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.
Well, fine.
Close it.
Round up the vagrants and stick them onto a plane and drop them off in Seattle where they are going to receive better help and all that…
So pass the problem that anchorage is incapable of solving to another state? True Alaskan thinking right there… pass the buck or ask for a buck. Don’t do shit to look after your own state.
That’s kind of funny, given that a lot of Native villages do that very thing, which is where some of the homeless in Anchorage come from.
Since statehood 1959 Anchorage has been selected by unspoken state developement funds for over fifty budgetary years. So we develop Alaska by providing for Anchorage in lieu of the other communities knowing the globalists want Alaska’s poplulation controlled in Alaska in Anchorage making rural resources without native oversight and extractable.
Yes where is his comment on that. Anchorage needs to send them back to the village Sense they created the problem by throwing them out in the first place.
Tell me, Loren.
What is the solution to homelessness?
Within Anchorage or any other community?
Thrall me with your acumen.
Let us not pass the problem unto any entity therein.
Let us not solve the problem but address it within pragmatic terms, shall we?
Take away ALL funding supporting the homeless, be it from public or private entities, and let the results fall as they may.
Allow the homeless their own freedom and disposition to exist as they wish, without ANY public or private funding or support.
And as such, they are responsible unto their own existence, without support of any kind other than their own existence, and of no help from outside sources.
No food, no clothing, and no shelter.
For that is their choice, is it not?
Better yet, house them within the Assembly Chambers, the Marxist Nine homes and yards, and every property the Marxist Nine either own or are invested within.
I have made it abundantly clear to my representative on the Assembly that every homeless person I see within one mile of my house is getting a bottle of booze, a sandwich or two, and a ride to their street. If the homeless are to be spread all over the city, the Assembly members can have them in their neighborhood first.
Doesn’t that sound kind of dumb to you? I mean really. How many are homeless? Let’s guess reasonably at between 200 to 700 people. Each of those persons are homeless for his or her own reason(s). Each of those people have at least one particular problem. Some lady may have gotten sick of her mother all the time and took to heroin. Some man may have been a contractor and his business was called nonessential by Chris Constant and his business collapsed. Another man may be homeless because he physically cannot work anymore. He wants to but he can’t. Another might be a lady reliant on her husband who stoled something and shevis dependent on him and he will be in jail for five months and she will sleep under a bridge. Another woman may be homeless because she worked as a waitress and is not going to be called back. She is not chronic homeless yet. Another couple are homeless because the guy is a vet worked and gave his best to his country but he is disabled and lost his house. Another is homeless because she aged out of foster care and fell through every crack in the books and is living in her car between gigs Another person is organically mentally ill and speaks to beings no one can see while she wanders through traffic and does not wish to participate in shelters. Another guy is dissapointed to find he is a horrible alcoholic after all and needs to dry out and if possible become educated to help others. These people do not want to leave their home town Anchorage. None of these types things are anyone named Dave Bronson’s fault. Do you see how dumb you appear Chris Constant? We don’t believe you. etc.
I really appreciate that you are considering how the homeless get homeless. As adults things can go south fast and folks, and families can find themselves on the street..
So much more of homelessness starts in childhood, child mal-treatment. During childhood the brain is still developing. Trauma interfers in how the brain then works for the rest of their lives. It starts WAY before they are homeless.
Remember-Alaska pretty much refuses to truely support mental health services-mostly because it would cost
Wait what, Maureen? Are you nuts or a liar? Alaska has a huge mental health budget and Mental Health Trust Authority to oversee it. I’ve linked details for the mental health budget to help you with your memory. Nobody funds mental health like Alaska does. Nobody.
‘https://omb.alaska.gov/ombfiles/22_budget/PDFs/FY2022_Trust_to_Governor_Budget_Summary_1-19-21.pdf
I’m not a liar or nuts. I worked my entire professional life as a clinician and administer of mental health and homeless housing in Alaska-Anchorage, in the village, and in the Valley.
We do have a mental health budget. This funds community mental health services and clinics. Funding has been going down for sometime. I was working in mental health when Murkowski as governor wacked a bunch of needed beds at API. I was there the day he opened it as a metalhealth professional.
And we also have The Mental Health Trust-which oversees the mental health lands, and is a second funder of sorts for special projects. The Mental HealthTrust moneys are also for developmentally disabled folks as they are mental health folks too.
I’m all for using the Trust funds to improve the financing of additional mental health support. Maybe we could work together on that. We could also be sure our reps fully fund, and the governor does not veto basic mental health funding.
