Talk:Kenai, Alaska

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Name

The name Kenai is probably derived from Kenayskaya, the Russian name for the Cook Inlet and translates to "flat, barren land". - It does not translate from Russian at all, unless it is some obscure obsolete word... Are there any sources ? --Tigga en 06:21, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Good question. I'm doing a bunch of work right now related to the Dena'ina, & have come across some references to the name "Kenaitze," will see if I can find them again & add cites. --Yksin 01:18, 13 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Or, it could refer to the Inuit word kenai (black bear). Unlikely, as there are no indigenous Inuit within 500 miles of Kenai. The only Alaskan Natives that self identify as Inuit are the Inupiat on the Arctic coast:

Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks [1]:

"Most Alaskans continue to accept the name "Eskimo," particularly because "Inuit" refers only to the Inupiat of northern Alaska, the Inuit of Canada, and the Kalaallit of Greenland, and is not a word in the Yupik languages of Alaska and Siberia."

The Dena'ina of the Kenai Peninsula are Athabascan, not Inuit.--Edgewise 17:41, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Questions/answers

Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? Yes, nothing about it was advertising people to go there or is it opinionated. It is just giving general statistics and history for people who would like to know some facts about the city.
Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added? Yes, there could be more citations added for the general History section of the article. Srzidalis (talk) 06:55, 26 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

You say in your edit summary that this thread pertains to a class, but you don't specify which class or where. I went through the article and cleaned it up a little to better conform to WP:USCITIES. Here are some things I see in regards to your questions and to improve it better:

If I'm not mistaken, the 99635 ZIP Code listed in the infobox is actually for Nikiski. As that area was historically known as North Kenai, that could have been an honest mistake made by someone not familiar with the area.
Like with many articles of this sort, the lead is not a proper lead section, plus it gives too much weight to particular census data rather than providing an accessible overview.
The history section could use more information on the 20th and 21st centuries, particularly the role the Russian Orthodox Church played in keeping the community alive through the early and middle 20th century, the role the Civil Aeronautics Administration played in the 1940s and early 1950s following the construction of the airport (plus perhaps why such a large airport would be built in what was at the time a very sparsely populated area), plus the rapid expansion of the community and surrounding area in the 1950s and 1960s following the Swanson River and Cook Inlet oil discoveries. The relation of the area's abundance of oil and natural gas supplies to Anchorage's growth and prosperity could also be mentioned. There is also the mention of homesteading, which affected the Central Peninsula area more than just Kenai itself. If I'm not mistaken, that was due to the withdrawal of lands from the Moose Range (now the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge), similar to the way the Anchorage area was originally part of the Chugach National Forest before lands were withdrawn for settlement. As I read it, the history section appears to be a semi-random series of statements designed more to provide a venue for wikilinks to related articles and links to citations/sources than a coherent history of the community.
Many of the entries in the "See also" section should be integrated into the article. Furthermore, no mention is made at all of Kenai Central High School, despite it being a rather important part of the community. One of the most dangerous POVs I've encountered on here is that we don't need to acknowledge something if no one has bothered to write an article first, no matter how obviously notable it is. The Peninsula Clarion is mentioned, but we're not acknowledging Pat O'Connell. O'Connell co-founded the Clarion as a proper newspaper as opposed to its previous incarnation as more of a newsletter, was a local legend as KCHS's longtime hockey coach and is inherently notable by virtue of multiple terms in the Alaska House of Representatives.
Having mentioned O'Connell, and since WP:USCITIES mentions the inclusion of a "Notable people" section, some names to research whose lives may provide more information on Kenai's history would include Paul Shadura, George Navarre and Hugh Malone.

Hope all this helps. RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions 21:15, 26 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

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Distance from Anchorage can't be right

The distance of more than 187 from Anchorage can't be right. I suppose I can't use Google Maps as a source, but I can certainly see from it that something is way off. If I just measure the straight line distance, I get about 50 miles or so. If I ask Google for driving directions, it is a lot longer because you have to go around a lot of water. But still, it came to only about 150 miles. Uporządnicki (talk) 22:28, 30 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]