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Berkowitz budget: Roll-back taxes prior to April election

Suzanne Downing
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Berkowitz budget: Roll-back taxes prior to April election

Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz has had a tough few months. Crime reached new highs undre his watch, with a murder rate on track to set yet another record this year and a nearly 50 percent increase in auto thefts.

With a liberal-dominated Assembly, Mayor Berkowitz raised taxes on homeowners by 5.3 percent, costing them an average of $250 more per year.

Berkowitz reverted to his old glib self in the media, saying he doesn’t worry about North Korea bombs as much as he worries about bears and moose, and telling people they’re safe as long as they don’t go out after midnight. He had to walk back that statement as insensitive after public backlash.

It was the same foot-in-mouth Berkowitz who, as a candidate once said on the radio: “I support the idea of adults being able to choose who they have a relationship with,” he says. “Father and son should be allowed to marry, if they’re both consenting adults — if you’re defining marriage as the bundle of rights and privileges that’s now accrued to people, then yes.”

The liberal mayor’s homeless initiative has not made a dent on the streets, although he has dedicated significant municipal resources to it. About the same number of people are living in urban encampments as when he took office. This past week it hit another crisis point when one business owner started blaring horns to get homeless people to vacate the area.

Berkowitz has focused more on Anchorage being a “welcoming” city than growing a livable city as he has joined the “resist” movement to rebuke the new president’s campaign against illegal immigration.

But it’s all just not working.

With an election looming in April, Berkowitz is doing what any good politician in trouble would: Scaling back on the property taxes he hiked last year.

He’s going to make up the difference with a gasoline tax to be introduced to the Anchorage Assembly by fellow Democrat and Assembly Chair Dick Traini.

There’s also new revenue from cannabis taxes and other fees.

The 10-cents-a-gallon gas tax is equivalent to a nearly 4 percent tax on gasoline, and would raise as much as $11.7 million. Some of that will come from valley commuters, others from tourists, and still more from the business community.

The 2018 operating budget will be introduced at the Oct. 10 Assembly Meeting, with a public hearing on Oct. 24 at 5 pm.

Berkowitz faces at least one challenger in April: Rebecca Logan, who filed last week as a candidate for mayor. She is the president of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, a trade organization based in Anchorage and, as such, is seen as a pro-business, efficient government alternative to a struggling mayoral incumbent.

Alaska Democrats making nonpartisan races partisan

Suzanne Downing
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Alaska Democrats making nonpartisan races partisan

Dan Mayfield was Democrat, but recently switched to nonpartisan — or as he puts it, independent — although there is no such designation in the plethora of voter registration options.

But even though he’s not officially a Democrat for the Oct. 3 municipal election, the Alaska Democratic Party is backing him all the way for re-election on the Mat-Su Borough Assembly, because he will “fight for our progressive values.”

The Mayfield flyer is sponsored by Alaska Democratic Party.

According to the Democrats’ flyer, which was mailed to non-Republicans in the district, things like infrastructure, public safety, and responsibly managing public funds are progressive values. “Supported by our local Democrats!” the material says.

Mayfield and his family strenuously objected to various negative comments on Facebook after the flyer was posted on social media by campaign consultant Anand Dubey, who is supporting Mayfield’s opponent, Clayton “Mokie” Tew.

“I am an independent,” Mayfield wrote. “Those in the republican party know that but have chosen to state otherwise. I welcome support from republicans and democrats because local government is suppose to serve people on a non-partisian basis. We are suppose to weigh the issues of the day and make decisions that consider the wishes of our entire Borough. I do that. Considering the proven history of the other candidate, I am surprised by this negativity.”

Further south in Juneau, the Alaska Democrats are backing Democrat Rob Edwardson, who is Rep. Justin Parish’s legislative aide, in the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly race. Edwardson is running against Debbie White, the incumbent.