But back to your statement, “Remember-Alaska pretty much refuses to truely support mental health services-mostly because it would cost”. Thanks for correcting your claim.
I did not say we have enough.
We have some funding Bullwinkle. Not enough. Hope that chears it up for you.
Maureen, you claim the exact same thing that the ASD board does, year after year.
When asked exactly how much is required to solve the issues you deem pertinent, you simply reply ‘more’.
How much more specifically is asked.
No specific amount is the answer, just ‘more’.
In truth, there is NO amount that can achieve what you deem as acceptable, but yet that is exactly what those such as yourself continue to demand.
More.
More.
And more.
Sigh….
Bronsonville at Centennial Park is stellar evidence of Bronson’s plain and obvious incompetence.
How so, idiot?
Maybe you want to personally write a big check to help pay for the homeless staying at Sullivan arena for all those months?
Your ignorance is showing.
Do tell us, Lucy, what you intend to do instead of what Mayor Bronson is doing. Please tell us how your beloved leftist assembly is attacking this problem with every resource available, and making sure that the shiftless, lazy and addicted parasite class gets first class treatment at the expense of productive members of the community. Show us how you can solve this problem since you believe that Mayor Bronson is so incompetent. Put up, or shut up. I’m thinking you might be happier at a different blog.
I did not say we have enough.
We have some funding Bullwinkle. Not enough. Hope that chears it up for you.
So are you and Lucinda the same entity Maureen?
Hey Lucinda, cite how the Mayor is incompetent? What has he done specifically? Leftists like you do one thing. Complain.
What an immature idiot.
ARU: Bronson dumped the homeless on Centennial Park with no plan.
I disagree.
Bronson used exactly the same plan that the former Mayoral administration used.
Because your politburo friends on the assembly are only interested in scoring points. the navigation center would have been operating by now but for the political ambitions of Dunbar, Constant, LaFrance, and AQD. There has never been a more hard-partisan assembly in Anchorage. And it’s testing our patience.
Really, Lucinda.
As opposed to what?
groomer
The losers of the mayor race, Falsey and Dunbar, are colluding with Constant, another loser, to marginalize the voting public.
I would call that a breach of public trust.
No.
I understand you would like to just have a mayor and not a co-equal branch of government in the assembly, too. That suggests authoritarianism. Personally I am not interested in that. I am interested in the democracy we are in.
I would listen to the mayor more closely if he wouldn’t consider and refer to me as the enemy. We’re all in this together. No doubt it’s a tough subject for all involved.
The Assembly should bring nothing to the table but the expressed will of the constituents. We do not have one equal pile comprised of one mayor and a corresponding equal pile of nine assemblyman/mayors. We have the just consent of assembly members informed by the will the people.
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Right now Anchorage has shut the doors on the people’s will. The will of Anchorage has been trifled with. The assembly has shut the doors ? and their ears ? ? ? ? to the people they are supposed ? ? to re-present to the Mayor and the meeting. Never the twain shall meet. The guaranteed re-presentative republic form of government has been mismanaged by the willful Anchorage Assembly into something else. It’s been transfigured and broken ? ? down by these godless fellers.
The doors are not shut. You are possibly wound up about this.
What about the will of the people who voted these Assembly members in and support them? Their will counts too.
Do you live in Anchorage?
Whilst the doors may not be shut all of the time, Maureen, their minds certainly are.
Oh, and the doors have been shut many times, both literally and figuratively, and have been many times over the last couple of years.
Do you live in Anchorage?
Or are you simply that willfully ignorant?
I sincerely doubt you would “listen to the mayor” regarding anything.
There are no perfect solutions to any problem. The anguished cry of “what about the children?” is a time honored way for leftists to attack plans to fix problems leftists created. It falls on deaf ears because it’s proven insincere.
I bet if you ACTUALLY wanted to dialogue with the mayors office on a real, non political solution they’d be happy to hear it.
But that’s not the real issue, is it?
The will of the people brought us both the mayor and the assembly.
Personally, I believe Bronson would do better as mayor of Wasilla or Kenai. I wished he moved there instead of across the street from me 2 years ago.
Ah, and there it is Maureen.
What a sad individual you are.
So he improved the community and you couldn’t keep up. To bad.
WE are NOT a democracy. Where did you go to school? The United States is a democratic republic. We get to vote for our representatives and our heads of administration. The US Constitution is the guiding law of the land and people such as yourselves tend to not consider that point when talking about government. The Assembly is NOT a coequal branch of the municipal government. Their job is to make funding decisions for government, a job they have been sorely inept at these past 4 years, The administration’s job is to run the city and administer the funds to those places the assembly has appropriated the money. The assembly does NOT have purview over the administration of the city, they are strictly legislative, or are supposed to be. Lately, they are purely self promoting obstructionists.
