Home Blog Page 609

Win Gruening: After the election, where do we go from here, Juneau?

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
-
7
Win Gruening: After the election, where do we go from here, Juneau?

By WIN GRUENING

The dust has finally settled on Juneau’s recent municipal election and there’s an expectation that the Assembly will start conducting its business more transparently and begin re-examining its priorities.

With the new Juneau city hall initiative suffering its second electoral setback in two years, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. Some project proponents blame its defeat on a public misunderstanding of the ostensible benefits advanced by city leaders, but that excuse doesn’t hold water. Voters evaluated more than enough information to make their decision on the project merits.

Even after the Assembly authorized $16 million in up-front funding and expended $50,000, to “educate” voters, The city hall initiative received fewer “Yes” votes and failed by a larger margin than in the 2022 election. 

It was a doomed effort from the start. It’s past time to re-think the cost, location, and need for a facility of this size.

The public rebuke of the new city hall should signal to the Juneau Assembly that their other mega-project priority, an expanded arts and culture center, now combined with a revamp of Centennial Hall and dubbed the Capital Civic Center, may be in trouble. $17 million has been appropriated to date even though no one knows the final cost or the extent of the required annual subsidy. Several years ago the price tag was estimated at $75 million. Who knows how much more it will cost now?

It’s interesting to note that while Capital Civic Center boosters maintain that such a grand facility is needed, a recent weekend in Juneau tells a different story. Three very large downtown public events were held simultaneously on a Saturday night at Centennial Hall, Juneau Arts & Culture Center, and at the State Library and Museum.

While those three major events were happening, Juneau’s Crystal Saloon was entertaining yet another audience…and in the Valley, Juneau’s Moose Lodge and Women of the Moose held a fundraiser auction.

Juneau certainly seems to have facilities that can host large, medium and small events.

Even more telling is the trend of cultural performances being staged in smaller Juneau neighborhood venues instead of larger auditoriums.

In November, Theater Alaska is scheduling an Ibsen production in eleven different venues around the city. Only one of those is taking place in the Juneau Arts and Culture Center. Comparable outdoor performances were enjoyed earlier this summer at parks in the Mendenhall Valley, downtown and Douglas during the Alaska Theater Festival. 

According to event organizers, their main focus is to increase accessibility and bring “professional theater and professional artists closer to the community.” A total of 2,259 people attended similar festival shows last year.

Acknowledging that traditional approaches may no longer be useful in contemplating building uses, whether for city employees or theater-goers, requires a complete mind-shift by our city leaders.

Nevertheless, some will interpret the retention of sitting assembly members and the election of the two new members as quasi-approval of these projects and a continuation of business as usual. 

That would be a mistake. 

The power of incumbency, the strength of campaigns, and the sheer number of candidates in the Areawide race played a major role in this election and the results did not truly reflect the amount of public dissatisfaction with a whole host of past and current Assembly actions. Juneau residents have continued to voice their frustration over a number of concerns:

  • Unwarranted, exorbitant increases in property taxes
  • Millions of tax dollars appropriated for projects not approved by the public
  • Non-disclosure of emails constituting public testimony   
  • New city manager selection held almost entirely in secret
  • Continuation of expensive vote-by-mail elections with little benefit

Over the past several years, Juneau city leaders have promoted projects and initiatives without fully vetting them with the public. Appropriating millions of dollars for buildings or projects like vote-by-mail without a clear idea of cost or impacts is not a recipe for gaining public trust in government.

Continuing business as usual will only result in more unnecessary taxes and impacts that will further burden Juneau working families and aging population. JEDC’s 2023 Economic Indicators revealed for the first time in Juneau history, our over-60 citizens outnumber our under-20 young people. This isn’t a positive trend.

Resolving these issues will require creative, perhaps unconventional, thinking but that’s what is needed now, more than ever.

After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular opinion page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations.

Win Gruening: New City Hall for Juneau comes down to dollars, sense
Win Gruening: Does vote-by-mail work? It’s time for another look

Open-shut case: Tribe paid families to move to Karluk so school could open, but the families left after a month

Suzanne Downing
-
60
Open-shut case: Tribe paid families to move to Karluk so school could open, but the families left after a month

The Karluk Tribal Council, which didn’t have enough students to open its school, paid a couple of families from the Lower 48 an all-expense move to the village so it would have enough students to open the school. The families would have all their expenses paid for a year to live in Karluk and enroll their children in the school.

Two families were chosen out of numerous applicants.