If Parish is a “D,” then Edwardson is a Big Government Democrat. His position on government is:

“As the State Capital, Juneau is a government town and needs to retain government jobs. I have been fortunate to be able to work on that subject during my career. These necessary government jobs fuel the economy of Juneau alongside private sector jobs. Government workers are homeowners, customers, travelers, and their children attend Juneau’s schools,” Edwardson wrote on his Facebook page.

In both cases, the Democrats call their chosen candidates “progressives,” rather than “Democrats” as the pattern of Democrats running away from their party identification continues.  They know if is difficult to get elected as a Democrat, given how far left Alaska’s Democrats have drifted over the years.

The trend started with Rep. Daniel Ortiz of Ketchikan, Gov. Bill Walker, and Rep. Jason Grenn of Anchorage. All “independent” candidates who came into office with the robust support of the Alaska Democratic Party.

The political parties have long been involved in local elections, but they usually do it quietly, with get-out-the-vote efforts. The Alaska Democrats have made it clear that these days there is nothing nonpartisan about local races and they are going to spend money on mailers and social media boosts in these elections.

The Alaska Democratic Party is registered with Alaska Public Offices Commission to participate in municipal races throughout the state. It’s part of a greater strategy to put Democrats in place at the local level, and train up the best of them to run for state office.

Local assembly, school board, and mayoral races take place around Alaska on Oct. 3, with the exception of Anchorage, which holds its municipal election in April.

Quote of the week: Begich on taxes

Suzanne Downing
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“It’s only taxing wages, that means people that are working every single day and trying to make a living, they’re the ones that are going to be pinned. When you look at what’s exempted: capital gains, dividends, basically for wealthier people, and I think that that’s an unfair tax system. I can’t wait to see the debate because I don’t think that’s going anywhere.”

– Former Sen. Mark Begich, panning Gov. Walker’s income tax proposal and seeming to argue in favor of an even more sweeping tax, while speaking at the Bartlett Club in Anchorage on Thursday in his strongest indication yet that he plans to challenge Gov. Bill Walker.

Public pans dramatic sculptures being installed on Juneau waterfront

Suzanne Downing
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Public pans dramatic sculptures being installed on Juneau waterfront

JUNEAU – “Aquileans.”

That’s the name of a series of 10 metal sculptures that now grace the Juneau waterfront as they are installed this week. Some like the concept, while many think it’s garish, oversized, and a distraction from the natural beauty of the surrounding area. And still more complain about the choosing of a California artist rather than a homegrown Alaskan sculptor.

Others say birds have found a new repository for poop. In fact, “aquiline” comes from the Latin word for eagle, and is sometimes used to describe a nose that resembles a beak, with a downward curve.

The 10 stainless steel sculptures are part of the City and Borough of Juneau’s cruise ship berths project, and are funded through a “1 percent for the arts” program. That rule requires construction projects dedicate one percent to an artistic installation of some sort.

Artist Cliff Garten of California won the art bid in 2015 after a panel reviewed 28 concepts. The sculptures are being bolted to bollards along the waterfront that were formerly used to tie up cruise ships, and will stretch from Marine Park to the Mount Robert’s Tramway building. The installation is due to complete this week.

Garten said the origins of the sculptures are found in archetypes of the Alaskan landscape: “The form is a combination of two iconic ecological Alaskan shapes – a whale fluke and an eagle’s wings in flight. Set against the landscape of mountains and ocean, the sculptures will create a recognizable character for the waterfront and bring a contemporary aesthetic to the social and economic life of Juneau.”

They will also likely be noisy whenever the wind blows along the waterfront, and might be especially loud during gale-force southeasterlies or Taku winds. As wind howls through power lines, Juneau can expect some eerie sounds to be heard from the 10 unintended wind harps. Dogs may find the noise unbearable at certain harmonics.

The sculptor wrote: “The sculptures are made of ¼” laser-cut stainless steel plates which shape the 3/8” stainless steel rods that twist and turn to create the form. The sculptures reflect and refract sunlight during the day and are illuminated with a program of color changing LED light at night.”