We are not a democratic republic. With are a constitutional republic. The word democratic is not mentioned one time in the Constitution.
Wrong, the US is a democratic republic.
any links to where Bronson referred to anyone as the enemy? we had polite authoritarianism from 2020 -2021 stripping freedom of movement, speech, association, property rights, bodily autonomy they’ve been deciding from small thing like how a citizen is allowed to carry their groceries home to how many people a citizen was allowed to have at their home and everything in-between. now that theyve lost their iron grip through ruling the executive and legislative the assembly marginalizes anyone who doesn’t adhere to their thinly veiled religion. proof is they shot down the navigation center and are currently clearly conspiring to get rid of Bronson. I don’t even care for Bronson but these are facts. fact us all actors involved have far to much power over the people and need to be relegated to only the very basic needs of society if anything at all.
I’ve seen the link of the mayor calling opponents enemies a number of times and will try to find it for you and include here. It really keeps me away from listening to the mayor.
We had a health emergency that killed thousands in Alaska.
Killed “Thousands”?? Last I check there were 1272 Covid attributed deaths in Alaska SINCE March of 2020. We had more fatalities from heart disease (841 in 2020 alone) in the same time frame. Also I do not know what that has to do with not listening to the mayor.
I have not heard about the stripping of freedoms from the polite authoritarians from 2020 – 2021. Can you describe that more?
Sticks and stones Maureen.
Are you serious? “He called me a name and so I am taking my ball and going home? Whom does that serve? Has he called out the assembly for dragging their feet and obstructing him at every turn, sure. That’s not calling them the enemy, that’s just telling it from his perspective
Interestingly you bring up different branches of our city government. In the recent past, the mayor’s office under Berkowitz had a very cozy relationship with the assembly. This only got worse under AQD, who seemed to make no move without the assembly’s blessing, allowing certain assembly members to stick their noses into the day to day running of the city, which is not their prerogative. There was defacto NO separation or checks and balances. There is your authoritarianism!
When Mayor Bronson was elected and cut of their access, insisting the assembly go through the city manager, instead of contacting department heads directly and meddling.
Since you claim “we are all in this together” why not be the bigger person and set your animus aside. Work with the mayor to achieve the goal of getting the largest number of homeless individuals to make the transition to becoming a productive member of society. Isn’t that the end goal?
Nice spin AFH
Maureen, please cite the incident or time whereas the mayor referred to you as the enemy.
“I understand you would like to just have a mayor and not a co-equal branch of government in the assembly, too.”
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I cannot speak for RR, but if you think the current Muni government is co-equal, you are not paying attention.
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The Assembly has taken every opportunity they can to reduce the authority of the Executive branch, while moving that power to themselves. They enact ordinances specifically to draw a veto they know they can override. They moved the authority to appoint the Youth Advisory Council member to the Assembly from the Executive branch to the Assembly. And, their latest ordinance gives them the power to remove the Mayor, without providing the Executive branch and equivalent power over any Assembly member.
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The Assembly has taken charge of the City, and is actively working to consolidate all power and authority under their mantle.
Then your side sure doesn’t act like it. The assembly is doing everything they can to make him fail. That doesn’t sound like we are in this together. And if we are then you should take in some homeless sense your an expert public employee.
It’s so easy to blame someone else rather than being a leader to come up with solutions! These Assemblymen are not leaders. They are blamers!
That is the absolute truth AND the problem!! I can’t believe the closing of the Sullivan Arena came as a surprise to anyone,especially those non-profits so committed to the homeless problem; some very well compensated for their commitment. I would have thought the past 6 months all organizations would have been set up there to help the homeless navigate through this transition. I understand the resources are not unlimited,nor should they be.
The assembly needs to remember what they so vehemently demand of the public in chambers: RESPECT goes both ways. So does a little patience and understanding.
Do you live in Anchorage Lucille?
What difference does that make? Why does Lucille have to live in Anchorage for her comment to be accurate?
The question was asked: “What have we got?” The answer: “A republic if we can keep it”. Anchorage has chosen not to keep it ?. Get in YOUR lane and stay there. THAT is what you receive your stipend for. It is not for creativity, wheel re-inventions, playing democracy. We do not have “a democracy” which is 50 percent plus one mob rule mentality.. We have democratic function. The population votes for its re-presentors to assert the people’s just will according to the US Constitution template not communism nor precommunism nor post communism. We the people get a guarantee by statehood certification to uphold not downgrade the republic and her attendant lady justice.
