Anchorage Assembly Vice Chair Chris Constant continued the narrative that the Centennial Campground, a sanctioned campground for homeless individuals, is a “humanitarian crisis.” One of his political allies has dubbed it “Bronson’s concentration camp.”
After shooting a police officer at the Centennial Campground on Wednesday, Iese Gali Jr. was charged with attempted murder in the first degree of a police officer, assault in the first degree of a police officer, assault in the third degree of a police officer, and misconduct involving weapons in the third degree. A judge has set his bail for $1 million cash.
Constant, in an Assembly work session today, strongly inferred that the mayor is unfit to run the city. Constant was the author of a recent ordinance that allows the Assembly to remove the mayor at its own discretion, based on whatever criteria it wants.
Constant and his left-leaning colleagues have fought with Mayor Dave Bronson for over a year, preventing him from rolling out his navigation center and plans to resettle people who had been warehoused in the Sullivan Arena by the previous mayors, Ethan Berkowitz and Austin Quinn-Davidson.
Constant issued the following official statement in his role as the acting chair of the Assembly:
“Following a shooting at Centennial Park campground last night, July 20, 2022, in which a police officer and one other person sustained serious injuries following an exchange of gunfire, Acting Assembly Chair Christopher Constant offered the following statement to the community:
“My heart goes out to everyone affected by this horrible incident – the officer who was injured, and who thankfully is recovering now, and their family, the people camping at the park who have already faced so much trauma and hardship, the volunteers and community organizations who are working around the clock to address this humanitarian crisis, and everyone in our community who is watching this disaster unfold.”
Constant failed to mention that the previous mayor created a hellacious scenario near the Sullivan Arena that made the entire neighborhood unsafe, including children using nearby ballfields. He neglected to mention there were multiple attacks and sexual assaults in and around the Sullivan Arena during the two-plus years that homeless were warehoused there.
Constant also reiterated that he will support a plan being brought by three members of the Assembly: Felix Rivera, Kameron Perez-Verdia, and Danial Volland, which has a fiscal note of over $20 million to provide instant housing for everyone who is homeless in Anchorage who wants a home.
“This situation in untenable and something must be done to provide safe, permanent, and sustainable housing for the most vulnerable in our community. I look forward to supporting the housing plan brought forward by Members Rivera, Perez-Verdia and Volland. If funding for their plan is approved, we will have 300 units of housing available by winter,” Constant said.
“However, their housing plan is not an immediate solution and I implore the mayor and his team to muster all available municipal resources to fix the problem immediately by securing safe shelter for those who have been moved by the Municipality to Centennial Park. For the first time in more than a decade we have unsheltered families with children.”
Constant continued his statement by thanking all who are helping the homeless:
“In the meantime, I thank all of those in the community who are responding to help our fellow neighbors in need. Volunteers are living and visiting the camp to help. Social service agencies and their donors like Beans Café, RurAL CAP, Catholic Social Services, and the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness are providing food and basic services,” Constant said.
However, the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness earlier this week withdrew from involvement with the campground, but has since reconsidered, while not exactly committing to helping the campers.
Constant continued: “George Martinez and the Northeast Community Council are keeping the focus on this issue. Anchorage Parks & Recreation Department staff are doing the lion’s work of providing order, Anchorage Fire and Police department officers are working hard to keep the campground safe, and the Anchorage Health Department is doing the best they can by stopping other projects to focus on this issue. Countless community members and organizations have held clothing drives, donated food and supplies, and volunteered valuable time. For all you have done to provide support to our most vulnerable neighbors, the leaders of this city owe you and our Centennial Park neighbors action on this issue,” Constant said.
Martinez was a failed candidate for mayor last year and was an insider in the Mayor Ethan Berkowitz administration, which ended in 2020 after Berkowitz resigned during a scandal. He works at the Alaska Humanities Forum, where his boss is the CEO of the organization: Kameron Perez-Verdia, who is also a member of the leftist majority on the Assembly.
Martinez, who has remained a community activist, went on social media to call the campground the “Bronson concentration camp.” Such references of non-Holocaust conditions are considered by the Left to be anti-semitic. It appears he was trying to convince social service agencies to abandon their mission of helping the poor:
Not referring to Martinez’ statement, Constant concluded his statement by saying, “This humanitarian crisis is showing the best and worst of Anchorage and I have faith that by coming together and working collaboratively, we can address this crisis and do better for our community.”
In his own communications online, Constant has begun referring to it as Bronson’s Camp, has called Bronson “America’s cruelest mayor,” and has attacked Suzanne Downing of Must Read Alaska.
Meanwhile, Assemblyman Forrest Dunbar showed the collaboration that he and the leftist majority has with the mainstream media, also attacking conservative writer Suzanne Downing, who writes this blog:
Constant, who just failed in his run for Congress, is serving as acting chair of the Assembly due to Chairwoman Suzanne LaFrance being out of town.