On Oct. 24, the Karluk school board met in an emergency meeting and voted to close the school again, after both of the families that were chosen for the honor of living in the village left, and took their children with them after only one month.

The tactic of getting enough children to attract state funding for the school made national news after a social media campaign was placed this summer.

Karluk is located on Kodiak Island and was once a thriving village with a fish cannery. The village is down to about 20 residents and the school closed in 2018.

According to KMXT radio, the district will try to get the State to send money for the students for the weeks they did attend, but other than that, the district is short about $80,000 for the experiment.

More at KMXT.

Karluk will pay two families with kids to move there for one year

Anchorage Goes: Assembly wants to sprinkle dozens of $400,000 toilets all over the city

Suzanne Downing
-
86
Anchorage Goes: Assembly wants to sprinkle dozens of $400,000 toilets all over the city

They’re not gold-plated toilets but they will cost property taxpayers a pretty penny. A bond measure that will ask Anchorage voters to spend $12.5 million bond to install up to 30 “Portland Loos” or similar toilets across the municipality passed the Assembly on Tuesday.

The fancy-but-functional outdoor toilets, which are plumbed and have electricity to them, would cost taxpayers more than $416,000 apiece, according to the measure, which has been dubbed by the Assembly, “Anchorage Goes.”

Aside from the possibly awkward “Anchorage Goes” branding, it’s something that will specifically help the homeless and possibly prevent human excrement from showing up all over sidewalks and greenbelts.

“Public restrooms have been a common feature in cities, along with other public health and hygiene amenities such as drinking fountains, seating areas, and indoor and outdoor recreational facilities such as parks, transit stations, and community centers,” said the Assembly members who sponsored the measure.

portable-pottiesDownload

The public toilets will help the people living on the streets who have no where else to go.

Portland Loos have cost a variable amount, depending on where they have been installed; but according to other cities, they each cost about $12,000 annually to maintain.

In Chicago, the loos have been subjected to vandalism and have been used for prostitution. They have attracted tent cities that grow around them.

“Problems there have included drug use and prostitution within the loo and homeless people living nearby in small tents. Vandals and users have also broken the loo’s door off the hinges and destroyed the lock several times, and there was flooding when the nozzle on the loo’s outdoor sink was broken,” reported the Chicago Tribune in 2015.

San Diego, a city with 1.4 million people, spent spent more than $500,000 installing just two of the loos. But with various maintenance costs and complaints from residents, the city put one of them in storage.

Anchorage Assembly members Chris Constant, Meg Zaletel, and Anna Brawley were the sponsors of the bond measure, which voters will decide on the April 2, 2024.

House elects Speaker Mike Johnson

Suzanne Downing
-
40
House elects Speaker Mike Johnson

On a vote of 220 to 209 of Wednesday, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana was elected House Speaker on the House floor. He won on the first vote.

All Democrats, including Alaska’s Rep. Mary Peltola, voted for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who is part of the far-left of the Democratic Party.

Johnson is a constitutional lawyer from Shreveport. He is succeeding more-moderate Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, who was ousted earlier this month by the more-conservative wing of the Republican caucus, who joined with Democrats to bounce him from the role he had held since January.

Three other nominees had failed to get enough votes in the Republican majority caucus to win on the floor.

Johnson released a statement:

“It is the honor of a lifetime to have been elected the 56th Speaker of the House. 

“Thank you to my colleagues, friends, staff, and family for the unmatched support throughout this process. It has been an arduous few weeks, and a reminder that the House is as complicated and diverse as the people we represent. The urgency of this moment demands bold, decisive action to restore trust, advance our legislative priorities, and demonstrate good governance. 

“Our House Republican Conference is united, and eager to work.  As Speaker, I will ensure the House delivers results and inspires change for the American people. We will restore trust in this body. We will advance a comprehensive conservative policy agenda, combat the harmful policies of the Biden Administration, and support our allies abroad. And we will restore sanity to a government desperately in need of it.

“Let’s get back to work.”

Killer on loose in Anchorage after man gunned down while protecting woman

Suzanne Downing
-
33
Killer on loose in Anchorage after man gunned down while protecting woman

A man who was trying to protect a woman from an armed assailant was killed on Monday by suspect Jesse Lee Jones, who is on the loose in Anchorage.

The shooting took place at a large apartment complex on Mockingbird Drive, in the Campbell Park neighborhood near the Dowling Road exit off of Seward Highway.

