Assembly Report for October 25, 2005

Street vendors and open air markets are common in many developing countries, including El Salvador. In Anchorage, the Mayor's Office and the Anchorage Downtown Partnership will present a new ordinance governing street vendors (AO 2005-160) for public hearing on November 1, 2005.
_______________________________________________________
ASSEMBLY CONSERVATIVES MAUL TRANSPORTATION PLAN: Led by Dan Coffey, Dan Sullivan, and Anna Fairclough, Assembly conservatives ravaged the Mayor's Long Range Transportation Plan with scores of floor amendments in a special meeting Monday night and again on Tuesday. Casualties include needed roadwork at Lake Otis and Tudor which will be delayed for seven years and the Coastal Trail extension in south Anchorage. Favorable references to commuter rail, pedestrian amenities, and landscaping were ripped from the plan and replaced with endorsements of new and larger roads including the Dowling Road extension and a new turnpike cutting through university lands between Northern Lights and UAA Drive. Conservatives yanked several references to "aesthetics" and even language calling for Anchorage to "develop an attractive and efficient transportation network."

An amendment offered by Paul Bauer to build a $110M expressway linking Bonifiace with the airport approved on Monday was sheepishly withdrawn on Tuesday when fellow conservatives learned from the mayor the road would require demolition of 70 houses and affect 30 businesses. Even Assembly member Dick Traini changed his vote on the project when he learned that his family's home is located within 50 feet of the new expressway.

Ingnoring more than 70% of his constituents who support the project, Dan Coffey voted against the Mayor's congestion relief program at the notorious Lake Otis and Tudor Road bottleneck. Dick Traini joined fellow conservatives in opposing the popular south extenstion of the Coastal Trail. Members Bauer, Birch, and Ossiander followed Coffey's lead on virtually every issue; Allan Tesche, Pamela Jennings, and Janice Shamberg voted against Coffey's amendments. The final vote on the transportation plan, as amended, was 9-2, with Jennings and Tesche dissenting. The plan will be forwarded to AMATS for final action.
SULLIVAN PROPOSES SIGN ORDINANCE ROLLBACK: Assemblymember Dan Sullivan now wants to repeal improvements made to the sign ordinance in 2003 which require the amoritzation or "phasing out" of illegal signs, including pole signs which still loom over commercial areas in Anchorage. Under AO 2005-163, illegal pole signs would no longer have to be removed in 2006 and all other illegal signs could remain in place, in perpetuity. A public hearing is scheduled for January 10, 2006.
PUBLIC HEARINGS ON FY 2006 BUDGET OPEN: With a handful of people protesting increased user fees for parks facilities, the Assembly opened public hearings on the general government, capital, and utilities budgets for 2006. A second public hearing is scheduled for November 8, 2005.
DEPARTMENT OF NEIGHBORHOODS FORMED: The Assembly unaminously approved the mayor's proposal to create a new Department of Neighborhoods within the Office of Economic and Community Development. (AO 2005-142) Assigned the Community Development Block Grant Program, the HAND Commission, and a collection of smaller neighborhood enhancement programs, the new department will coordinate public and private resources to respond to neighorhood needs.
LARGE ANIMAL ORDINANCE DELAYED: A public hearing on AO 2005-150 (large animal ordinance) has been postponed until November 22, 2005.