By JOE GELDHOF
The decision by President Joe Biden to remove himself from the current presidential election was momentous.
Biden’s decsion to withdraw from the current presidential race has an analog in Juneau.
Juneau also needs new leadership at the top of the ticket.
For too long, Juneau has wobbled along politically, spending funds freely and not really taking are of obvious issues that need attention.
Juneau needs new political leadership. The sooner the better.
This October, voters in Juneau will decide who will be our mayor and elect two members to the Assembly. Juneau needs leaders committed to fiscal responsibility. Whether Juneau gets leaders committed to spending public funds wisely is the big issue this election cycle.
For far too long, Juneau has borrowed and spent public funds unsustainably.
The local Assembly sometimes avoids spending on critical needs yet pursues activities outside the core functions of local government.
The current Assembly has failed, in various ways, to seriously increase housing. Juneau’s streets and public areas, both downtown and in the Mendenhall Valley, have increasing numbers of individuals with afflictions who routinely engage in belligerent and socially unacceptable conduct. Is Juneau better off than Anchorage in this regard. Probably, but is that standard to apply?
The situation with the increasing numbers of unhoused individuals in Juneau who present a danger to themselves, and the public is obvious. Significantly, this concern has not been satisfactorily addressed by the Assembly.
Juneau’s Assembly has also failed to address obvious issues related to large-scale cruise tourism. The result is an ill-conceived initiative that would harm Juneau’s economic well-being and likely result in litigation based on constitutional provisions.
As someone who has drafted and worked on enactment of local and state-wide initiatives in the past, make no mistake about what drives citizens to go through the hard work that the initiative process requires. At bottom of almost every initiative is a failure by elected officials to address legitimate concerns on the part of the electorate.
Juneau’s population is flat, and our school enrollment is shrinking.
Juneau property assessments have been needlessly inflated based on dubious methodology that radically escalated taxation in a way that deviated from actual property values.
All of which calls into question not only the local Assembly but the leadership of Juneau’s current mayor.
Beth Weldon has had six years as the Mayor of Juneau to demonstrate she is up to the job. She’s failed.
Under Weldon’s tenure, as Mayor she attempted to ram through a new City Hall that was twice rejected by the voters.
Mayor Weldon is part of a process where some staff are selected based on connections instead of competence.
Weldon and the Assembly have not made meaningful progress addressing seemingly mundane but important issues like where Juneau will dump our trash in a landfill that will soon be full.
Instead of sticking to the basics Juneau residents need, Mayor Weldon and the Assembly adopted a new voting system that is expensive, takes longer to produce results and increases the possibility of voting abuse. This move to ditch the tried-and-true voting system that worked for decades in Juneau was enacted with little public notice or opportunity for the public to comment during the pandemic.
Discretionary spending in our community is increasing, even as some core services are cut or held below minimal standards. And now, Mayor Weldon is leading the charge to borrow funds (via issuance of bonds), to replace a portion of the infrastructure at the sewage treatment plant that should be paid using user fees.
Borrowing for maintenance instead of using user fees is an odd form of transaction in this case, an obvious indication of fiscal irresponsibility and reason enough to question the Mayor’s financial acumen.
Juneau needs a mayor committed to addressing actual problems and someone prepared to get essential tasks completed instead of fooling around with discretionary spending on activities that don’t always support the basic needs of citizens.
At present, and for several years, the CBJ has been sitting on millions of dollars of tax revenue that could be used to lower property taxes or dedicated to vital services. The mayor and her colleagues on the current Assembly have created a significant slush fund in excess of customary reserves necessary for efficient governmental operations.
The mayor and her colleagues on the Assembly seem content to hold on to these funds for future spending on projects and programs that are not necessary to meet the actual needs of Juneau residents.
Juneau needs and deserves new leadership — the kind that is committed to meeting the essential needs of this community in a fiscally competent and responsible manner.
The end to the fluff and silliness that is characteristic of some city hall spending will only come about if the voters wake up and provide genuine leadership.
If Juneau is going to be an affordable, safe, and enjoyable place to live, we need a new mayor who will thoughtfully deliver what we need and can afford.
Vote for change – real change – in October.
Joe Geldhof has been a resident of Juneau since 1979.