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Mona Painter/Turnagain Times Deb Carlson explains her vision for making Cooper Landing a safer place to walk and bike to a crowd of interested residents during the Talk the Walk meeting at the community hall on Feb. 13. |
By Mona Painter
Turnagain Times Cooper Landing Correspondent
Walkable community presentation
Deb Carlson and Sandra Key Holsten presented the concept of Walkable Communities to about 30 people who came to the community hall Feb. 13. Deb’s PowerPoint slides showed people walking on the present pathway from Milepost 45 to near Milepost 51. We are fortunate to have this safety path, though it is limited in some areas, because highway shoulders through town are practically nonexistent.
Many suggestions and ideas came from that walk through Cooper Landing. Communities that are safe to walk in have traffic calming qualities and can enhance the local economy. Safe pathways can enhance the attributes of a community and in Cooper Landing Kenai Lake and Kenai River are the major elements. How many places can a person walking view the river and watch someone catch a fish?
Deb talked about Dan Burden and Linda Crider; both have visited Cooper Landing. Dan Burden founded the Walkable Communities organization in 1996. He has a long background in developing, promoting, and evaluating alternative transportation facilities, traffic calming practices, and sustainable community design. Linda Crider, a bicycle and trails advocate from Florida, now has a home in Cordova.
Linking community pathways with other local trails as well as Chugach National Forest trails has been Deb’s vision for the Cooper Landing area for many years. By putting her collected information together, presenting it, and asking for thoughts, concerns, and questions from those present Deb found others interested in the concept of a Walkable Community. Gathering support, then looking at grant opportunities that would allow the hire of an expert to look into the feasibility of this concept comes next.
Sandra’s focus was on the trails outside of the community core that could be linked to the pathway. Some 40 people have been working on improving Cooper Landing ski and walking trails. The Trails Committee of the Cooper Landing Community Club is looking for written support to accompany their application to the Kenai Peninsula Borough for a temporary use permit. With the permit in hand, the committee can apply for trail grants.
Arden’s cooking ribs
Cooper Landing Senior Citizen Corp. Inc. has arranged with Arden Rankin to cook a southern style rib dinner with scalloped potatoes, a vegetable, coleslaw, cornbread and dessert Saturday, Feb. 28 to benefit the seniors’. The dinner starts at 6 p.m. at the community hall. Adults pay $16 and children get theirs for $10.
Kenai Borough seeking new superintendent of schools
The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is seeking public input into its process to select a new superintendent of schools. The Board of Education has sole responsibility for the selection of candidates, final interviews and selection of the superintendent, but would like to consider the views and interests of the public across the entire district to help guide those decisions. Visit the district’s Web site, www.kpbsd.k12.ak.us, to rank attributes of importance in the next superintendent, submit general comments and to find more information on further opportunities for input as the process progresses.
Cooper Landing Community garden location chosen
Virginia Morgan brought the idea of a community garden to those at the Jan. 29 community club meeting and since then she has received a lot of encouragement and it looks like the chosen garden spot will be on the Senior Campus near Eagles View.