Robert Forto

houston

Iditarod 40: Parking in Willow

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At yesterday’s media briefing for the Iditarod they urged us to get the word out about the potential parking problem at the Iditarod re-start in Willow.

Living in Willow I know what to expect. Not only do we have tons of snow here but in this small village of just 2,500 people, parking is at a premium.

The re-start takes place on Willow Lake at the Community Center at about Mile Marker 70 on the Parks Highway. It is approximately an hour and a half drive from Anchorage without too much traffic.

The community center has very little parking and there will be a parking lot across the highway. This is a paid lot so be prepared with cash. It is several hundred yards to the lake from this parking lot so wear warm clothing and be prepared to walk.

Get there as early as possible. The race starts at 2 pm with the first musher going out and continues on every two minutes. The last dog team will leave Willow sometime after 4 pm. I would suggest arriving well before noon as the parking lots will likely be full by 12:30 at the latest.

The Alaska State Troopers have said that they will not allow anyone to park along the highway under any circumstances.

There are very few choices for food in the Willow area. We have a convenience store, Townsite Food Market, the Willow Trading Post and I am sure there will be vendors at the community center that sell fast food items like hot dogs and coffee. The closest sit down restaurant besides the Willow Trading Post (which is rather small) is the Houston Lodge about 12 miles to the south.

If you do drive to Willow, be prepared to spend a long time heading to and from the race start. In some years traffic has been backed up all the way to Houston and you could potentially miss the race if you don’t plan accordingly.

After the race start is over it is the same. Last year traffic was diverted for over four miles in order to increase flow. It took me two hours to drive from the Community Center to my house which is just about five miles away.

There will be shuttle service to Willow and I highly recommend that.

Here is the schedule:

2012 WILLOW RESTART SHUTTLE BUS SCHEDULE

This year with a close to record snowfall amount, we strongly encourage Willow Restart press, media, volunteers, and spectators to take one of the Willow Restart shuttle buses (see schedule below).   In Willow snow depths are reaching 10’+ and the narrow roads are even narrower, and the parking less than before.  So, we are encouraging Restart attendees to take a shuttle or at least car pool to help ease the parking issue as well as help to ease the congestion of traffic on the road and getting into and out of parking lots.

We hope everyone can help us spread this very important message. 

Anchorage Millennium Hotel:  Volunteer tickets $10 roundtrip, Spectator tickets $20 roundtrip, both can be purchased at Volunteer Registration Desk in the Millennium Hotel

Buses Depart Millennium Hotel:  8:00 AM – volunteer bus, 9:30 AM – volunteers and spectators, 11:00 AM – spectators

Buses Depart Willow for Millennium Hotel:  4:00 PM, 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM

Wasilla:   Adults $2.00 roundtrip and children under 12 free.

Buses Depart Wasilla High School: 11:00 AM, 11:30 AM, 12:00 PM, 12:15 PM, 12:30 PM, 12:45 PM, and 1:00 PM

Buses Depart Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center:  11:00 AM, 11:30 AM, and 12:00 P

Volunteers can catch a bus leaving the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center at 9:00 AM

Houston:  Adults $2.00 roundtrip and children under 12 free.

 Buses Depart Houston High School: 11:00 AM, 11:30 AM, 12:00 PM and 12:30 PM

Buses Depart from Willow to Houston – Curtis D. Menard Sports Center – Wasilla High School:

4:00 PM, 5:00 PM, and 6:00 PM

ALL return shuttles will make stops at Houston – Curtis D. Menard Sports Center – Wasilla High School

Talkeetna:  Adults $2.00 roundtrip and children under 12 free.

Buses Depart Talkeetna Sunshine Restaurant: 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM

Buses Depart from Willow for Talkeetna Sunshine Restaurant: 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM

I will be covering the Iditarod everyday on my website and on the radio. Please listen in. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and check in with me on Foursquare.

 

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Houston, we have a problem…

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When you think of small town America, you often think of Mayberry on the Andy Griffith Show.

The folksy sheriff, Aunt Bea, a goofy side kick deputy, kids running the streets playing ‘kick the can’, and possibly an apple pie sitting on the window sill waiting to cool on a warm summer’s eve.

Then you have Houston, Alaska.

A small town, village, hamlet, or whatever they are calling it theses days– that is about 10 miles north of the town that Sarah built (Wasilly) and about an hour and a half drive north of Anchorage in the Mat-Su Valley.

There is not much in this little town on the Parks Highway:

One bar: The Houston Lodge, that serves a mean Prime Rib

Millers Market— great ice cream but beware of the tour buses in the summer. Millers Market also serves as the post office

A couple campgrounds

The local middle and high school

and a combo Police/Fire/EMS building

Sounds quaint doesn’t it?

Well, that depends on how you look at it I guess. The tour guides fail to mention that in this hamlet almost 60% percent of the residents are without running water and/or electricty in their homes. Think outhouses, folks. It gets dang cold in the middle of the night during a cold Alaskan winter.

Then you have the controversy that is brewing that would put City Confidential and its narrator, Paul Winfield running for the hills…

In recent months this little village has been turned upside down by one controversy after another.

First the mayor, Virgie Thompson was elected to the city council with a whopping 756 votes and then elected to serve as mayor. Shortly thereafter an FBI investigation was brewing on the notion that she scammed the city out of a few bucks by fibbing on her time card for work.

Yes folks, in Houston, Alaska the mayor has to fill out a time card…

A re-call election is upcoming. The rest of the city council is in near ruins with others wanting to step down or resign as well.

Next, you have the police force. 

If you have ever driven through this little town there are 45 MPH speed limit signs posted at each end of the “city center”. I can’t count how many times that I have seen motorists pulled over by the Houston police force.

But the police department is not above controversy in Houston.

On Tuesday April, 26, the Houston City Council voted 4-2 to fire the police captain. This leaves this little metropolis without a police force–at least until someone can be hired. Not to fear, the Alaska State Troopers have agreed to keep the peace.

The police captain believes that he was fired in retaliation based on the information and cooperation he gave to the Feds on the case of the mayor’s impropriety. He has filed suit of course…

NO COPS! One of the deputies moved on to take a job up north and the support staff was laid off weeks ago.

On top of that, if my memory serves me correctly, a former Houston police brass was let go for using his police cruiser in a way that was a bit improper. He was caught speeding with his lights on–way up near Fairbanks for no reason other than a “Sunday drive”.

Well, at least the charges against the deputy mayor were dropped. An assault charge was logged against the man for “causing fear of injury” during a heated arguement against the dep-mayor and the planning commissoner, Ralph Buzzard. Folks present witnessed that the Deputy Mayor walk toward Buzzard “in an angry manner” and if people wouldn’t have stepped in no telling what would have happened!

I’m not making this stuff up folks. In fact, you can read all about it at The Frontiersman. Just look under “local news.”

Well, at least the fire department is still in operation (at least for now). There are rumblings that the city is broke and they can’t pay their bills. But I think someone will step in and fix that. Maybe it will be Sarah. Heck, it might even be that certain lady senator that broke all the rules in the last election and somehow lost the primary and still got her name on the ballot and was ELECTED!

Have I ever said they do things different in Alaska?