Jones, who is 27 years old, 6 feet tall, 175 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, is considered armed and dangerous and people are advised not to approach him. Detectives have obtained a warrant for Jones’ arrest for the charges of Murder I, two counts of Murder II, and Assault III

On Monday afternoon, Anchorage Police responded to the shooting, and dozens of police cars and SWAT vehicles were sent to the scene. Police found Josiah Goecker dead of a gunshot wound to his upper body.

Goecker worked for Weidner Apartment Homes and was attempting to protect a woman from the perpetrator when he took a bullet.

Jones’ current whereabouts is unknown. Anyone with information is asked to call Police Dispatch at 3-1-1 (option #1) or 907-786-8900 (option #0).  To remain anonymous, you may leave a tip online at www.AnchorageCrimeStoppers.com. 

A GoFundMe page has been set up for Goecker’s widow and children, one of whom is an unborn child. Earlier this year, Goecker was recognized with an award by Weidner Homes for “Leading by Example,” for positively influencing his team and always working to “do things right.”

Judge strikes down ‘good moral character’ gun regs in New York City

Suzanne Downing
-
28
Judge strikes down ‘good moral character’ gun regs in New York City

A federal judge has ruled against a gun restriction in New York City that gives officials the ability to deny gun permits based on a vaguely worded clause regarding those who are “not of good moral character.”

Judge John Cronan ruled that the city is violating the Second Amendment as well as the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The case was brought by Joseph Srour, who was denied a permit for rifles and shotguns in his home because officials said he had prior arrests, past traffic tickets, and had made false statements on his permit application.

In June of 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Bruen v. New York decision, which denied a different New York gun restriction, that Americans have a constitutional right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.

Since then, various lower courts have been striking down other gun restrictions.

Judge Cronan wrote, “the provisions fail to pass constitutional muster because of the magnitude of discretion afforded to city officials in denying an individual their constitutional right to keep and bear firearms.” He also said the notifications that Srour had been sent by the New York Police Department “are not models of clarity in explaining the precise legal grounds for denying his applications to possess firearms.”

“Without doubt, the very notions of ‘good moral character’ and ‘good cause’ are inherently exceedingly broad and discretionary. Someone may be deemed to have good moral character by one person, yet a very morally flawed character by another. Such unfettered discretion is hard, if not impossible, to reconcile with Bruen,” Cronan wrote in his ruling, which will no doubt be appealed by New York City.

Meanwhile, the challenged provisions of the regulations were amended by the New York City Police Department following the denial of Srour’s applications for firearms licenses and during the months leading up to the trial, yet the police department and city failed to notify the court of the amendment. Thus, Judge Cronan did not rule on the amended language.

Defense sends squadron of F-16s to conflict zone in Middle East after a dozen drone attacks on U.S. forces

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
-
20
Defense sends squadron of F-16s to conflict zone in Middle East after a dozen drone attacks on U.S. forces

The Pentagon announced Tuesday that a squadron of F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft has arrived in the U.S. Central Command “area of responsibility.”

The aircraft will work alongside an array of capabilities the Defense Department has sent to the Middle East region in recent days to further enhance the ability of U.S. forces to defend themselves.

After the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, militia groups backed by Iran have, on more than a dozen occasions, attacked U.S. forces conducting counterterrorism missions in both Iraq and Syria. 

“We know that the groups conducting these attacks are supported by the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and the Iranian regime,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said during a briefing Tuesday. “What we are seeing is the prospect for more significant escalation against U.S. forces and personnel across the region, in the very near term, coming from Iranian proxy forces and ultimately from Iran.” 

In response, this past weekend, the department deployed the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group to Centcom, and directed to the region a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery from Fort Bliss, Texas, and additional Patriot missile battalions from both Fort Liberty, North Carolina, and Fort Sill, Oklahoma. 

The aircraft movement announced today involves F-16s from the New Jersey Air National Guard’s 119th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron. 

A variety of military units have been put on prepare-to-deploy orders, though none of those have yet been activated, he said.

The effort to protect U.S. forces in the region is one of three primary objectives the department has focused on since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. Ryder said the department is also focused on supporting Israel’s right to defend itself from terrorist attacks and deterring a broader conflict in the region. 

To assist Israel in its defense he said the U.S. has rushed in security assistance to enable Israel Defense Forces to restore security and protect the Israeli people. 

“As we’ve highlighted, this includes capabilities requested by Israel, to include precision guided munitions, small diameter bombs, artillery, ammunition, Iron Dome interceptors and other critical equipment. We continue to stay in close contact with our Israeli partners on their defense needs and remain committed to the security of Israel,” Ryder said. 

