Well, I am back after a long road trip down south. Enjoyable, but I am also glad to get back.
Today’s (7/13) paper had an article on the Assembly partially forgiving a loan made to the Fishermen’s Memorial – chaired by Bruce Weyhrauch. If you read it you see that I opposed the loan forgiveness. I did not feel the organization had honored the contract in good faith since they had not made any loan payments since 1998 – even though they have 50K in their bank account. I was also concerned that we are anticipating budget shortfalls, and we rejected the whale sculpture funding— so why fund this one? Ah well.
I was also on the short end of an 8-1 vote a couple weeks back to fund a new position with the Juneau Economic Development Council for an Affordable Housing Coordinator. Although I support the general concept, this request was for 100K for what United Way had previously done for about 30K. I was uncomfortable with that switch and the amount of dollars. I am not exactly sure what we will be gaining.
I did support us going forward with hiring a solid waste coordinator. Juneau citizens have made it clear that waste management is a high priority. This passed with Mr. Wanamaker opposing.
On June 23 the Planning Commission approved a variance for the Mental Health Trust to waive the height restrictions for the proposed office building located between Egan and the Coast Guard Building. The full minutes aren’t out yet, but the staff report is at http://www.juneau.org/plancomm/documents/STF_VAR09-16_000.pdf
You may have noted last week that the Assembly accepted putting one of the School District’s three requested projects on the ballot this fall for bond issue funding (Gastineau Elementary). The other two projects (Auke Bay and Marie Drake) were postponed. Every bond issue approval increases our debt service and your property tax. The schools definitely need work, but I believe we need to spread this out over a number of years.
At tonight’s (7/13) Regular Assembly Meeting an ordinance amending the animal control regs will be introduced and then heard at our 8/10 meeting. Juneau loves its dogs, and I found it interesting to wade through the verbiage. New language is in italics. There’s some interesting stuff.
http://www.juneau.org/assembly/agendas/2009/2009-07-13/documents/2009-12.pdf
Hope we continue our wonderful weather.
Jonathan
Monday, July 13, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Last Monday the Assembly passed the 2009-2010 budget. This link does not include the final tweaks, but it is pretty close. http://www.juneau.org/financeftp/FY10RevisedBudget.php
We have been feeling nervous about the situation next year, but I guess we cross that bridge when we come to it. We are sitting fairly well with a healthy budget reserve, so if our worst fears come true, we will have that to fall back on.
The Assembly passed the budget 8-1 with only Mr. Wanamaker opposing. He made it clear he favors less government and lower taxes. While that is a popular slogan to some, the realities of fewer city services, less responsive government, less infrastructure is not what most citizens of Juneau want. The budget surveys that the League of Women Voters conduct for us every other year are always helpful and indicate citizens are basically satisfied with the current level of government. http://www.juneau.org/assembly/Budget_Surveys/index.php
Over the summer Assembly work slows down while tourism and construction heat up. I will be out of state for about the next 6 weeks, and although I will be available through email, I probably will take a break from this blog unless something big comes up.
For those of you interested in getting a bit more involved in dealing with Juneau’s many issues we have Board openings on a number of our Enterprise Boards, including the Airport, Hospital, Eaglecrest and Docks and Harbors Boards. Applications for those Boards are due June 1. For more details see- http://www.juneau.org/clerk/boards/Board_Mainpage.php
And then, of course, in October three Assembly seats will be up for election. The incumbents of the three seats Mayor Botelho, David Stone and Sara Chambers have not said whether they will run again. If anyone is interested in running and wants to chat, give me a shout.
We have been feeling nervous about the situation next year, but I guess we cross that bridge when we come to it. We are sitting fairly well with a healthy budget reserve, so if our worst fears come true, we will have that to fall back on.
The Assembly passed the budget 8-1 with only Mr. Wanamaker opposing. He made it clear he favors less government and lower taxes. While that is a popular slogan to some, the realities of fewer city services, less responsive government, less infrastructure is not what most citizens of Juneau want. The budget surveys that the League of Women Voters conduct for us every other year are always helpful and indicate citizens are basically satisfied with the current level of government. http://www.juneau.org/assembly/Budget_Surveys/index.php
Over the summer Assembly work slows down while tourism and construction heat up. I will be out of state for about the next 6 weeks, and although I will be available through email, I probably will take a break from this blog unless something big comes up.