Rule of Law means not assembly scribblings elevated to now extinct Constitutional foundation level. Rule of Law means compliance in spirit and in kind and content and in fact with the prevalant, guaranteed US Constitution ??. Always. And that is all.
America lost its Republic status decades ago. Currently we are only a step or two above banana republic.
President Trump said he is returning the republic and Constitution to the people. The globalists and their tools don’t care for the friction this fact presents. The taking of republic rights by representatives of G7 countries will never be allowed to happen ever again. To clean the due processes much more may be seen.
Sure Trump says that, his action are quite different by trying a banana republic move.
I just returned tonight from centennial park, and everything is quiet and has an order with apd making rounds as bronson and
downing reports.
Church: these people are ripe for learning how to follow jesus. Where you at? Where is the
big tent revival!? They are waiting to be dicisipled. A woman
can only do so much, she needs her church brothers to influence where she can’t.
Churches have hurt a lot of these folks.
So many already have Jesus already, too.
What a sad, tired trope. But when one is unable to counter with a substantive argument, one does what one must.
Yes, historically, the Church has hurt people. Without question. But EVERYTHING hurts somebody.
The modern Church is currently hurting Christians and new converts with its wokeness.
Problem with this trope is, in the balance of history, the Christian church has helped far more than it hurt.
Can’t say the same for socialism, liberals, and leftists. Mao, Stain, Castro, Pol Pot have done the equivalent of emptying the population of Europe. Margaret Sanger was a racist who wanted to remove blacks from America.
The list goes on and on and on.
I can’t think of the last time atheists or socialists ran a long term successful food kitchen or opened a hospital in a poor nation. Does it happen? Sure. On the same pace as the Church?
Not even close.
Have you read about the Southern Baptist Convention recently?
“many (of the homeless) already have Jesus…”
But many, many, more, who are not homeless, have Jesus also Maureen
Having Jesus helped them to not drink, drug or steal and not wind up homeless
Jesus equals success for many people, but perhaps not the ones that you spent your career helping.
Visit the Native Assembly of God (Fairview) …. the Native Lutheran Church (on Cordova) or the Native Baptist church (3rd Ave) and sit among them.
Many young, successful, un-religious “woke” Natives, like my children, were raised by
Christian, Native elders and are of course the better for it.
Thanks for reminding me who was governor when the “less beds” fiasco at the new API was built.
But was Frank actually in charge of how many beds were included?
Or was it designers & managers of our mental health industry that made that decision?
Just wondering
I don’t have all the answers but I do know that the Sullivan Arena belongs to all of Anchorage, not just a tiny minority who has demonstrated a complete lack of respect for the rest of us.
Look at what happens when the assembly doesn’t want to work with our elected mayor? All this assembly cares for is themselves.
He calls folks like me the enemy. If I call you the enemy do you feel like working with me?
Reminds me of defund the police. Toughen that skin and learn how to think in multiple perspectives so that compromise and real change can happen.
Defund the police was a dumb slogan.
Train the police would have been so much better.
I am NOT the enemy. Neither are you.
I am struggling to understand the point of view of a mayor calling me an enemy.
Are you behaving as an enemy?
It’s my observation the mayor is thoughtful with his words.
There is a massive difference between loyal opposition and intentional obstruction based on personal peeves. Like Constant, for example.
Maureen Suttman is ten thousand lightyears away from being an enemy. She’s kind and thoughtful and measured. Bronson isn’t skilled at personal communication and is easily irritated to the point of aggression. Suttman is a calm citizen with questions and good intent.
Excerpt from a C.S. Lewis quote:
……but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”
Did he come to your front door at home and call you such, Maureen?
Of course not.
Grow up and quit taking everything personally that does not personally involve you.
Gee, I wonder why he calls people like you the enemy. What exactly do you do that might make someone think you are working against them, instead of working for the common good?
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Hmmm…. I do not know, but from the comments you have posted on this article, I see a few things.
1. Asking where people live. As if living in Anchorage is the only way their opinion on the issue is relevant. That is a technique to close the argument, instead of talking the issue, it gives you a way to dismiss the person you disagree with.
2. Constantly playing the victim card. Ohh…. poor Maureen. You were called the enemy. Bummer, dude. Man up, and get over it.
3. “Churches have hurt a lot of these folks” And… Churches have helped a lot of these folks. IF you only want to focus on the negatives, that makes it impossible for you to use the various tools at your disposal for good.
4. “I wished he moved there instead of across the street from me 2 years ago.” And, here is the victim card again.
