A pair of men resembling Secret Service agents were spotted Monday surveying rooftops, cameras, and vantage points in downtown Anchorage, likely scoping out sniper stations and security hazards ahead of this Friday’s historic meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The summit, expected to take place Friday, aims to chart a potential path toward peace in Ukraine. Security preparations are intensifying, with federal teams expected to occupy strategic positions on buildings and parking garages in the days ahead.
But as the security operation ramps up, Mayor Suzanne LaFrance’s administration appears to have made no visible headway in clearing downtown streets of homeless encampments, which present their own hazards.
On Tuesday morning, as on countless mornings before, vagrants could be seen sleeping on sidewalks throughout the city’s core, along the same routes where international journalists, dignitaries, and diplomats will walk this week. Not to mention the Alaska protesters who don’t want peace, as well as protest organizers who will be flown in from out of state.
In advance of a presidential visit, it’s normal for the Secret Service to have meetings with state and municipal officials. Thus, it’s likely that LaFrance has been contacted by the president’s security detail and that requests have been made to secure the downtown area. The Secret Service will also have been working with the Anchorage Police, Alaska State Troopers, and the Governor’s Office.
One particularly stark scene was seen early Tuesday morning by the the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center, where a man sat on an orange mat beside a charred patch of pavement, evidence of a fire set directly on the sidewalk. Behind him, shopping carts piled with personal belongings stood parked near flower planters. The street people of Anchorage are using the planters for mattresses and toilets.
Must Read Alaska’s Tuesday morning photo tour shows that Anchorage has not figured out where to put all the bodies:
Hotels are filling up fast — one night at the Hilton Garden Inn in midtown will set you back $783 on Friday — but there’ just one room left. Friday night at the Home2 Suites by Hilton in midtown is going for $987.
The high-level summit, which is presumed to be in Anchorage and not at some other location in Alaska, is expected to draw global attention, but for now, the most visible reality on the streets is not the arrival of world leaders, it’s the entrenched human crisis that greets visitors at every corner every hour of the day.