Juneauites will attest that the sculptures may not refract all that much sunlight in the rain forest, where direct sunlight is infrequent, but that description can be chalked up to aesthetic hopefulness.

When coated with freezing rain and snow, they’ll transform in ways even the artist probably cannot imagine. And when illuminated by LED lights during the winter, they’ll probably find greater acceptance with the public than they’re currently experiencing.

Artist’s rendering of what the sculptures “Aquileans” may look like along the waterfront.

Critics have been quick to judge. Even though the sculptures are not fully installed, an overwhelming number of the comments on Facebook have been negative:

“Vegas garishness on Juneau’s natural beauty of a waterfront. Someone dropped the ball,” commented one person on the Juneau Community Collective Facebook page.

“The 1% for art program should absolutely be restricted to Alaskan artists. So much ugly nonsense like this comes to Juneau from out-of-state for no reason. Alaska has one of the most unique and vibrant art communities in the nation. We hear that we are broke and struggling, that our PFD needs to be confiscated, then we see crap like this paid for with large sums of Alaskan money that was mailed out of state to someone far far away. Disgusting and unacceptable,” wrote another.

“Nimbus for the 21st Century,” commented one critic, referring to the most controversial sculpture in Alaska, which has been, at times, homeless due to its color choice and general unattractiveness. Nimbus, also conceived by an Outside artist, never really grew on the public, and for a while was parked in a Department of Transportation maintenance yard, before being revived this year for installation near the State Museum building.

[Read: Alaska’s most controversial sculpture gets a new home]

“Why spend Alaska money on a Californian artist? It would make good sense to hire an Alaskan artist,” asked one Juneauite, in a sentiment echoed by several who said they’d rather see totems.

In Juneau, stirring up artistic controversy is a time-honored form of entertainment. This year, howling of the poop-covered Aquileans sculptures will only be matched by the howling of the general public, and possibly the howling of downtown dogs.

As for Must Read Alaska, these stainless steel looms look ripe for another type of artistic installation if the wind-harp effect becomes a problem: guerilla yarn bombing.

Walker set himself up for failure – again

Suzanne Downing
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COMMENTARY / ANDREW JENSEN
ALASKA JOURNAL OF COMMERCE

Gov. Bill Walker appears to have not learned his lesson when calling a special session.

After the Legislature went all 121 days it was allowed this year without producing a budget or a way to pay for it, Walker called a special session with a loaded agenda that proved a recipe for disaster as the divided House and Senate exerted their respective leverage over the various pieces and it ended after 30 days at the same stalemate.

Now with a government shutdown looming, Walker called another special session with one agenda item: the operating budget. With no leverage over each other and an understanding of the consequences of not passing a budget by June 30, the House and Senate were finally able to agree on something and accomplished their one constitutionally-mandated task.

After the operating budget was agreed upon June 22, Walker added a second item to the session: ending the cashable credit program for North Slope explorers and small producers.

Again, with one item to consider and with both sides understanding the need to end a program with a $1 billion liability to the state budget, the House and Senate eventually agreed to kill the program retroactively to the start of the current fiscal year on July 1.

By this point the per diem counters were running and the public anger was growing over legislators collecting thousands of dollars per day while only a handful were actually involved in the heavy lifting of negotiation.

Acknowledging that anger, Walker declared he would not call a third special session until a capital budget bill was ready to pass. Like the limited call of the second session, with one thing to work on the House and Senate leaders finalized a deal and were able to come to order for a single day and pass it.

With the fourth special session of the year now set to begin Oct. 23, Walker has set himself up for another failure.

[Read more at Alaska Journal of Commerce]

Ketchikan school board’s final blow in Obama’s cupcake war

Suzanne Downing
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KETCHIKAN – During the previous presidential administration, former First Lady Michelle Obama championed school nutrition, and the Department of Agriculture complied, tying school lunch funding to specific nutrition guidelines through the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.

