The management of the Performing Arts Center has told Save Anchorage it cannot hang a banner on the side of the Alaska Performing Arts building.
The Black Lives Matter banner that hung there for weeks is now down. It had been approved for the side of the building by the Berkowitz Administration through Oct. 2.
Jamie Allard, Assembly member for the Eagle River area, said the management of the center has been hard to reach, and has not returned her calls, but that a new email she received, there was a clear “no.”
The management of the PAC said that the current banner policy is being revisited due to the kerfuffle over the Black Lives Matter banner, which had turned the building wall into a “public forum.”
But so far the policy has not yet been changed, and that means the Save Anchorage group is being treated unfairly and that the municipality has showed preference to the Black Lives Matter group, Allard said.
In an email to Allard, the PAC management carefully wrote: “As a result of the complaint filed with his office, Municipal Ombudsman Darrel W. Hess informed ACPA that banners for events not happening inside the building create a ‘public forum’ and should not be allowed. As such, the current PAC banner policy is being revised to allow only PAC events to be advertised on any banners placed on the building and no banners that create a “’public forum’ be allowed.
The PAC’s banner policy is here:
