When Suzanne LaFrance ran for mayor, the theme was incompetence. She and her supporters said that snow wasn’t removed quickly from roads and streets in Anchorage because Mayor Dave Bronson was incompetent. It wasn’t that there was record snowfall and a nationwide lack of qualified workers after the Covid government mismanagement disrupted the economy.
It snowed so hard and fast last winter that during November, schools had to close a couple of times and some heavy cargo jets were diverted to Fairbanks, because the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport could not keep up with the snow. The winter was an unlucky break for Mayor Bronson, who was running for reelection.
It was all due to Bronson’s incompetence, LaFrance’s campaign claimed.
Now that she is facing her first winter, it’s not incompetence, but it’s that the snow removal equipment is old. LaFrance talked with the media earlier this month to set everyone’s exceptions lower, just in case there are record-breaking snows, as there were during the Bronson administration.
Snow equipment is something the big labor unions would like to see improved, and LaFrance was elected with the help of unions, so she must now pay that debt.
Thus, LaFrance will ask the taxpayers to pay for a bond to upgrade snow removal equipment and maintain that equipment, all outside of the tax cap, thus adding to the basic cost of living in Anchorage for businesses, homeowners and renters. That bond proposal is expected to be rolled out soon, will be placed into the Assembly calendar this fall and scheduled for the spring municipal ballot.
In the meantime, the main strategy for this winter is to get residents prepared for suffering and to just expect less from their government. That way, if there is a big snow winter, which isn’t likely, the public will have been warned. If the snow is less than it was during the Bronson Administration, LaFance can declare victory.
The LaFrance Administration is working on a “safe snow strategy,” led by Municipal Manager Becky Windt Pearson, who is “breaking down silos across municipal departments to ensure planning, personnel, fleet, budget, and communications staff are working together to guarantee preparedness, transparency, and coordination well in advance of the first flake,” according to the mayor’s office.
The first official snowfall in 2023 was on Oct. 11. On the week of Nov. 5, 2023, it snowed 29 inches.
Over the winter of 2023-24 it snowed 139 inches, compared with 109 inches in 2022-23, 100 inches in 2021-22, 69 inches in 2020-21, 88 inches in 2019-20 and 64 inches in 2018-19. The likelihood of another winter with 139 inches of snow is remote but not impossible.