For those of you interested in getting a bit more involved in dealing with Juneau’s many issues we have Board openings on a number of our Enterprise Boards, including the Airport, Hospital, Eaglecrest and Docks and Harbors Boards. Applications for those Boards are due June 1. For more details see- http://www.juneau.org/clerk/boards/Board_Mainpage.php
And then, of course, in October three Assembly seats will be up for election. The incumbents of the three seats Mayor Botelho, David Stone and Sara Chambers have not said whether they will run again. If anyone is interested in running and wants to chat, give me a shout.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
On April 25th several hundred people gathered at Centennial Hall to brainstorm ideas about how to improve our capital city. We generated over 300 suggestions, some frivolous, but most of them serious and worth considering. Then we broke into small groups representing 12 different categories and selected what each group believed were the five most important to address. It was an exciting three hours because citizens across the political spectrum were sharing their ideas with a common goal-- to make Juneau the best capital city we can. A new Capital City Forum web site lists the 300 ideas and the results of the small group sessions. http://www.juneau.org/assembly/ccf/index.php If you have other ideas, please send them through the email link provided. Many people focus on the issues that divide us. What is great about this process is the effort to join together on the things that unite us.
Last week the Finance Committee approved an unchanged property tax rate of 10.6 mills
(tax per thousand dollars of assessed value). Individuals’ actual tax depends on the assessed rate of property on January 1 of each year. The budget should be voted on at our May 18 Regular Assembly Meeting.
The issue of the landfill and solid waste disposal continues to be a concern with many complexities. Over the past year there have been complaints about odor and they have been addressed by Waste Management with pipes and flaming off methane.
Our recycling plan has been put on hold by the fact of low prices for recycled materials. We shipped materials south in March at about a $12,000 loss. We will continue to collect and ship (for the time being) in the hopes that prices will rebound.
The Assembly just received a consultants report on the feasibility of various waste incinerators. http://www.juneau.org/clerk/ASC/COTW/2009/documents/2009-05-06_SCS_Engineers_Opinion_Letter_to_Joe_Buck_re_Plasma-Arc_Gasification_and_Waste-to-.pdf
And here is the recommendation from the Public Works Director stressing that the city needs to secure the trash collection license so we can control the waste stream. http://www.juneau.org/clerk/ASC/COTW/2009/documents/2009-05-06_Joe_Buck_Memo_re_Plasma-Arc_Gasification_and_Waste-to-Energy_Incineration.pdf
There is a Junk vehicle disposal day May 22 http://www.juneau.org/pubworks/JunkCarEvent_000.php
And a Hazardous Waste Disposal day May 31 http://www.juneau.org/pubworks/hazardwaste.php Please take your hazardous material to that drop off site rather than dumping it in the landfill.
Management of our waste is not something quick and easy to resolve, but I feel like we are continuing to address the issue.
Results of the recent McDowell Group Tourism Survey were presented to the Assembly Committee of the Whole on May 11. It emphasizes how much the tourism industry benefits the Juneau economy. http://www.juneau.org/clerk/ASC/COTW/2009/documents/2009-05-11_Tourism_Survey_Juneau_Visitor_Impacts_4_20.pdf
Last week the Finance Committee approved an unchanged property tax rate of 10.6 mills
(tax per thousand dollars of assessed value). Individuals’ actual tax depends on the assessed rate of property on January 1 of each year. The budget should be voted on at our May 18 Regular Assembly Meeting.
The issue of the landfill and solid waste disposal continues to be a concern with many complexities. Over the past year there have been complaints about odor and they have been addressed by Waste Management with pipes and flaming off methane.
Our recycling plan has been put on hold by the fact of low prices for recycled materials. We shipped materials south in March at about a $12,000 loss. We will continue to collect and ship (for the time being) in the hopes that prices will rebound.
The Assembly just received a consultants report on the feasibility of various waste incinerators. http://www.juneau.org/clerk/ASC/COTW/2009/documents/2009-05-06_SCS_Engineers_Opinion_Letter_to_Joe_Buck_re_Plasma-Arc_Gasification_and_Waste-to-.pdf
And here is the recommendation from the Public Works Director stressing that the city needs to secure the trash collection license so we can control the waste stream. http://www.juneau.org/clerk/ASC/COTW/2009/documents/2009-05-06_Joe_Buck_Memo_re_Plasma-Arc_Gasification_and_Waste-to-Energy_Incineration.pdf
There is a Junk vehicle disposal day May 22 http://www.juneau.org/pubworks/JunkCarEvent_000.php
And a Hazardous Waste Disposal day May 31 http://www.juneau.org/pubworks/hazardwaste.php Please take your hazardous material to that drop off site rather than dumping it in the landfill.
Management of our waste is not something quick and easy to resolve, but I feel like we are continuing to address the issue.
Results of the recent McDowell Group Tourism Survey were presented to the Assembly Committee of the Whole on May 11. It emphasizes how much the tourism industry benefits the Juneau economy. http://www.juneau.org/clerk/ASC/COTW/2009/documents/2009-05-11_Tourism_Survey_Juneau_Visitor_Impacts_4_20.pdf
Monday, May 4, 2009
I think I’ll give the budget debate a rest- other than to note that Wednesday at our Finance Committee meeting the Assembly is to decide on our “pending” requests for financial help.