Michelle Obama became the patron saint of carrot sticks, and the bane of brownie bakers.

The rules implemented in school cafeterias in 2012 were supposed to improve nutrition and reduce obesity. They dictated everything from number of calories to grams of sugar and types of fat.

The 10 pages of federal guidelines, however, stepped on the toes of local control, and made it impossible, or at least impractical, to have bake sales on campus to support school activities.

The new policy became known as the “Obama war on cupcakes.”

This year, the Ketchikan Board of Education struck back. On Wednesday night, it cancelled the 10-page policy that had been given to the district by the feds in favor of a 2-paragraph set of guidelines that returned control of the food offerings to the superintendent and school principals.

Trevor Shaw, Ketchikan Board of Education president

“The role as a board is to set policy more on a broad level and incorporate into that policy a vision for the school district with regard to health and nutrition. It’s not our job to micromanage how that is done. There’s a difference between governance and management,” said Trevor Shaw, the 22-year-old president of the Ketchikan Board of Education.

Board member Glen Brown expressed the need for the board to stick a fork in the debate and vote:  “I think we’ve absolutely murdered this issue. This has been the summer of Policy 50-40,” he said, referring to the months-long debate over the substitute school district health and wellness policy, which the body finally adopted 4-1, with two members absent.

The result of the Obama-era Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act was a lot of unhappy students across the country, who resisted the meager portions and flavorless offerings. The standards extended to vending machine snacks and baked items sold during fundraisers for teams and clubs.

The new two-paragraph policy is backed by 10 pages of locally written administrative directives to limit the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages, to support Alaska farm and fish on school menus when possible, and to encourage greater physical activity.

“We made the decision that just because the federal bureaucracy says this is what you need to do to get funds, we are going to do what we do locally that is best for our school district,” Shaw said.

With all the skirmishes over cupcakes and carrot cakes that have taken up the time of school boards across the country, Shaw said that Ketchikan’s patience in taking the long view in the fight for local control finally paid off.

“We kind of won the cupcake war,” he said.

Fourth special session — why not in Anchorage?

Suzanne Downing
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Gov. Bill Walker is landing in Anchorage this week after a trip to China to peddle Alaska gas. At Commonwealth North on Friday, he and Revenue Commissioner Sheldon Fisher will once again make their case for income taxes on wage-earners.

And in just three weeks those proposed taxes will be heard and legislated on by 60 legislators who will convene in Juneau for an the ninth special session of Walker’s three years in office.

Senate Republicans will also try to convince the Democrats in the House to pass SB 54, a clean-up bill to correct problems with the crime reform package known as SB 91.

All that will happen Oct. 23 against the background of an increasingly discontent Southcentral Alaska voter. At a town hall meeting on Monday in South Anchorage, citizens were livid at the level of crime taking over the community.

After hearing their concerns at the meeting organized by Rep. Charisse Millett, Rep. Chris Birch wrote to Gov. Walker and said that constituents were loud and clear that they want the special session to be held in Anchorage so they can hold lawmakers’ feet to the fire about crime, punishment, and the proposed income tax.

“In addition to their understandable concerns, several expressed a strong desire that the Legislature should conduct its upcoming special session not in Juneau, but in Anchorage, to maximize public engagement in the process, and public access to legislative deliberation on the crime bill and the proposed income tax. The high cost of travel and lodging greatly limit direct in-person participation by most of our constituents in these hearings,” Birch wrote.

This is not about moving the capital, he told Must Read Alaska today. It’s about saving the state money in per diem and travel.

Many lawmakers, including those from rural parts of the state, will already be in Anchorage for the Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention.

As of Thursday afternoon, Birch had not heard back from the governor, although he spoke with Walker’s Chief of Staff Scott Kendall.

“There’s a disconnect,” Birch said. “There are a lot of very concerned and even fearful people in Anchorage who want to have a voice in the deliberations revolving around the crime issue and remedies for the problem.”

