On March 25, Homer residents will go to the polls to answer this question: Shall the city of Homer incur debt and issue general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $8 million to finance part of the cost of the planning, design, construction and equipping of a new city hall and town square (plaza) and related capital improvements in the city?
It's an important question one that will shape the future of Homer in many ways.
As they look to answer that ballot question wisely when they go to the polls, Homer residents want and need answers to other questions including: Is the project a monument to bureaucracy or will it spur economic development in the kind of planned manner many residents have been seeking? Can Homer afford it? Can Homer not afford it? Is it an investment in the future or a high-risk gamble? Will other projects suffer if the vote is "yes"? Is this proposal the best option? Why? Why now?
And, yes, it's OK, even desirable, to ask: What's in it for me (my family, my business, my town, the organizations I support)?
Several Homer News stories, particularly in recent weeks, have laid out the details of the project and what the vote means. More stories today and next week will do the same thing. We've run opinion pieces supporting and opposing the project.
And the Thursday before the election we're hosting a community forum to give people one last chance to get their questions answered. The forum will be from 5:30-7:30 p.m. March 20 at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center.
The forum has but two goals: to provide residents with the information they need to vote wisely on March 25 and to encourage as many residents as possible to vote. This issue is too important to be decided by a handful of motivated voters on both sides those with an ax to grind or those who have been working on the project for years.
Several people have been invited to give short presentations and to answer questions. They include John Fenske, representing the Kachemak Bay Campus; Barb Seaman of the Kachemak Heritage Land Trust and the Friends of Town Square; Greg Jones of Cook Inlet Region Inc.; Homer City Manager Walt Wrede; Homer City Council member Beth Wythe; Homer business owner Kate Mitchell; Bob Brant of Jay-Brant General Contractors; and Homer business owner and resident Terry Yager.
While the format of the forum is still a work in progress, audience members are being asked to e-mail questions to the Homer News in advance at news@homernews.com or write them down at the forum. Homer News reporters will ask the questions.
The forum is not a debate. We're in the information business, and our goal is to get information to residents about this project and bond issue in as many ways as possible before the March 25 vote.
We hope we'll see you there. Then, armed with the information you need, we hope we'll see you at the polls on March 25.
