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:
