The bedraggled posse of anarchists who have occupied the Delaney Park Strip in Anchorage to drive home their objection to budget cuts?
They’ve decided to stay.
Sources tell Must Read Alaska that the group has never had a permit to camp on the park area, which is used by families, kite fliers, and soccer teams. They had a handshake deal with the municipality and promised to clear out by 4 pm Sunday.
So much for handshake deals with the radical Left. By 5 pm Monday, more tents were showing up, and going up. The organizers have invited the homeless to move in with them. While there were 14 tents on Saturday, there were 24 tents Monday.
A few weeks ago, the House representative for the downtown district, Zack Fields, penned a letter to Mayor Ethan Berkowitz telling him to clean up the homeless problem because it was causing a dangerous situation in Anchorage.
[Read: Anchorage parks so dangerous even Democrats have had enough]
Fields convinced several legislators to sign his letter, which suggested that the homeless could move to the Chugach National Forest, where there’s plenty of room.
Since then, they’ve moved into the most visible park in Fields’ district, and show no signs of leaving.
Locals who live along the park strip say that noise continues night and day as partying and drumming disrupts the liberal-mellow neighborhood vibe.
The protesters have also been sleeping on the Veterans Memorial, to the irritation of some veterans.
Police are now trying to figure out how to evict the protesters, most of whom have new-looking tents and equipment and who are there under an expensive banner that set them back several hundred dollars.
Meanwhile, this afternoon a lawn bowling league tried to find a place to play alongside the growing tent city, which is now an eyesore, and a political problem for Mayor Ethan Berkowitz.