5. Oh… one more and I will drop it. “You don’t hear Bronson complaining ALL THE TIME about the assembly?” Right… because Bronson is, in your opinion, wrong and complains for no reason. That I what I got out of your statement.
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Gee, no wonder someone thinks you are their enemy. You act like it.
At least they are all together. They are getting meals delivered. Why don’t the Assembly come up with a solution work with the Mayor?
Stop sales of alcohol to the indigent. No exceptions. That will make Anchorage a dry town to these people.
Constant is a typical lying Leftist. He can’t make things happen with good governance so he has to lie about and blame others. Pathetic loser.
Why does he keep winning election and recalls to the Assembly if he is a loser? Folks want him there as much as other folks want Bronson as mayor.
For goodness sakes, just say you don’t like what you hear from him? I would respect your opinion more if you just owned your feelings and not be seen giving your energy to another person with the name calling? Are you motivating him to work with the mayor? I personally would not find name-calling motivating towards working together.
Churches are authoritarian, democracies are not. We do have co-equal branches of government in a mayor AND an assemble, and the courts. I get that it’s different from church. That’s really hard for some folks. However, our country was enacted to have 3 co-equal branches, not a pope.
Show me on a doll where the mean Church hurt you.
Calling Constant names is ineffectual. Just because he acts like a horses a– toward everyone he dislikes (say, Jamie Allard) doesn’t mean people should stoop to his level. However it would make your defense of his honor more tolerable if you criticized him for his long documented public abuse of others.
A note: if a person doesn’t want to be called names, don’t call others names. But “do unto others” is a staple of Church teachings. You appear to have an animus to those.
You say we don’t have a Pope. True. Were you this motivated when Ethan was acting like one?
Started off so good-then you said he was a horse’s —- made me stop reading your comment. Was ready to hear how he was ineffective and work to resolve that with you. But you want to throw punches. Guys, geez.
Attendance at church is voluntary …. not “authoritarian”
ANC has a stronger Mayorial position then many other towns; our Charter gives the Mayor more power then usual (Left likes this when they have the Mayor’s seat)
“… with the name calling?”
Oh, you mean like calling Centennial “Camp Bronson” or a “concentration camp”
Name calling like that? (it’s no concentration camp Maureen, I’m sure you realize that)
Ask yourself this Maureen, why is it a “humanitarian crises” now, under this Mayor
Why wasn’t it a “humanitarian crisis” when hundreds of homeless wandered around & camped along 3rd Ave?
When Ron Aleeva was dumping toxins on his property to keep them away?
Because a Democrat was in charge?
Constant, Martinez & Perez would never chose these words against one of their own.
There was plenty of drug deaths, r* pe, dom. violence, theft & assault along 3rd Ave then too.
A camper brought a gun & killed himself in his tent.
All Chris Constant said back then was stop sticking all these homeless services in my district, it’s unfair. Now campers are in Muldoon & just listen to his propagandic words (Martinez also)
Apathy and self-chosen ignorance would be the answer unto the first query, Maureen.
As unto my own opinion regarding the aforementioned Constant, I detest an ignorant bully, which is all he is, and all he ever shall be.
This assembly is authoritarian, disregarding representative democracy within that there is an equal branch of government that disassociates itself from the assembly, that is the executive branch, being the mayor.
That you identify Churches as somehow relevant to ‘democracies’ reveals more about your ‘intellectual’ pathology and thought process than you may wish.
He wins because the few who vote on his area have no sense of the way he acts. They vote for a name not an issue. If the lazy voter would get off the couch and vote on the issues he would lose.
How can you expect a person who doesnt know whether he is a man or a woman, doesnt know what is in the constitution , belongs to a white hate group ( ak humanities forum ) and DENIES that WEdnesday nights ordeal put several drug dealers in jail…. oh wait , they like drugs and want a borderless society, how can you expect ANY of the Berk squad to act healthy, normal or have fiscal responsibility…. LYING is their mother tongue.
Constant is nothing more than a “backdoor” skalliwag with an abundance of gay rage and hate.
No need for name calling, here, Kemosabee. Gay men, lesbians, and transexuals do have lots of emotional problems that transcend their political differences with the rest of society. They live in a state of confusion that manifests itself as “rage,” as perceived by the rest of us. It would be more productive for everyone by not calling each other names, but using logic and reasoning to continue the debate, without compromising respective political positions.
Ironic for Big Brother Constant to quote Orwell. He’s the local king of rejecting evidence in favor of the Party narrative.
I love that quote! It’s perfect!