This is no way to run a tax policy

Suzanne Downing
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Higher taxes, like those under debate in Alaska, would only add to the challenges the industry faces.

COMMENTARY / Dr. MARGARET THORNING
ALASKA JOURNAL OF COMMERCE

This summer, observers across the nation watched as lawmakers in the state of Alaska pulled together a buzzer-beating compromise that prevented a potentially catastrophic budget shutdown and kept the government funded through the coming fiscal year.

For countless Alaskans who simply wanted their government to continue to operate, the compromise is a win. The alternative — an unprecedented shutdown — would have been untenable, resulting in significant upheaval for Alaskans seeking to utilize programs ranging from fishery permitting to cruise ship oversight to early education and Head Start services.

For political and policy junkies, it was a budget showdown that checked nearly every box, complete with flaring tempers, bruised egos, high stakes, and the discussion of policy shifts that could send ripples through the economic landscape for years to come.

This is particularly true in the case of the oil and gas industry, a sector that is looking at increased taxes in the eye in Alaska while simultaneously facing extremely challenging market conditions across the nation and around the world.

On the heels of a massive surge in domestic production driven by advances in extraction technology and finds from the Bakken to the Marcellus, fortunes have changed somewhat for the American oil and gas sector.

Prices have fallen steadily in recent years, hovering around $47 per barrel, and analysts expect the price to remain in the $40 to $60 range for the next five years. The cost of producing a barrel of oil is also increasing alongside advances in extraction technology, with companies pursuing projects that are riskier, more difficult to access, and ultimately more expensive.

The oil and gas industry is strong, and no one will mistake it for a struggling mom-and-pop operation. But these are no longer the boom times of the early 2010s – margins are thinner, profits are lower, and the challenges on the horizon are greater than they have been in some time.

[Read more at Alaska Journal of Commerce]

Ketchikan stripe show makes national news

Suzanne Downing
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0

KETCHIKAN – It was a pavement striping job so crooked it made the New York Post. The new yellow double lines on Tongass Highway wiggled, went wide, and stayed wet too long.

The paint job made the news because the car belonging to Ketchikan Gateway Borough Mayor David Landis ended up with yellow paint splotches.

“You come to expect having highway striping like that to be straight and have orderly looking lines and be professionally applied,” Landis told a reporter. “Something was clearly wrong with the equipment or the operation of that equipment to have so many things wrong all at once.”

The Ketchikan Daily News said that the State Department of Transportation explained that due to humidity, the paint didn’t dry as quickly a it should. But the state isn’t planning to repaint the highway.

And on further inspection, it appears that drivers on Tongass Highway, the city’s main thoroughfare, were weaving onto the freshly painted yellow lines.

That said, locals wondered aloud why DOT didn’t use the last three weeks, Ketchikan’s version of an Indian summer, to get the striping cone.

According to the newspaper, DOT recommends people who have the telltale yellow spatters get their vehicles pressure washed. If that doesn’t work, use WD-40, and after soaking the yellow spatters, wash the car. And finally, if that doesn’t do the trick, use a “liberal coating of Vaseline,” and then pressure wash.

We consulted to autogeekonline.net and found these instructions:

  1. Put on rubber gloves.
  2. Moisten a small shop towel with lacquer-paint-thinning solvent. Wring out the towel to prevent dripping.
  3. Apply solvent to the road-line paint, using the damp towel.
  4. Wait 10 to 15 seconds for the lacquer solvent to loosen the paint
  5. Wipe the road-line paint from your car, using a terry cloth. Massage the road paint in a circular motion until it comes loose.
  6. Moisten a fresh towel with lacquer-paint-thinning solvent and wipe down any remaining road-line paint. Use the buffer, equipped with a wool pad, to clean off the remaining road paint.
  7. Dry excess lacquer solvent with a new, dry towel.
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