John Morris, who was Mayor Dave Bronson’s leader for reducing chronic homelessness and street drug addiction, has thrown in the towel.
Sources in the Bronson Administration, say Dr. John Morris, a medical doctor who was new to politics, had enough of trying to work with the Anchorage Assembly, and couldn’t take it anymore battling the leftists. All he wanted was to get something done, and the Assembly opposes the Bronson Administration at every turn.
The mayor, Morris, and other team members have been trying to get the Assembly to agree to a navigation center for people who are experiencing homelessness, who are abusing drugs, and who need services. The center could help at least some of the homeless get on a path to a productive life.
The meetings with the Assembly has run the course of 22 meetings and over 800 hours since July. At times, even the mediators nearly called it quits over frustration with the Assembly.
The Assembly has its own ideas for how to address the problem, and has made it impossible for the mayor to get the hundreds of homeless men out of the Sullivan Arena and into more permanent and safe housing.
I want to thank Dr. John Morris for his service and commitment to the Municipality of Anchorage. The focus and mission remains the same in helping our city’s most vulnerable get the compassionate care and resources they need. That includes working with the Anchorage Assembly with the strategy that involves housing, transitional housing, supportive housing, treatment, and navigation centers,” Bronson said.
Read Dr. Morris’ op-ed, penned in June:
Further proof that the left doesn’t give 2 flips about the homeless, they’re nothing more than a bunch of spoiled brats that whine and complain whenever they can’t get what they way. Then they will campaign on how Mayor Bronson hasn’t been able to solve the homeless crisis in this town and how they can do a better job. Their game plan is so damned predictable and it’s pathetic that conservatives can’t see it.
” a bunch of spoiled brats that whine and complain whenever they can’t get what they way” and here you are whining and complaining that you can’t get your way.
Please point out the part in Hunter’s post where he describes “his way”, something he wants. Surely it’s there if you’re going to castigate him for whining about not getting it.
.
Or was your post just more political snark? Cutting some more notches on the grips of your liberal bona-fides?
.
POSITIVE CONTRIBUTIONS, Evan. Think POSITIVE CONTRIBUTIONS. We all benefit.
Evan:
What exactly in Hunter’s comment indicated he did not get what he wanted? Maybe you were reading something different than I did, but it is pretty clear to me that Hunter was pointing out how predictable the Assembly is acting.
You are wrong. The left cares deeply about the homeless. They love the homeless and want them to stay homeless. They want more people to be homeless. Big homeless numbers are a big part of their anti-capitalism strategy and their Liberalism sickness. The left would like all to believe they have a monopoly on compassion but their monopoly is on lack of compassion as they care NOTHING for the suffering of the homeless. Power and controlling others is their only concern.
Our useless Assembly needs to be disbanded and eliminated. We can just have a mayoral budget for the coming year and vote in advance on the components as a City.
It would take much prayer warfare to get through to the people who will not listen.
Just read Dr. Morris’s article and it does sound like they have had a good plan. So what ideas does the assembly have beyond more Sullivan arena scenarios? I am truly curious and must have missed the articles about the assembly’s solutions.
The Assembly has already indicated what they have in mind. Spread the homeless throughout the city. Do it without regard to what the people impacted want. Shut down testimony when it gets inconvenient.
Thank you Dr. Morris for your service to Anchorage. I certainly hope that as a private citizen during the April 2022 Municipal election of half of the Assembly members, you will call them out by name and point out their desire to destroy and rule over Anchorage, rather than make it a safer place for all.
The biggest issue is that many of these people don’t want help. They don’t want to live in shelters because shelters have rules. That, or they have serious mental health issues and are essentially walking zombies. There is no solution. Granted, you can have places like the Sullivan Arena but places like these can quickly snowball out of control. No city has enough revenue to operate a facility that costs millions per month with no sign of shrinking. Build it and they will come.
Having a permanent cache of severely civil rights deprived is very useful to the left. Recently in the mail system of Washington state it’s reported that the ballots though voted ostensibly by the homeless were never even received by the homeless much to their fury. Some have no last name for instance “Glenn X”. So to have such a permanently large group of civilly disadvantaged in a voting system provides a sense of security in a mail-in balloting system the woke left prefers. Sad that Alaska is trying this mail in system. I don’t consent for this abusive reason.
Probably very close to bullseye. It is tragic how much the left seems to have capitalized and cultivated dependency. Jim Collman above also makes a valid point that many of those living on the streets don’t want to change or are too far along in their condition to be helped beyond shelter snd food. Whatever is done needs to cover a broad spectrum but first of all it seems at least some of these childish assembly members need to be replaced.
“All he wanted was to get something done…”
All he wanted was for everyone to let him do it his way, whether it would work or not. That’s not governing, that’s ruling. I’m not surprised he’s gone.
