Why does it matter so much where the capital is located that they'd try and change it six times?
Isn't Juneau supposed to be a real pain in the ass to get to even for Alaska?
So I've heard, but why does that matter? The capital is just where the legislative body does stuff. I don't see why it matters where it is; the only people truly concerned with it are the state politicians.
There are some kinds of business you pretty much have to do by going to the capital - accessing state records, observing/commenting on legislative actions.
Well besides that you have to remember the Alaskan mentality about these things. The state legislature has a much larger role in the governing of Alaska than it is in any other state that I've been too. Because of Alaska's isolation from the rest of the United States it looks on its legislature as the body that actually conducts a vast amount of the business pertaining to Alaska and that the Congress is nothing more than a voice from the Lower 48 which sometimes as something pertaining to Alaska on the menu but usually leaves it alone.
So you conbine this with the general isolation of Juneau, and the rest of the Panhandle area, along with the feeling of many central Alaskans that bringing the legislators closer to the centre of population in Alaska would make them more accesible and more aware of problems of a majority of the citizens.
To Snowguy, the reason why this is different is that you can drive and easily get to places like Reno, Tacoma, Madison, Albany, Springfield or any of the other cities that you stated. To get to Juneau you have to either fly, to an airport with one of the worst records for delays because of the constant fog and rain in the Panhandle, or take a ferry, which could take as long as three days from Anchorage. To drive at least some of the way you'd need to drive across the Canadian border into the Yukon and then south to Skagway. Then you'd have to take an overnight ferry to Juneau, and this is after about a 15 hour drive from Anchorage to Skagway. So they do have a point.
umm... Tacoma isnt quite the capital of Washington (unless I missed something and now need to move)
