freedom ... of the press..."
Even our nation's founders knew they—and their projects—needed to be watched.
"Bearing witness" is also a form of nonviolent resistance. It often takes courage to not look away from injustice.
Witness is one of the quietest, yet most powerful forms of nonviolent resistance. To witness is to stand present—to injustice, to suffering, to oppression—and refuse to look away. It is an act of moral courage that declares: “I see, I will not be silent, and I will not allow harm to happen unnoticed.” In a world where denial and distraction often shield systems of power from accountability, the simple act of being present becomes radical, writes Kate Laverty of a Belfast, Ireland intercommunity fellowship.
On Monday, July 7, clearcutting, digging and filling of a beloved Girdwood rainforest will commence.
Monday brings development of a subdivision no one in town went on record to support.
Everyone locally, that is to say, dislikes "Holtan HIlls".
What is insidious about the "Holtan Hills" affair is the way it was approved: Anchorage Assembly members slipped it through on a winter day after first postponing it indefinitely and after ignoring countless community comments, testimony, letters, local votes and even resolutions from sympathetic councils in town.
The brand "Holtan HIlls" has the stink of tyranny.
The 60-plus acre development will be too expensive for locals, will pressure existing utilities and services, will create dangerous traffic near a school, and will only result in more "dark homes".
All for what?
A group of individual developers who don't live here will make tens of millions in a deal arranged mostly behind closed doors. Anchorage will get surplus property taxes. And wealthy outsiders can have a million-dollar Girdwood "cabin" they visit a couple times a year.
It's clear to those with even a passing knowledge of the issue who benefits and who doesn't.
It's also clear that the vision some Anchorage politicians and speculators have for Girdwood is a Vail-like resort town bereft of community, controlled by big money, and serving as a resource for Anchorage's power-elite.
So, now what?
The least we can do next week is SHOW UP.
We all know the place: The gate off Hightower, a minute-walk from the school, trailhead of the Middle Iditarod and Athabascan pathways.
Come bear witness.
Have the courage to watch or hold a sign expressing your other First Amendment right: free speech. Count on the local press to be there.
It's not politics.
It's responsibility.
Surveyed area of Holtan Hills projected for groundwork construction next week. (Photo by Soren Wueerth)