The Anchorage Community Development Authority doesn’t like Gov. Dunleavy’s budget and appears to be blaming him for the failed economy of Anchorage under the ACDA’s watch over the past four years, although Dunleavy has been in office just three months.
Andrew Halcro, who heads the authority, wrote, and posted on Twitter:
At ACDA, our vision is for a prosperous Municipality of Anchorage facilitated by innovative community development and public parking. We work to make that happen by delivering quality development and public parking services within the Municipality of Anchorage.
ACDA has worked diligently the last four years to foster redevelopment in downtown Anchorage. Governor Dunleavy’s proposed budget shifts millions of dollars in higher property taxes to local developers in a market that is already challenged by some of the highest construction costs in the country.
The Governor’s proposed budget would severely impede our ability to execute our mission by making new construction and redevelopment less attractive, by shifting costs to property owners.
He prefaced his letter with: “Governor, please take your foot off our throat.”
Halcro is a former member of the House of Representatives and was a candidate for governor in 2006, getting 9.5 percent of the vote in the General Election. He ran for mayor of Anchorage in 2015, but lost and received a political appointment from Mayor Ethan Berkowitz.
ACDA is a municipal corporation that works toward “responsible development and redevelopment in Anchorage by forming partnerships and working with the community. ACDA also operates EasyPark which provides value to downtown in the form of affordable, convenient, and secure parking options.” One of Halcro’s signature achievements is a rooftop basketball court above the 5th Avenue EasyPark Garage.
It appears that Halcro wants either an income tax or to raid the Permanent Fund. Or something else. He doesn’t offer a solution, just states an objection. Halcro advocated for an income tax when he was in the Legislature, so at least he is consistent.
The Municipality of Anchorage would be better to look at cutting services outside of Public Safety including the plowing of the roads during winter. The land the Municipality including buildings with the exception of the property required to provide the above services needs to be sold to private ownership to increase the private sector. No government has ever made money in a private business.
Gotta love the irony from MOA folks who have their foot on the throats of those trying to be productive. Right up there with “you didn’t build that”
Was locating the ACDA offices directly across the street from Avis one of his achievements or merely coincidence?
Maybe there would not be a foot on your throat, if you would take your hand out of our wallet.
Wait a second. How does getting less in State income allow the MOA to raise property taxes above the cap? Doesn’t the present budget already tax as close to the cap as possible?
It’s not his foot, it’s your own rope. Give enough rope to a government- loving Leftist and they’ll hang themselves every time.
ACDA, the old parking authority, has been talking for the last four years about renovating the 6th Avenue Parking Garage. The 5th Avenue Parking Facility is in a word, dirty. Machines don’t work on a regular basis. And part on the street, put your credit card in the slot and guess what, it doesn’t work. Anchorage taxpayers still haven’t been paid back from when we bailed out the parking garages during the Mystrom Administration. This agency was created in secrecy during the Begich Admistration. Overall gets a solid F from me.
Anyone that supports an Alaskan income tax, should go back to school, “Home Economics would be the best”
After reading it, a basketball court on top of a parking garage…
Should put in 2 private helicopter landing pads…. rent it out and make some coin.
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