Homelessmess (sic, Freudian slip) is an ongoing problem everywhere. No one seems to have figured it out. Bronson seems to think he has the solution, yet he has no experience with it, and his solutions seem to be ideologically based. Morris seemed not to understand the magnitude of what he was being asked to do.
There’s a lot of not understanding going on with this administration, and that’s not surprising since Bronson and many of his cohorts don’t have experience in governing. He needs to start working on upping the learning curve or there are many, dark days ahead for Anchorage.
So Homo Erectus finds no fault with the Assembly’s process. He’s in complete agreement with them, whatever the Mayor wants to do, were against it. Little or no original ideas of their own hence nothing is accomished except we have no sports arena again for another year.
Orville and Wilber Wright never flew a plane before so do not listen to them, they have no experience so they could not possible have a solution regarding flight. It’s YOUR thought process that is flawed……
Mayor Bronson’s inexperience and hypothetical ineptitude mean NOTHING when he is faced by a hostile ass-embly intent on subverting, undermining, attacking and fighting anything and everything he attempts to do.
.
You know it’s true, so don’t try to lie and pretend that this is not exactly the situation with the Marxist Nine. THEY are at fault, in their petty, power-mad, vindictive and hostile attitudes and actions, and you know it, and they know it.
.
Ironic, isn’t it — what was all that bruhaha a few years ago from a certain woman candidate for president about somebody else potentially not accepting the results of an election? Well, that is EXACTLY what is happening here with the Marxist Nine — they are throwing an ongoing temper tantrum because their ‘golden boy’ insider did not win. And that is simply what all this hostility from them is all about.
With attitudes like yours I can see why you feel that way. You act like Mayor Bronson has no education or past leadership skills. Interesting, my guess is you didn’t take the time to read his resume.
All I saw with the previous administration & assembly is dark days & our previous mayor had an Ivy League degree, that sadly didn’t solve any of our problems. He clearly thought he was above everyone else. I for one am looking forward to the change if we can get the assembly to let the Mayor respectfully do his job.
You should get a more literate friend, if you have one, to read and explain this story to you.
You read it, and came away with a grasp on absolutely nothing of what Suzanne so excellently authored.
Well it does seem much less productive to argue and bicker about it to eternity rather than actually doing something.
While the bureaucrats get paid, the homeless still suffer.
Too many people with clipboards in their hands and nobody with a shovel.
Government fails the people and only provides to itself.
Orville and Wilber Wright never flew a plane before so do not listen to them, they have no experience so they could not possible have a solution regarding flight. It’s YOUR thought process that is flawed……
Experience in governing is what brought us to this shithole we call Anchorage. Obviously THATS not working but the Assembly doesn’t want to try anything new because this is exactly how they want it. It’s like talking to a wall with you stupid people. Anyone that’s lived here their entire lives can see what went wrong here and it’s one word… DEMOCRAPS
Not a direct quote.
Anonymous sources.
Idealistic in what way?
Apparently Homo Erectus doesn’t know the definition of insanity. I find it refreshing that a person who is not part of the deep state government is trying something new. The assembly are the ones who want to rule, with that iron fist! I suggest that the deep state assembly open their minds to other ways of thinking.
“Bronson seems to think he has the solution, yet he has no experience with it…”
.
Interesting statement.
.
Portland, Seattle, and San Fran are overrun by the homeless. Disease, drug use, crime, and sexual assault are off the charts. And, what do those cities have on common?
.
They are all basing their strategy for the homeless on recommendations of the “experts.”
.
Also, what experience, exactly do you want to see in a politician? Let’s take a look at some of the “experienced” politicians around the nation, and see how well their “experience” is working out, shall we?
.
Joe Biden has almost 50 years experience as a politician, and inflation is highest in decades, workforce participation is lowest, fuel is most expensive, and goods a products are not moving. But, at least the Federal Government has a Transgender Rights strategy.
.
Lisa Murksowski has how many years in? Nancy Pelosi? Harry Reid had how many years as a Senator when he pulled the nuclear option in the Senate? Not that McConnel is any kind of improvement over Reid. In fact, the most “experienced” politicians tend to be the worst.
In today’s lesson we learn there is a vast difference between experience and accomplishments.
By “governing” do you mean “ruling”?
Years and years of “Experts”, “Homeless Coordinators”, “Housing Commission” etc. and what is the result? Millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars wasted, the number of people on the street increased every year and more hand wringing and “compassionate” pronouncements. That’s it! That’s what all these learned and experienced folks have to show for themselves. Pathetic!
So it is high time to let those with out of the box thinking have a try. Folks with common sense and the desire to actually get things done, instead of just talking about it while getting a paycheck. But that would be embarrassing to the assembly, if some (in their opinion) two-bit non-expert succeeds, so they road-block him at every turn.
Homo since none of your vaunted experts had any luck, what do we have to lose?
I am sorry for the loss of a compassionate intelligent and motivated leader!! He had an idea and a plan that might have had a huge impact. Spending $7000 a month to house each homeless person for a month in the Sully is NOT!!