You may find it interesting to see the groups the CBJ Social Service Advisory Board has funded http://www.juneau.org/clerk/documents/SSAB_FY10_Block_Grant_Awards.pdf
And also what the Youth Activities Board has funded (see page 6 of our 4/15 agenda)
http://www.juneau.org/clerk/documents/2009-04-15_AFC_agenda-web3.pdf
It seems there will be lots of construction work this summer. DOT is putting up a light at Whittier and Egan and will close off cross traffic turns at Willoughby. A good move, I think. I have heard DOT is also planning a traffic roundabout at the Mendenhall Loop and Backloop intersection on the way to the Glacier. I get that confused with planned construction at the DeHarts intersection, but I think they are still trying to figure out the best way to design that one. I think Thane road is to get resurfaced (finally). We have City projects continuing in the Flats (around 12th St) and Radcliffe road out near the Airport. We’ll continue on the Public Works shop at 7 mile, and sewers from Industrial Blvd to Engineers Cutoff (as well as continuing work on N. Douglas. The Valley pool should get started. The Downtown Transit Center should start structural work. I think the DZ covered playground should get built, and there is ongoing remodeling work at the Airport. Eaglecrest’s mid mountain and beginners’ lifts should be completed this summer. It’s hard to keep track of all the projects going on. There are certainly more than the ones I mentioned. Information on city projects can be found on the Engineering site http://www.juneau.org/engineering/
Another issue I have been working at is to find an appropriate recreational spot for off road vehicles. The challenge is to find a place where environmental damage is controlled and where recreational noise will not interfere with others. Last year we thought we had a solution at the old North Douglas/Fish Creek gravel pit. But after very contentious hearings, the Planning Commission turned down the permit. There was another option at Echo Cove on Goldbelt land, but their Board of Directors rejected it. We recently examined land up Lemon Creek at what is called Hidden Valley (past Costco), but the combination of concerns from Secon (who owns land and stores explosives there) and objections from state Corrections (Lemon Creek facility) make that option unworkable. I talked last week with the Forest Service and they have opened a tract of land at 25 mile for use. That seems to be the only place at this point, but discussions continue.
Finally, we are all interested in hearing when the Supreme Court will rule on the Kensington tailings disposal issue. It could be any week now.
You may find it interesting to see the groups the CBJ Social Service Advisory Board has funded http://www.juneau.org/clerk/documents/SSAB_FY10_Block_Grant_Awards.pdf
And also what the Youth Activities Board has funded (see page 6 of our 4/15 agenda)
http://www.juneau.org/clerk/documents/2009-04-15_AFC_agenda-web3.pdf
It seems there will be lots of construction work this summer. DOT is putting up a light at Whittier and Egan and will close off cross traffic turns at Willoughby. A good move, I think. I have heard DOT is also planning a traffic roundabout at the Mendenhall Loop and Backloop intersection on the way to the Glacier. I get that confused with planned construction at the DeHarts intersection, but I think they are still trying to figure out the best way to design that one. I think Thane road is to get resurfaced (finally). We have City projects continuing in the Flats (around 12th St) and Radcliffe road out near the Airport. We’ll continue on the Public Works shop at 7 mile, and sewers from Industrial Blvd to Engineers Cutoff (as well as continuing work on N. Douglas. The Valley pool should get started. The Downtown Transit Center should start structural work. I think the DZ covered playground should get built, and there is ongoing remodeling work at the Airport. Eaglecrest’s mid mountain and beginners’ lifts should be completed this summer. It’s hard to keep track of all the projects going on. There are certainly more than the ones I mentioned. Information on city projects can be found on the Engineering site http://www.juneau.org/engineering/
Another issue I have been working at is to find an appropriate recreational spot for off road vehicles. The challenge is to find a place where environmental damage is controlled and where recreational noise will not interfere with others. Last year we thought we had a solution at the old North Douglas/Fish Creek gravel pit. But after very contentious hearings, the Planning Commission turned down the permit. There was another option at Echo Cove on Goldbelt land, but their Board of Directors rejected it. We recently examined land up Lemon Creek at what is called Hidden Valley (past Costco), but the combination of concerns from Secon (who owns land and stores explosives there) and objections from state Corrections (Lemon Creek facility) make that option unworkable. I talked last week with the Forest Service and they have opened a tract of land at 25 mile for use. That seems to be the only place at this point, but discussions continue.
Finally, we are all interested in hearing when the Supreme Court will rule on the Kensington tailings disposal issue. It could be any week now.
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