The department has also provided advisors to Israel to help officials there mitigate civilian casualties as they conduct their military planning. Those advisors, Ryder noted, have deep experience in urban combat. 

“Since [the] Hamas terrorist attack, we’ve also been crystal clear that we do not want to see the situation in Israel [widen] into a broader regional conflict,” he said. ” … Our message to any country or group thinking about trying to take advantage of this situation to widen the conflict is: Don’t.”

Alaska Airlines says off-duty pilot not only tried cutting engine, he tried to pull emergency exit handle mid-flight

Suzanne Downing
-
25
Alaska Airlines says off-duty pilot not only tried cutting engine, he tried to pull emergency exit handle mid-flight

Alaska Airlines on Tuesday shared its version of what happened when an off-duty pilot attempted to disable a flight in mid-air on Sunday night.

Meanwhile, the FBI is looking into whether the man had been using psychedelic mushrooms, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday.

What follows is the Alaska Airlines complete statement about what happened on Sunday:

“Alaska Airlines is committed to sharing as much information as we can while respecting the ongoing federal and state criminal investigations and court proceedings. We have reviewed the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Criminal Complaint pertaining to Captain Joseph Emerson and, like many, are deeply disturbed by what we have learned.  

Off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot tried to shut down jet’s engines mid-flight

“On Oct. 22, Emerson approached Horizon Air Gate Agents overseeing the boarding process for Flight 2059. Following well-established, FAA-mandated practices to authorize a jump-seat passenger, our Gate Agent confirmed that Emerson was an off-duty pilot for Alaska Airlines. He was approved to join the flight as a passenger and was seated in the flight deck jump seat. All Gate Agents and Flight Attendants are trained to identify signs and symptoms of impairment.  

“At no time during the check-in or boarding process did our Gate Agents or flight crew observe any signs of impairment that would have led them to prevent Emerson from flying on Flight 2059.  

“The details in the DOJ affidavit describing the actions of our flight crew are consistent with our understanding of what occurred based on debriefings with each member of the flight crew. Upon exiting the flight deck, both Flight Attendants confirmed that Emerson was escorted by a Flight Attendant to the rear of the aircraft where Emerson was placed in wrist restraints and belted into the aft jump seat. Our crew also confirmed that Emerson attempted to grab the handle of the emergency exit during the aircraft’s descent before being stopped by a Flight Attendant.      

“The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has a mandatory drug testing program for on-duty crew members that is administered by all airlines, including Alaska and Horizon consistent with our zero-tolerance policy for any substance abuse. This can include random testing before or after a flight, as well as reasonable suspicion testing of on-duty Pilots and Flight Attendants.    

“On Oct. 22, Emerson was removed from service indefinitely and relieved from all duties at Alaska Airlines. Consistent with our pilots’ collective bargaining agreement, we are consulting with our partners in labor regarding his employment status.  

“We are deeply proud of our Horizon flight crew and their quick actions both in the flight deck and in the rear of the aircraft. Working together, consistent with their training, they performed their critical roles exceptionally well, representing the best of their profession.”

Emerson faced his first court hearing on Tuesday. Watch the arraignment hearing in Portland here:

 

UAF grad Tom Emmer withdraws name from House Speaker contest

Suzanne Downing
-
35
UAF grad Tom Emmer withdraws name from House Speaker contest

The House will not have a University of Alaska Fairbanks alumnus as its Speaker. Only hours after being nominated by Republicans to become the Speaker, Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota withdrew from the race.

Although Emmer had prevailed over six other candidates in closed-door caucus votes, former President Donald Trump publicly said he does not support Emmer’s candidacy. Emmer needed 217 votes on the House floor, which it became obvious he did not have after Trump weighed in.

Emmer is nominee for Speaker

He follows the failed nominations of Reps. Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan in a House drama that was initiated when harder-right Republicans joined with Democrats to vacate the House Speaker seat, which had been tenuously held by Rep. Kevin McCarthy since Jan. 7, when he was able to secure enough votes to lead the House of Representatives.

About 25 House Republicans said they would not vote for Emmer when his name came to the floor. Others who have dropped out include Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania and Gary Palmer of Alabama.

The House has been without a Speaker for three weeks. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries is the nominee for Democrats. The Republican nominations are now down to these six:

  • Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich.
  • Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla.
  • Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla.
  • Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La.
  • Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga.
  • Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas

Emmer is nominee for Speaker
1...608609610...1,834Page 609 of 1,834