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
-George Orwell, 1984
Just needs one more quote:
“Accuse your opponent of what you are doing, to create confusion and to inculcate voters against evidence of your own guilt”
-Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals
Constant has been on the Assembly since 2017. He’s done nothing to improve the homeless situation except use it to his political and financial advantage.
His buddy Berkowitz was Mayor for 5 years, doing nothing productive whatsoever during the period in which muni homelessness visibly skyrocketed.
And now he blames the new guy.
I believe that’s called projection.
I have visited anchorage and noticed your homeless problem. Many of them seem to be indeginous people. Why aren’t the native corporations stepping in and helping their people?
In Boise Idaho, and Bozeman, Montana, there are no homeless.
It is against the law.
No vagrants are allowed.
Both cities are beautiful, secure and clean.
Imagine that.
These people simply do not know the devastating horrors of an actual concentration camp, and to make light of such a gross atrocity is disgusting behavior.
I am no expert, but I am pretty sure the people who were gassed and starved to death didn’t have WIFI.
That’s right. They did have electricity though. Electricity for that wifi is not a given at the campground.
Seriously?
Wow, your historical ignorance is truly asinine. You really think that the suffering of forceably incarcerated, starving, abused and murdered individuals of Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Dachau and many other places around the world, are comparable in any way to residents in a campground in Anchorage?
All this mess is directly because the Politburo treated the homeless like a growth industry.
If clowns like Constant really gave a damn they wouldn’t have made it so easy to be homeless in Anchorage.
If really have a damn -they don’t- the efforts would have been to get them off the streets. Clean them up, get them jobs, and send the ones who refuse back where they came from.
How does Anchorage, “Clean them up, get them jobs, and send the ones who refuse back where they came from.”?
It is pretty simple.
1. Clean them up.
2. Get them jobs.
3. If they refuse, send them back where they came from.
.
Not sure why you do not understand that?
Leave it to the left to rank the importance of children.
All children are important. Including the ones who live in homes with taxpaying parents and not on the streets.
Chris Constantly Complaining is just reiterating his mantra, kill anchorage, this is just sop (standard operating procedure) for him and his ilk. They hate us.
He plays the blame others game when this problem was made by him and his evil coworkers on the ASSembly.
he and his evil ilk dont want a solution, they want chaos and destruction, evidence the Sullivan arena.
Evidence, their atrocious orders they impose on WE THE PEOPLE of anchorage to pay and pay and pay for their ponzi schemes.
Where are the ethics violations against them for profiteering off the homeless?
You keep voting them in expecting them to behave like adults and they dont, every single time.
Repeat, they hate us and are doing their best to impose commie laws on us
To me it seams like all the pro socialistic ordinances produced by the Assembly along with the Mayor at the time (Berkowitz) have enabled people to remain homeless. There are plenty of programs out there with a path to assist people with getting off the streets. Instead some that are homeless make more than I do with these recent programs.
The current Mayor (Bronson) is at least trying to give them a place to call their own that is not a burden on tax payers. Yet the Assembly is choosing to turn this into a political game instead of helping the people.
Oh for gods sake! Will someone remove these jokers from office who call them selves public servants!? Constant and his group of degenerates are out of touch with reality, public servant my ass.
You’ve had several chances. Conservatives whine, but don’t vote.
This is a mess of Anchorage’s own making.
So those of us that voted need to shut up and stop complaining? For someone who doesn’t live in the muni you sure have a lot to say about it. For those of us that did vote, we’ll complain rather you like it or not.
Rule of Law means not assembly scribblings elevated to now extinct Constitutional foundation level. Rule of Law means compliance in spirit and in kind and content and in fact with the prevalant, guaranteed US Constitution ??. Always. And that is all.
Leave it to Constant to play the blame game. All I hear from Constant is constant complaining. He
wants to spend another 20 million to house the homeless. The taxpayers are going to be left with millions of dollars in clean up of the Sullivan Arena. For me except for a few Conservatives, this Assembly works for themselves. Makes me wonder what is in it for Constant. Does he have another day job? Oh yes the Alaska Hotel inc AKA Mark Begich will and is benefitting from the Assemblies plans. and PS will the 9 get over the facts that WE The People elected Mayor Bronson and not Dunbar.
Agree!
You don’t hear Bronson complaining ALL THE TIME about the assembly?
As he should.
Constant needs to pass the bottle and quit bogarding.
