A referendum application was filed with the Municipal Clerk today to prevent the Berkowitz Administration from using the CARES Act funds to buy four buildings around Anchorage and turn them into services and rooms for Anchorage street people.

The application would put on the April 6 ballot a question to voters to decide whether the action of the Assembly on Aug. 11 will stand.

The Wednesday decision took $12.5 million from the CARES Act funds the city received form the federal government through the State of Alaska and would purchase four buildings around town and then roll out services and shelters to be paid for somehow, in ways certainly not disclosed to the public yet. The rest of the $22.5 million for the buildings would come from the sale of ML&P to Chugach Electric.

Former Mayor Dan Sullivan was one of the 10 signatories on the referendum application, which now must be accepted or rejected by the Clerk’s Office within 10 days.

If accepted, then the proponents of the repeal of AO66 would have to collect about 7,500 signatures, or 25 percent of the votes cast in the last election.

The group backing the referendum passed the hat last month to raise money from homeowners in various neighborhoods in Rogers Park, College Village, Heather Meadows, Geneva Woods, and Spenard. The effort was coordinated with grassroots participants, many of whom are new to the political process.

The signature collection effort will be conducted by the same group, said a source close to the network of neighbors.

Earlier in the day, the U.S. Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Treasury told the Berkowitz Administration in no uncertain terms that the use of CARES Act money to buy the buildings is not following the intent of the Federal CARES Act, which is intended to help bridge economic hardships felt by homeowners, renters, businesses, and municipalities, but is not intended to solve preexisting problems or pay for projects that have nothing to do with the economic and health crisis resulting from the pandemic.

Inspector General of the United States Department of the Treasury is not happy with Mayor Ethan Berkowitz and his homeless hotel plan, not if it’s using CARES Act funds.

A call today with the city ended badly for Mayor Berkowitz and the nine Assembly members who just last night voted to spend $12.5 million of the CARES Act money — which is intended for COVID relief — to complete a $22.5 million deal for four buildings around Anchorage. Those buildings would be used to house street people and treat their drug addiction.

The vote came even though the Assembly knew the Inspector General was wise to the scheme to divert money that is intended to help with rents, mortgages and businesses.

In fact, there is almost no part of AO66 that the federal government agreed with on the phone call.

The municipality cannot use the money to backfill pay for fire and police, for expenditures the municipality already had voted for before COVID hit.

The municipality also cannot spend $1 million on a union project offered by Rep. Zack Fields that would funnel money to union bosses, who would hire people to build trails for the next few weeks. That is not a COVID need.

But the biggest blow was the omnibus plan of Mayor Berkowitz to create a network of services and hotels for vagrants. The feds said the city cannot buy buildings with the COVID money.

This puts the entire AO66 in peril.

It appears the mayor and the liberal Assembly members wanted to move forward quickly and then ask for forgiveness, but Delmar gave them no hope, telling the municipality’s attorney Kate Vogel that he, too, is an attorney and can very well read the law.

By SCOTT LEVESQUE

As protesters lined the library grounds, chants of “Open up,” and “Let us in” rang through the crowd on Tuesday night.

Assembly member Jamie Allard, who entered through the library building’s side doors, was met with thunderous applause, but most notable was the absence of every other Assembly member, including Mayor Ethan Berkowitz.

Word quickly spread that many of the Assembly members had entered through the back doors, including the mayor, who was swiftly ushered in under guard, while wearing a black mask.

The protest immediately moved to the library’s back entrance as the doorway closed shut. When questioned, library staff refused to allow access into the building, citing capacity limits.

Undeterred, the crowd let out a chorus of “Let us in! Let us in! Let us in!” which reverberated throughout the shallow back entry. Vehicles parked around the library began honking their horns as if orchestrated by legendary composer Howard Shore. Meanwhile, things were heating up in the Assembly Chambers. 

Assembly Members Christopher Constant and Suzanne LaFrance introduced floor amendments to AR 2020-296, a resolution introduced by Assembly Member Jamie Allard and Crystal Kennedy to open the Assembly Chambers to public testimony and participation.

The changes made by Constant and LaFrance essentially hijacked the resolution and relegated all public participation to email or telephone, a death blow to the public’s right to testify in front of the Assembly. 

The protest settled on the lawn in front of 36th Street, where the crowd waved signs, flags, and hands at oncoming vehicles. Many were showing their support by honking while they drove past the large group, which numbers in the several hundreds.

Speeches by a few, including Dave Bronson, electrified the crowd as calls for liberty and freedom rang true among the protesters. But inside the Assembly Chambers, deliberations around AO 2020-66 intensified.

Many Assembly Members thanked those who publicly testified, but in the end, those testimonies fell on deaf ears.

In what can only be considered a landslide, the Assembly voted 9-2 to approve AO 2020-66. Assembly Members Jamie Allard and Crystal Kennedy of Eagle River were the two “no” votes. 

With tonight’s approval, the municipality can move forward in acquiring four properties with CARES Act funds for homeless services. The only roadblock left for the Berkowitz Administration is a call with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which the Treasury’s Inspector General has requested due to the number of complaints received about the use of the CARES Act funds. 

By 11:15 pm, there were still dozens of protesters outside, some of them in their vehicles driving in circles in front of the building and honking their horns. Police came by and told them to tone it down. The meeting was set to end at midnight, and protestors appeared determined to stay until the Assembly members gaveled out and were heading to their cars.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was the invited speaker at a Kenai-sized fundraiser for Sen. Dan Sullivan at the Davis Block and Concrete company on Tuesday, and he delivered classic Cruz oratory — colorful, expressive, and entertaining.

After he spoke, Cruz gave an interview to Must Read Alaska, where we asked him his views on Joe Biden’s pick of Kamala Harris as his vice presidential nominee. He did not hold back.

“Well, look I think Joe Biden’s move today is a strong move to lock up the San Francisco vote,” Cruz said, joking. “And that was clearly hanging in the balance.”

Right along side her is Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and AOC, he said, calling them three radicals who would drive a socialist, defund-the-police agenda.

“We believe in oil and gas in Texas. If Biden and Kamala Harris get in, you better believe they’ll come after every good energy job in the state of Alaska. Every worker who is working on a pipeline or working on an oil field, they’re going to do everything they can to take those jobs away. Because they’re working for the California environmental billionaires and not the working men and women of this country.”

A crowd of over 100 gathered to raise funds for the Sullivan campaign, which had made a campaign stop in Seward a day earlier. Must Read Alaska learned that Sen. Cruz was going to catch a salmon or two before heading back to his home state.