Monday night’s (8/24) Assembly meeting will have two hearings of note—whether to put an increase in the tobacco tax on the October ballot and whether to put the Gastineau School bond issue on the ballot. The school one will pass unanimously. The smoking one will pass, but there may be some disagreement. Mr. Dybdahl is opposed on principle. Mr. Sanford expressed reluctance to impose any kind of new tax, but would support it if the money only went to fund substance abuse programs. We had to decide on what language we will put on the ballot for the voters explaining the issue. The proposed language is:
“It is the intent of the Assembly to continue to spend the proceeds of this tax on health and social service needs related to substance abuse and tobacco use, prevention and cessation. Some of the increased revenue may replace existing sales or property taxes currently used for those purposes.”
Now the problem is that Alaska’s Constitution states we cannot have “dedicated funds.” That means we cannot say the tobacco tax (or any other tax) will DEFINITELY go to this or that project, program or department. So we walk a legal tightrope by saying “It is the intent of the Assembly to spend it this way.” In fact the Assembly is not bound by any “intent” language (or it would violate the state Constitution). But several members are concerned that we say we intend this tax to refund the city for the cost of substance abuse programs and the increased costs of health care attributed to tobacco use. They will support such a logic – but not anything phrased as a general tax increase.
Another issue that has been bubbling up behind the scenes this week is the impact of swine flu on the homeless population. While the flu itself is not a risk to most people – and the recommendation is to just stay in bed for a few days and drink fluids – “staying in bed” is a problem for the homeless. The shelters (Glory Hole and St. Vincent) do not have the facilities and resources to quarantine sick people or to provide medical attention. They generally do not accept those with infectious diseases and they do not allow people to stay in bed all day. Couple this with the fact that the homeless tend to be a high risk population for illness, and you run the risk of having someone, quite literally, die in the streets (so far, some 477 persons have died of Swine Flu in the US). So I made a pitch to the Manager and she has been meeting with our health care providers, the Homeless Coalition and the non-profit community to come up with a proposal of what we should do – how much it will cost and who will pay what.
Finally, the filing period to run for the Assembly ended last Monday. I was surprised that there was only one challenger for the Mayor’s seat. I mentioned previously that there was speculation that a current Assembly member might run – but that did not happen.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
A Welcome Change
On Friday August 7 Governor Parnell invited the Juneau Assembly to meet with him at the Governor’s House. The meeting included of the Governor, his Chief of Staff, Legislative Liaison, Constituent Affairs coordinator and the Commissioner of Fish and Game. It was a fresh, open and extremely gratifying exchange. The governor asked about our concerns and issues and reiterated his support of Juneau as Alaska’s capital city. Yes, the proof is always in the pudding, but a governor reaching out to the Juneau Assembly is certainly a first in my tenure on the Assembly. I was impressed.
Last week members of the Assembly and the legislative delegation toured the new AEL&P Lake Dorothy project which should come on line soon. It was impressive. I think we forget how unique we are in having our electricity almost 100% renewably generated. Not only that, but unlike most dams down south, our lake-sourced hydro power does not interfere with fish migration. We are very fortunate.
Monday 8/10 is our regular Assembly meeting and there will be a public hearing and final vote on the revised animal control code, so if anyone has any comments, that is the time to make them. We’ll be introducing ordinances to put a school bond issue and raise the tobacco tax on the October ballot. The hearing on those will be August 24.
The final FY 2010 budget has been posted and I created a link on the right.
Filing for the October city election began Friday. So far no one has filed against Mayor Botelho although Mark Farmer previously announced that he would. There has been speculation that a current Assembly member (not me!) would run for the Mayoral seat. If a sitting Assembly member wants to run for Mayor, they have to resign from the Assembly. We’ll see what happens.
The filing period goes through Monday the 17th. Stephanie Madsen, who failed in her Republican primary campaign against Cathy Munoz, has filed for the District 2 (Valley) Assembly seat. I expect there will be others. No one has filed for the District 1 seat although incumbent David Stone is expected to run for re-election. Once again, if anyone you know is interested, please let them know I would be happy to talk with them.
On Friday August 7 Governor Parnell invited the Juneau Assembly to meet with him at the Governor’s House. The meeting included of the Governor, his Chief of Staff, Legislative Liaison, Constituent Affairs coordinator and the Commissioner of Fish and Game. It was a fresh, open and extremely gratifying exchange. The governor asked about our concerns and issues and reiterated his support of Juneau as Alaska’s capital city. Yes, the proof is always in the pudding, but a governor reaching out to the Juneau Assembly is certainly a first in my tenure on the Assembly. I was impressed.