This may come as a shock to many of you, but 25 years ago I was homeless and lived in the campground for about 2 months. My wife and four-year-old son had just flown up from Seattle and arrived at the airport around 2:00 a.m. . We took a taxi to the campground and set up our tent. That first month was the second rainiest month on record. We had to string a tarp from tree to tree over our tent just to keep our belongings inside the tent dry. We didn’t have a car so we had to walk to the bus stop and learn how to travel all over town. “Stop requested” still rings in my ears to this day.
Once while we were gone we were robbed. They stole my wife’s rings and diamond pendant.
We called the police and they came out and we gave a report. While we were there there was a kid wearing a Troy Aikman football jersey camping with a girl across the road from us. Once when we were walking back to the campground my wife decided to go in some of the pawn shops along Muldoon. She found her rings and jewelry in there and they described who had pawn them. It was the guy with a Troy Aikman football jersey and a little blonde white girl, and the pawn shop dealer said he knew it wasn’t theirs because my wife has big fingers and this little petite blonde was with tiny hands.
We came home and they were still there so I went down to the pay phone and called 911 and the cops came out. The couple of course denied stealing and the cop called us over to their camp. We were over there talking to him and I glanced down into their tent and noticed some Oreo cookies and 2 pops and some slim jims. Those were some of the food items that were stolen from our tent as well and I remember telling the cop there’s our damn cookies. At that moment the cop cuffed them up. The girl was a minor so she was released to her parents but the guy was 20 so he had to go through the court system and was booked and ordered to pay restitution none of which we have received to this date.
I contacted his parole officer at a later date and he said he has since been rebooked and charged with additional crimes. More than likely he’s not alive now. My point to this whole story is that the campground and Muldoon has always been a crap hole. That’s probably why the homeless camp was put there in the first place. When I lived there there were homeless people but everybody got along together and we were just kind of in between jobs or in between homes.
We were there waiting to fly out to our first teaching job down on the Alaskan peninsula. Money was short so we decided to fly to Alaska early while we still could. Having ridden the buses for 2 months straight and walked all over the town to do various things and to shop, I can tell you that there are worse places than that campground. At least there used to be.
On a side note, if anyone feels lucky and has a metal detector, there’s a 14-karat Black hills gold ring that was lost walking to the shower house. We were camped in the first campsite adjacent to the shower house on the west side. With gold at today’s prices, it could be worth a few hundred dollars. Good hunting.
Thank you for sharing your story. I hope you and your family are doing well these days. God Bless
It is not in the best interests of certain assembly members to solve the homeless situation, financially and politically. They stand to loose a lot of money and political support should the Mayor actually solve the problem. Now that it appears that he is making progress, these people are angry and fighting back hard. They do not have the best interests of the people that they pretend to support in mind, only their own. It is so obvious.
Agree!
If this is accurately quoted by MRA, Constant hasn’t even bothered to take the time to note the injured officers name, nor gender. Either that, or them/their/they Constant has decided to de-gender this officer:
“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.”
Here we go, it’s all in the details, it’s a subtle, incremental change of the culture into absurdity.
Yes. Sending out unconfirmed blog information about political entities is one of the ways we have incremental change of the culture into absurdity
Then stop visiting this sight Mo. It’s obviously not in line with your political leanings and hypocritical preachings. There are plenty of places to spout off your nonsense, stay there.
The question Mr. Constant should answer is simple:
What would you do? And not in 6 months or a year but right NOW? Because these individuals do not live in 6 months or a year or whenever. They need a plan right here and right now. Mr. Constant and his buddy Mayor Berkowitz have been “planning” a solution for years.(Remember the homeless emergency declaration?) It mainly consisted of sitting around and talking, while spending oodles of taxpayer money and accomplishing very little. Mrs. Zaletel’s ACEH seems to have no real solutions either.
The Sullivan arena is a public venue and not set up to be a permanent shelter, nor should it be. So what did Mr. Constant do? Buy more buildings that require extensive remodels and will be ready whenever? The Marxist 9 assembly members essential failed to plan for the inevitable closing of the Sullivan, had no interim plan and just sat back and complained. At least the mayor has a plan to provide a place and access to services.
So Mr. Constant what would you have done differently???
The assembly has a plan. It was published in the paper.
It IS a concentration camp……..and thank goodness for it. It’s no different than a “concentration stadium” when they’re packed into the Sullivan Arena, which is losing millions in revenue, except that during the summer, many of the homeless are dispersed camping in Anchorage greenbelts, anyway, drinking and starting wildfires. At least this way they get Beans Cafe meals delivered, they have restroom facilities, and there is some supervision.
Trig; you are spot on target! They will be obstructionists even after the homeless issue is mostly resolved. We will never have it totally resolved with these people ‘guarding their henhouse’.
