When I read today that our dividend is going to be taken away completely it became clear that our legislative reps were not paying attention to the people who put them in office. I have heard many wonderful solutions on radio and in the newspapers that would work in the past two years, other than raiding the Alaska Permanent Fund.
I personally have presented a few which were shot down without consideration or further investigation. It is the first time I have seen such tunnel vision in Alaska. We are a state where listening to the people has kept us both solvent and a place where each individual was and is equally important as the whole. Somehow we have managed for a long long time to make people equally as important than the almighty dollar.
Balance the equation with heart and head.
I also don’t agree with public safety needing more money. I was a VPSO and the troopers have excellent top-of-the-line equipment and a budget to match. We built a new public safety crime lab and they are further behind in processing crimes than ever. Let’s throw more money down that rabbit hole.
We all know the dividend pays for college tuition, pays bills, starts small business, heats homes and buys winter groceries. We all don’t live on the salaries that our legislative reps do.
Sheila Higgins,
Juneau
• My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire.