Assembly Report for January 30, 2007

APRIL 3RD BALLOT LOOKING MORE AND MORE LIKE A TWO HEADED COW: Straight from the large animal clinic comes the April 3, 2007 municipal ballot. What voters will see is something like a two headed cow. Here are details.

Smoking ban referendum - Referendum petitions passed around in a few local watering holes actually contained enough signatures to put the question of repeal of the city’s popular indoor workplace smoking ban on the April 3, 2007 ballot. If the health of innocent third parties such as co workers and customers weren’t involved here, the strident "right to die" arguments made by CHARR extremists might have more traction with Anchorage voters.

Taxicab regulation referendum - With an assist from the state supreme court (see the Tesche Report of 01/03/07 for details) a referendum on proposed repeal of local limits on issue of new taxi cab permits in Anchorage goes to the voters on April 3rd. Devastating news for holders of current permits which are easily worth over $100,000 and a boon to local media who will sell hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising placed by worried investors in these cab permits. Plug your ears.

Same sex benefits "advisory" vote: Ex-Governor Murkowski and his Republican pals in the Alaska legislature are asking Alaska voters for "advice" on what to do about court mandated health plans for same sex partners of state employees. This special statewide vote will cost taxpayers $1,000,000 at the same time Gov. Sarah Palin has plans to cut the state’s operating budget by $150M. This costly "advisory" vote on whether to defy the supreme court and deny health coverage to a handful of Alaskans is a misuse of the ballot and sets a new low for tolerance in Alaska.

Six assembly seats: are also up for grabs on April 3rd; so far fourteen persons are running. For a recap on assembly races, see this Report for January 23, 2007. Since then, community activist David Dunsmore has filed for the South Anchorage seat; political unknown Gary Hovenac has signed up to run somewhere; the filing deadline is February 9, 2007.

School bonds: The Anchorage School District will ask voters to borrow $65M in new school bonds to rebuild an aging Clark Middle School and additional $20M for repairs to other schools in the district. With state reimbursement of 60% of the cost of these bonds, they are an extraordinary good investments in our future, but are Anchorage voters buying?

Other issues headed to voters include $35.5M for road bonds, $4.9M in parks bonds; $5.7M for public safety and transportation improvements, $3.1M for fire protection capital improvements, several small land transactions, a long list of limited road service area propositions, and a technical charter amendment relating to the timing of Assembly reapportiomment following the federal census.

"BIG WILD LIFE" IS NEW BRAND ON ANCHORGE: To a capacity lunch crowd at the Egan, the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) unveiled its new "brand" for Anchorage on Wednesday, emphasizing the city's attractions to residents, visitors, and to businesses. A stunning 5 minute video accompanied the announcement, largely emphasing outdoor recreation, wildlife, the community's more distinctive buildings. Mr. Whitekeys did not play the event.

After lunch, guests were invited to walk over to Town Square and scoop up samples of merchandise ranging from T-shirts hanging from trees to water bottles sporting the new town logo. Trading on E-Bay for the new paraphenalia was light during the afternoon, but picking up. "Big Wild Life" is intended to replace earlier brands given to Anchorage including "Air Crossroads of the World", "Wild About Anchorage", and even "the Outlet on the Inlet".