Folks posting on this blog are in denial. The incompetence of Bronson and his administration is on full display, and all you do is deny and point the fingers at the assembly. A couple of indisputable points: 1. Bronson had plenty of time to plan a transition away from using the Sullivan Arena as a homeless shelter. It was Bronson who decided to stop using the Sullivan Arena, and he knew he was going to shut it down months before he closed it. 2. Bronson did not announce that he would be sending homeless people to Centennial Campground until a few days before he closed the Sullivan Arena. 3. This was obviously a last minute decision, made in haste, without planning or coordination. Bronson made the decision after concerns were raised that there was nowhere for the people staying in the Sullivan Arena to go, and they would have to camp in our parks after June 30th. In selecting Centennial Campground as the new homeless shelter, Bronson gave no consideration to the fact that there were lots of bears in the area. No consideration to the fact that the homeless folks camping there would have food and trash that would attract the bears. No consideration to the fact that many of those who were homeless are in no physical condition to live in a tent and sleep on the ground. In hindsight, this was a stupid decision, and the blame lies with Bronson and his staff. The assembly played no role in this. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.
In my opinion, the Assembly doesn’t play a role in anything. All they know is how to play the blame game and cry because they don’t have the power and control to spend the taxpayers money.So if the Assembly or you can come up with the solution as a taxpayer I would like to hear it. Bring it on.
The have a plan. It was published in the paper a few days ago.
Ummm, what paper would that be, Lucinda?
Not all of us have your knowledge as to the information of which you speak.
Hahahaha Frank Rast using a pen name, the irony is delicious.
Interesting, you completely dismiss the culpability of the assembly. Mayor Bronson has talked about a navigation center to sort out the various needs of homeless individuals and provide assistance since before his election. Plans have been drawn up, but the assembly futzed about not appropriating the funds or demanding changes, thereby delaying the project.
Everyone in city government knew that the Sullivan was unsustainable as a shelter and the federal gravy train would come to an end. While the assembly has the luxury of sitting back, the mayor had to act in order to protect the taxpayer and find a temporary solution to bridge the gap until the navigation center is up and running.
You complain that some of the individuals are physically challenged to live in a tent. So what did they do while Berkowitz was mayor? Sleep in a illegal camp on the ground? Make fires in the woods endangering the entire neighborhood?
groomer
Blame Bronson, your reply sounds just like every reply written on this blog. I must add that I like reading all the replies because you all very colorful and passionate. It’s amazing to see how the conversation changes. I get to read how everyone thinks about Anchorage, the mayor and the assembly. I too am concerned about these issues. Rock on fellow Must Read Alaska readers!
Why don’t we move the homeless to the homes and yards of the assembly? They’re they experts with all the solutions, show us how it’s done! I offered to drive members of the homeless community to Forrest Dunbar’s house as he was quite vocal on Twitter, but strangely, I haven’t heard back. Our large homeless center here in Juneau had a fatality within the first month of operation.
CIRI housing does not build sheltering. They build ONLY for applicants earning a documentable $30,000 per annum. None of the 700 homeless earn $30,000 per year. The lovely well-dressed CIRI “partners” and board members are providing any shelters. They don’t want to do this. Don’t count on them to provide sheltering for native ethnic homeless. Will not happen. Business practice is no renters that aren’t making $30,000. They provide zero in this context. A bit disappointing.
Majority of the homeless people were kicked out of they’re villages for sexual crimes amongst other serious crimes, everywhere they are placed they destroy, everyone has gone above and beyond to help them and they only know how to help themselves to alcohol, drugs, and more free handouts. I used to feel bad for them until I lived in apartment buildings they tried to place them in, trash everywhere them falling asleep drunk everywhere now I say cut off they’re checks make them go to rehab before giving them another dime and send them back to the villages from where they were “forced” to leave. Why on Earth should we have to pay and take care of them when they’re own villages will have nothing to do with them. They are dangerous and have survived off free money and hand outs for long enough!
I’m curious about majority of homeless being sex offenders. How do you know this? Please explain. They may be but there is no presented evidence. They are usually adults who may have relationships.
“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”
It is pretty clear that Meg Zaletel is more concerned with making sure that Dave Bronson’s plan fails than she is with helping the homeless. Seems that Meg and a few other Assembly members are more interested in making money off of them than helping them. I did read that she made it over to Centennial for a photo op at one point though.
Didn’t the assembly blow their homeless money on the pet project of their COVID takeover of Anchorage? Seems to be paying dividends. And now that elections are fully rigged you can expect endless tyranny from Bolsheviks like this Constant character. He is really in love with himself.
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