22 meetings and 800+ hours of work, and thanks to the power mad Communists on the assembly, they are farther from a solution than when they started.
I don’t blame him for finally throwing his hands up in the air and leaving.
The Communist assembly have only one solution to every problem: More restrictions on the average working person, and more and more and more tax dollars thrown fruitlessly at it.
Can’t blame him.
Next he should get out of Anchorage. It’s a fascist city run by marxists. They won’t forget he tried to stand in their way.
If you know any history of the North, you would know that Native populations were always on the verge of homelessness. Most of them were transient and traveled to follow the game populations as the animals migrated or were hunted out of various areas. Typical of the left they make up history and stories to suit and promote their agenda.
Villages sprang up as the whites provided what became essential goods that only a large modern successful and industrial society and culture could provide from thousands of miles away.
Native cultures worldwide wanted what the Europeans had. it was that simple.
In Canada and Alaska, Natives wanted to be close to the trading posts as possible so that it was easy to sell their furs to the post to buy trade goods, including alcohols. This was especially true of the Hudson bay Company and the Northwest Company trading posts.
So lets stop this fantasy and ruse of homelessness. It in many ways has been this way for hundreds of years. Marxist greatly increased this phenomena with their drug and party culture of the last half century and are the real culprits of social destruction as they always are.
But don’t forget…they care
I’ll never forget when I worked as a substance abuse counselor in a village and I heard a
Native kid ask another for a “hit” of his Pepsi.
That put it all in perspective.
One just has to appreciate the armchair quarterbacks that can’t seem to remember that the Bronson administration inherited a hot mess from the deviant left who seem hell bent on continuing down the unsustainable road that has been travelled for years now.
Newsflash: The majority of Anchorage residents voted Mayor Bronson in for a reason, and this is part of it.
The Left has a love affair with federal funds.
Someone needs to break down for us exactly where the $7,000 per month, per homeless person at the Sullivan Arena in FEMA funds actually goes.
Somebody’s making bank on that asinine arrangement, and the people of Anchorage deserve to know who’s raking in the cash.
My husband and I house, feed, clothe, and educate our 8 children on less than 7k per month.
Watching conservatives at the local, state and federal level is like watching a professional team play the JV high school team. Painful, but predictable.
This summer there were several city employees trimming branches back from a sidewalk on Denali Street. At how many dollars per hour? A small homeless crew, with one supervisor, could do that work, far cheaper. But no, that would be a threat to someone’s job.
Trimming, mowing, picking up, shoveling … those are not “jobs”. Those are horrendously expensive “make work”.
“Work-Fare” seems to be the one issue being studiously avoided. State employees don’t like it. Unions don’t like it. The ACLU doesn’t like it. Why not? It has worked everywhere it has been done.
The homeless “earned” a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. It has given the homeless a leg up to stay clean and presentable for job interviews. It has restored hope and pride. It has encouraged sobriety. It has reunited families. Fathers don’t have to leave the home so their families qualify for welfare. The 4-C’s camps were workfare. Even the military draft was a sort of workfare. So much good always comes from workfare, yet it’s avoided like the plague.
We have the solution at our fingertips. It’s right there … the cure for the non-profits, unions, and government expansion, homeless industrial complex.
Um? Never mind. Been here, tried doing that. Don’t dare gore the golden calf.
Not everyone has the patience of Sisyphus
In that same Greek mythological vein, one could cast Mayor Bronson as Prometheus, chained to a mountain peak and daily having his liver pecked at by the Marxist Nine vultures on the municipal ass-embly.
Sooooo, another year with no hockey in the Sully. Kids in pursuit of athletic scholarships that need to be seen are told no. Kids trying to excel in athletics, as opposed to sitting on their backsides getting obese, are told no. Parents that want to watch their kids in good old sweaty competition are told no. No place to watch the Wolverines, our new Juniors team. No games between the Dogs and the Nooks. No hockey, again. Maybe they can shovel out some rinks on Goose Lake?
.
Apparently the homeless have more rights than all of us who work and pay through the nose to house, feed, clothe and provide treatment for them. I believe the term is “pound sand” and we’re doing it another year.
.
Who’s going to write the apology letter to the Wolverines? Imagine them thinking we’d have a sheet of ice for them to play on.
I think that the Assembly members should have to go stay in the Sullivan for just one night to see if they think that’s really a viable long term solution.
That’s racist!
Probably should have stayed on a little longer. Changes take time, patience, and endurance because of our reluctance to changes. Eventually the Assembly will come around, these Assembly members they want this city to prosper. If not! The people will come around and give the Assembly not much choice but for them to come around and change themselves.
The biggest problem that I see with quitting is that makes one part of the problem not a solution, emboldens the Marxist left asssembly and sends a message to Anchorage that their citizens din’t count. Pretty sad!
Comments are closed.