Outlaw encampments continue to spread across Anchorage, bringing with them a host of public safety concerns, including gunfire, fires, and stolen property, despite weak efforts by an ineffectual mayor to address the crisis. Must Read Alaska readers have dubbed these encampments SLAZ — Suzanne LaFrance Autonomous Zone, after the mayor who promised voters she would clean up the city.
Last week, gunshots rang out at an encampment near Mulcahy Stadium, rattling families and disrupting youth baseball games. Players were sent scrambling into dugouts for cover, and although Anchorage police responded to the incident, the department has yet to provide the public with any detailed information.
The shooting, coupled with encampment fire seen in the same woods this past Tuesday, prompted the Must Read Alaska team to investigate that area and others.
A massive encampment has emerged along Chester Creek Trail south of Kendall Ford, at the intersection of 20th Avenue and the New Seward Highway. The site has grown rapidly and now includes piles of broken-down bicycles, parts, and even what appears to be a pop-up, open-air storefront set up in a tent.
A sign affixed to a large tent advertises prices for items and another sign tells people that if they are not shopping, they should move along.
They are selling everything from Chips Ahoy for $4 to Gillette razors for $1 each. You can buy Tate’s chocolate chip cookies, otter pops, and cigarettes (three for $5).
Here’s the price list for the store:
It’s a jarring sight on what was once a popular urban trail for biking and walking. At least 100 people are encamped there. Many of the tarps and tents appear to be in relatively new condition.
The rapid expansion of this and other camps follows the city’s high-profile removal of the sprawling Davis Park encampment earlier this year. That operation, which came at a cost of thousands of dollars to taxpayers, removed more than 700,000 pounds of debris. As the city moved in to abate that camp, vagrants set it on fire as they exited, complicating the abatement and turning it into a fire and crime scene. No arrests were made.
Encampments have simply reconstituted in other areas of town, often with even less oversight.
The situation near Kendall Ford, Mulcahy Stadium, and other areas has become a flashpoint in the city’s ongoing debate over how to handle transient outlaws, addiction, and public disorder.
As part of an ongoing series, we continue to document these developments with photographs and firsthand accounts from across Anchorage. The summer of 2025 is proving to be yet another test of the city’s political will to restore safety and livability to its public spaces. Note that our photos capture only a small portion of what we saw in the new SLAZ encampment along Chester Creek.
Mayor LaFrance, as part of her campaign in 2024, accused former Mayor Dave Bronson of incompetence.
This is what competence apparently looks like:
