The past few years have seen urban design experts from around the world come to Anchorage. They have consistently remarked how our city looks like Anyplace, USA, characterized by suburban sprawl with cookie cutter subdivisions separated from civic facilities, workplaces and shopping. Itís a city where sidewalks are rarely installed and the automobile is king. A city oriented around the individual with little inherent sense of neighborhood or community. A city where the isolation of individuals is reinforced by six months of cold and darkness.

Some voices speak out for more roads, wider roads and grade-separated interchanges so able-bodied adults can quickly move about ó time is money and one minute more on the road is less profit in the pocket. These voices speak to individual self-interest and the short term focus of commerce. The voices of kids, elderly, physically disabled and folks without cars are ignored. The voices of neighborhoods are frequently over-ridden.

Commerce has traditionally shaped the design of urban areas. However there are key differences today in our town. First, the world of commerce is being rapidly transformed. Advances in computer and telecommunication technology are providing the impetus for the unfolding reality of the new economy. The Digital Age is constructing an alternative way of moving economic goods and services. Electronic roads and streets are being built to provide ready access to the information superhighways. Our economic system is creating a new venue for commerce which lessens the need for traditional road expansion. This expanding network of digital roads is allowing for increased delivery of tele-education, tele-shopping, tele-medicine and even tele-commuting. The future will witness further transformation of urban areas as more and more commerce shifts to the convenience and efficiency of the digital transportation system.

Second, our city is physically constrained by mountains and water, which limits the normal option of continual suburban expansion. Anchorage is running out of cheap land in the Bowl. The recent commercial development of another big box retailer was noted for its high cost of site preparation due to large amounts of peat which had to be removed and replaced with gravel. Re-development is already beginning to occur. Fairview is undergoing a significant transition with new investment, as the good soils and low land rents east of downtown become more attractive. Re-plats of trailer courts are beginning as the marketplace moves the land to a higher and more intensive use. This activity will increase the density of people and economic activity.

Third, Anchorage is a Winter City. It is the only American metropolitan area located in the sub-arctic. We are a city where fully half the year is winter. It is questionable whether the suburban style of development acceptable in the Lower 48 is appropriate in our northern environment. Sprawl is expensive to support in a winter city. The financial cost of snow removal and storage consumes large amounts of scarce resources which Sun Belt communities can ignore.

There are a number of common problems associated with northern cities in the winter. Snow and ice can substantially reduce residentsí mobility and social interaction, thereby affecting businesses. Driving and walking can become extremely hazardous. Weather can affect outdoor activities. Long cold winters can severely restrict residentsí outdoor activities for long periods of time. The winter landscape can be rather gloomy and bleak, and there may be little vegetation and color. Long winters can affect a person emotionally. One can sense some residentsí depression and we know that Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) or ìcabin feverî affects most of us in some way.

Mature winter cities are scaled to people. They are cities built with kids, elderly and the physically disabled in mind. Accessibility to arts, culture, recreational, sports and entertainment activities must be assured for all residents. There should be equal choices for indoor and outdoor activities. If we make the city easy for these neighbors of ours to get around in the winter, then able-bodied adults will witness a dramatic improvement in their quality of life. We can overcome the inconvenience, difficulty or emotional burden placed upon us by long dark winters. We can create a livable winter city in which we celebrate our northern environment and our community becomes truly a city for all seasons. A city will be created that actually feels like a real home rather than just a place you drive your automobile to and from work.

What type of improvements would we see if AMATS embraced the notions of a more livable winter city by increasing funding for enhancements from 10 percent to 20 percent? We would see:

• increased availability of separated sidewalks so kids and other non-auto residents could feel safe when walking along our roads.
• in the densely developed parts of town one would gradually see innovative ways of enhanced pedestrian protection such as arcades, colonnades, hard awnings, canopies and skywalks.
• more creative engineering solutions to usable pedestrian crossings of our arterials, such as the tweaking of steel design at the Tudor and Bragaw overpass. Smarter engineering would push the envelope on excellence for pedestrians.
• completion of the missing links in our cityís trail system so that Anchorage could proudly market itself as the best city in America for trails. This investment would reaffirm our uniqueness as a quality place to live, work and raise a family.

AMATS will soon make its choice. If your vision of our urban future includes an enhanced northern quality of life then make sure your voice is also heard. Call Mayor Rick Mystrom at 343-4431 and let him know your views. Our winter city needs 20 percent for trails, landscaping and pedestrian improvements. No more. No less.