If you thought the trails and greenbelts around Anchorage were becoming overwhelmed with vagrant homesteaders, welcome to downtown Anchorage, where the views are breathtaking — if you can overlook the human sprawl and excrement on the sidewalks.
Once a hub of commerce and entertainment, the city’s core now resembles a set from a post-apocalyptic docuseries, complete with tents, tarps, and territorial disputes over electrical outlets — all under the overflowing flower baskets provided by the city.
In this exclusive photo series — part of our summer coverage of the new-normal under Mayor Suzanne LaFrance — we take you on a 12-hour tour of a downtown where flower baskets and vagrancy are the key features. But relief may be on the horizon, if you consider 24 government-built sheds to be constructed at Elmore Road and Tudor Road a solution. The question isn’t whether those sheds will be ready. It’s whether the downtown population is willing to trade prime park real estate for a “Crampground” compound far from their favorite haunts.
Our other coverage of Anchorage vagrancy includes what is happening in the greenbelts:
Any information on where the “free” tents and clothing coming from? My grand kids just destroyed my tent playing Mongol Invaders in the front yard. I could use a new one. I’m too busy working to cover my new updated property tax bill to research the freebies. Flexing my privilege, I guess.
This is just a hint of what downtown looks like. Most of Anchorage doesn’t go downtown anymore and apparently doesn’t care but this is the tourists’ first impression and what they have to deal with. Why would they want to come back????
I personally don’t care what tourists think but some people do. Will those people do anything to fix the problem? I doubt it.
You may not be affected by tourist decline, but I guarantee people you know count on that revenue. Lots of jobs up here would go under without the tourist (rental co, restaurants, small business owners, every gas station, guiding services, our parks and rec, ect)
thanks for the article but i wonder if our leadership will do anything about it.
yaw-youbetsha
Realize this. These are fully grown and fully developed human beings. Human beings capable of vast potential to build the most advanced civilizations we have ever seen. We have modern conveniences and the ability to learn anything we want within the palms of our hands. Yet these particular human beings actively choose, every day, not to live up to their potential. They choose to inebriate themselves and act like zombie roaches. They choose not to dispose of their own garbage and they choose to behave like wild animals with no self control. They will even try to attack you as if they are territorial beasts. (Not all, but most) They deserve compassion, but they also deserve accountability.
We have built this city and we hope to advance beyond our beast-like nature.
Those who hide behind the identity of “progress” want only power and control.
Democrats will use the bums as a tax cudgel against the working class and we will see not advancement towards progress, no. We will only see more burden on the ones who create a healthy society in order to feed the useless consumers of society all while the Democrats will fatten their own wallets along the way.
If you see any initiative that will cost the working class anything at all to remedy this situation, you must loudly oppose and demand that the progressives who want to use a gentle touch to use their own damn money and stop placing the responsibility and burden on the rest of us!
So true and I am sure they all vote!
My favorite was when a couple of years ago we witnessed two persons of the transient persuasion having sex while lying on a sidewalk area close to the Northern Lights / C Street intersection and then having to answer my 4-year-old who asked what they were doing. Doesn’t appear that things have improved any.
IIRC that was two dudes.
The last pic is somewhat apropos…. The store front cannabis. Wonder if there has been any parallel found with increased homeless vagrancy and the legalization of marijuana. Just a thought and we know there are many variables.
It’s been one of biggest causes of homeless. Once you start smoking pot, you’ll get kicked out of ANY housing..and I’ve always wonder why there is an increase of people on the streets. I though a year or so back, we had knocked it down some…,but I’m thinking that people are coming up here to stay homeless just to be able to claim residency for PFD so they can smoke weed all the time..I think some people in charge best find out what the people’s reasons are to be up who have come up here and have not found housing and why.
I live in Muldoon, I work in Mountain View and I drive through downtown all the time. I’m sick of this. I am super happy Davis park has been cleaned up and I can walk my dog there now but i still see people and trash around my house, work and all around town.
Basically, here’s visual evidence of what $250MM+ brings to taxpayers, as managed by the Assembly. This is a complete abrogation of fiduciary responsibility and most likely a scam. Unfortunately, I don’t see the circumstances improving until better leadership is in the majority. Can we wait for the next election cycle(?) … expect a significant higher attendance at voting polls of practical – responsible visionaries(?) … expect high quality candidates whom have the Anchorage taxpayers best interest at hand(?) … how much more of a decline in the quality of life will taxpayers accept(?) … ???
Wake-Up Anchorage! Throwing more money and having sub-standard elected leaders manage this issue isn’t producing meaning – significant results.
What happened to the camping on the streets not legal? Id say sleeping on the sidewalk is camping! Another law not enforced. Anyone who thinks that law will change anything clearly has blinders on. Nothing will change unless we remove almost every assembly member! Good luck on that….
It’s not only downtown; mid town has it’s problems too. This is why I haven’t shopped in Anchorage for a long time. Thank goodness for Amazon.
My thoughts exactly. I used to work downtown and was able to walk around during lunch (this was three years ago) and never saw anything like what I just saw in the article; how sad!
Without consequences there’s no accountability.
LaFrance needs to be recalled as do the demonstrably incompetent assembly members. The fat homosexual uber driver, the fat homosexual real estate salesman and any of the others that resist responsible management of Anchorage.
Alternatively…
If the majority of Anchorage’s real estate owning population were to skip paying their property tax for the several months req’d for liens to be processed, etc. then maybe our apparently tacit view would be understood.
What you gets when a democratic assembly controls everything welcome to LA of the north.
I work down there and 1 of these pics shows in front of our store it’s horrible everyday ! I put I multiple calls and sometimes security or police come sometimes they don’t for hrs . And when they do all they do is ask them to leave the area a few feet away. And few minutes later they’re right back in front screaming at us who know they’re not allowed near our buisness . And watch them scream profanity and doing unspeakable acts to the people/tourists out there !! It’s sad I know that homeless is a lot of country but our visitors do not deserve this and I can only imagine what they say to family or friends back home . We’re going to lose tourism and with that will lose a lot of family ect businesses ! Something needs to be done Now !!!