Last week members of the Assembly and the legislative delegation toured the new AEL&P Lake Dorothy project which should come on line soon. It was impressive. I think we forget how unique we are in having our electricity almost 100% renewably generated. Not only that, but unlike most dams down south, our lake-sourced hydro power does not interfere with fish migration. We are very fortunate.
Monday 8/10 is our regular Assembly meeting and there will be a public hearing and final vote on the revised animal control code, so if anyone has any comments, that is the time to make them. We’ll be introducing ordinances to put a school bond issue and raise the tobacco tax on the October ballot. The hearing on those will be August 24.
The final FY 2010 budget has been posted and I created a link on the right.
Filing for the October city election began Friday. So far no one has filed against Mayor Botelho although Mark Farmer previously announced that he would. There has been speculation that a current Assembly member (not me!) would run for the Mayoral seat. If a sitting Assembly member wants to run for Mayor, they have to resign from the Assembly. We’ll see what happens.
The filing period goes through Monday the 17th. Stephanie Madsen, who failed in her Republican primary campaign against Cathy Munoz, has filed for the District 2 (Valley) Assembly seat. I expect there will be others. No one has filed for the District 1 seat although incumbent David Stone is expected to run for re-election. Once again, if anyone you know is interested, please let them know I would be happy to talk with them.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Running for an Assembly Seat
On October 6 we will hold our annual Borough elections. Three Assembly seats are up including those held by Mayor Botelho, David Stone and Sara Chambers. Ms. Chambers (Valley seat) has said she will not run for another term. The filing dates for petitions to run are from August 7-17th. http://www.juneau.org/clerk/elections/2009/2009_Regular_Election_Candidate_Page.php
Many people have thanked me for putting in the time on the Assembly, but I have received much more than I have given. First of all I love policy issues, and I enjoy spending time learning about them. That is no burden. Second, I have grown in my understanding and appreciation of our democratic process that truly gives power to the people. Third, and most importantly, I have made countless new connections and relationships with people and organizations throughout Juneau – far more than I would have on my own. I have been pushed to understand all sides of issues and to appreciate the positions of those who feel different than I do. I know some wish I was more single minded, more sure of the “right” answer to policy issues, but as with most things, the more I learn, the less I feel there is “one best way,” the more I feel it is so important to hear and understand all sides.
As I have interacted with so many people from so many backgrounds, I have also come to love Juneau, far more than I did previously. It is truly a wonderful place, filled with dedicated, public spirited people.
I am saying this because I want to encourage others to consider running for Assembly (or School Board). Yes, it is time consuming, but the rewards are great. [Just not like the New Jersey “rewards.”]
If any of you are interested in finding out more about the Assembly and what it takes to run a campaign, please give me a call and we can talk.
On October 6 we will hold our annual Borough elections. Three Assembly seats are up including those held by Mayor Botelho, David Stone and Sara Chambers. Ms. Chambers (Valley seat) has said she will not run for another term. The filing dates for petitions to run are from August 7-17th. http://www.juneau.org/clerk/elections/2009/2009_Regular_Election_Candidate_Page.php
Many people have thanked me for putting in the time on the Assembly, but I have received much more than I have given. First of all I love policy issues, and I enjoy spending time learning about them. That is no burden. Second, I have grown in my understanding and appreciation of our democratic process that truly gives power to the people. Third, and most importantly, I have made countless new connections and relationships with people and organizations throughout Juneau – far more than I would have on my own. I have been pushed to understand all sides of issues and to appreciate the positions of those who feel different than I do. I know some wish I was more single minded, more sure of the “right” answer to policy issues, but as with most things, the more I learn, the less I feel there is “one best way,” the more I feel it is so important to hear and understand all sides.
As I have interacted with so many people from so many backgrounds, I have also come to love Juneau, far more than I did previously. It is truly a wonderful place, filled with dedicated, public spirited people.
I am saying this because I want to encourage others to consider running for Assembly (or School Board). Yes, it is time consuming, but the rewards are great. [Just not like the New Jersey “rewards.”]
If any of you are interested in finding out more about the Assembly and what it takes to run a campaign, please give me a call and we can talk.
Monday, July 13, 2009
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
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
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