Setting up what surely will be his next fracas with the Anchorage Assembly, Mayor Dave Bronson will ask that august body to extend its ban on enforcement of an ordinance barring use or distribution of single-use plastic bags by retailers in the city.
A city ordinance now bars sellers from providing or distributing single-use plastic shopping bags and to charge a fee for alternative bags. The Assembly in February suspended its enforcement until Aug. 31. Bronson wants extend that suspension until May 1.
The mayor said supply chain shortages, delays and increased COVID-19 case counts are among the reasons the enforcement moratorium should be extended.
“This suspension would also allow retailers to use their existing stock of plastic bags, provide time for businesses to restock their supplies of reusable or paper bags, and continue to limit contact between employees and customers for those wishing to do so,” Bronson said. “While I generally disagree with the underlying policy banning the distribution of plastic bags, I think we can all agree that a temporary moratorium on this policy is the right approach.”
The single-use plastic bag ban went into effect Sept. 15, 2019, after a 9-2 Assembly vote, forcing retailers to provide paper bags on request, charge customers 10 cents each for them and then, for whatever reason, ordered businesses to put that on the receipt. It was the Nanny State run amok.
Even more irritating: During an Assembly work session before the vote an ordinance sponsor said the 10-cent fee was designed to “coerce people to change their behavior.”
Former Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, in the face of the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic, temporarily suspended the fee.
You might think exploding COVID-19 numbers and old fashioned common sense would require extension of the city’s moratorium on enforcement of its plastic bag ban simply as a matter of course. With this Assembly, at war with the Bronson administration and determined to overturn the last election, there are no guarantees.
Bronson’s ordinance is slated to be introduced at the Sept. 14 Anchorage Assembly meeting.
Common sense is that which tells you the earth is flat.
And I know of no one who is trying to overturn the mayoral election.
Are you really that dense? The leftists at every turn are trying to prevent and undo every action of the duly elected mayor.
Well I think the Assembly should continue the suspension because Dr. Fauci thinks the mu variant will be more contagious and will likely evade past prevention methods. You know! Safety is always best.
Hahaha
I am still going to use my cloth bag, though. Should had seen me last year I was like the store customer with a cloth bag. Hahaha.
Well I think the Assembly should continue the suspension because Dr. Fauchi thinks moo moo variant will be more contagious and will likely evade past prevention methods. You know! Safety is always best.
Hahaha
I am still going to use my cloth bag, though. Should had seen me last year I was like the only store customer with a cloth bag before I realized why people werent using cloth bags when the cashier told me to bag my own bag. Despite it I still continued my cloth bag. Hahaha.
Let’s over turn mask (s) and there makings! I’m starting too see more mask on grounds then the plastic bags!
Btw! I grew up with the pain in ass paper bags! And will live with again if needing!
Really! Let’s focus on serious matters!
Recycled paper bags that Safeway/CARRS charging 10 cents a bag that comes from cut timber!
Plastic bags that come from oil in ground from dinosaurs
At least plastic bags are more sanitary than some I’ve seen of people using them over and over. You set them on the carpet of your car, the floor of your house and those with pets, bags covered with dog or cat hair and some some even stink.
Most studies fully back you up. Reusable bags compare with the practice of collecting night soil from the cities, then using the wagon to deliver morning produce.
They want to get rid of plastic bags because it could become the next currency.
Let’s all go live In A plastic/ paper bag!
Because, government tells us too!
Whichever bag you choose! The makings come from somewhere!
Cloth bags! Made from hemp or any plant base will hold a bacteria or a virus!
Or a fungus
To Hell with Covid and the deadly (imagined) danger of infection from reusable bags. The Assembly will fight this as if their lives depended on it because a conservative mayor requested it this time. They’re going to “Trump” Bronson just like Congress and the intelligence industry did the previous POTUS. It’s all out political warfare now right on down to the local level of government, and even over an issue as meaningless as a damned bag to put your groceries in at the grocery store.
Jen you and your cloth bag has doomed us all!!!
I did not realize I had that much power. I do underestimate myself though. Hahaha.
Cockroaches love to lay their eggs in paper bags. Get ready for the infestation of them.
Litter is the problem. I don’t care if it is a plastic bag, paper bag, a bottle, a cup, a styrofoam container, or a biodegradable container, they don’t belong on the streets. And they have already done studies on this and banning plastic bags doesn’t accomplish the goal of using less resources and impacting the environment less. People end up having to buy plastic garbage bags when they didn’t before and paper bags require more resources and the much thicker reusable bags have to be used a lot, over 50 times, before they compensate for the amount extra resources they require over thin disposable plastic bags. Call me crazy, but not everything needs a law either.
What’s wrong with trying to make a little attempt at cutting back on the use of plastics? It’s quite obvious we can’t continue treating the planet the way we have been. Any rational person is on board with giving a little effort to help the environment.
The Earth is a closed ecosystem-nothing is lost or gained. Despite all the hysteria, we won’t destroy the planet. I happen to reuse plastic bags; in the truck, in the house and in the shop. Nothing is wasted. If you truly want to ‘help’ the environment (whatever that means?) use all your resources wisely, including the plastic. One day it will be superseded-when the economics drive it. In the mean time, take a spare second to pick up the discarded mask from the sidewalk, from the street and on the beaches.
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