Mid-Hillside and Hillside East
Community Councils

Anchorage, Alaska

Money Magazine Recognizes Anchorage. The highlights of visiting Anchorage between peak travel seasons are featured prominently in the November 2004 edition of Money magazine. In an article entitled “Secret Seasons,” readers are encouraged to visit Anchorage in September for good weather, great prices and no crowds. According to the magazine, the special off-season guide was put together by 40 top-rated travel experts. The Anchorage piece also mentions spectacular fall foliage, a better chance of seeing the aurora borealis, and hotel rates reduced by up to 30 percent off peak summer season rates.

Two national business publications – Money Magazine and Inc. – recently rated Anchorage on their top 10 lists for good places to do business. The Anchorage Economic Development Corp. predicts 1,900 new jobs in 2004 and last year the city enjoyed a building boom, with the second highest value in building permits recorded – more than $700 million worth.

Welcome to the
Mid-Hillside and Hillside East
Community Councils

The Hillside area is a great place to live in Anchorage, Alaska. The lots are large and wooded. We are at the foot of the Chugach Mountains, we abut Far North Bicentennial Park and we're just 20 minutes from downtown Anchorage.

The Mid-Hillside Community Council represents an area roughly defined by the area bordered by Birch Road to the west, Hillside Road to the East, DeArmoun to the south and Abbott to the north with the addition of the area bounded by 104th, Abbott Loop (the east boundary of Ruth Arcand Park/Section 16), Abbott and Birch.

Hillside East is the area to the east of Hillside Drive all the way to the Chugach State Park boundary and south to Rabbit Creek. Click on the maps button for more detail.

Both Council areas extend into Far North Bicentennial Park as for north as Campbell Airstrip Road.

This website was maintained through the end of 2005. More current information is now posted at www.communitycouncils.org. The Mid-Hillside and Hillside East pages linked from there are now the official pages.

Sections of this site will be updated sporadically.

WHEN DO WE MEET?

The Mid-Hillside and Hillside East Community Councils generally combine their meetings. We meet at 7:00 pm at O'Malley Elementary school on the third Thursday of the month September through May. Other meetings times and locations may be announced as needed. Click on the newsletter button to see what's coming up.

YOU are invited!

O'Malley Road Reconstruction Project Environmental Assessment is now available! It's available here: http://www.hillsideroads.com/omalleyscope.htm

Here are a few pictures from a walk down O'Malley on August 19, 2004. We walked with maps from Hillside to Lake Otis to look at the detailed plans. DOT project manager Miriam Tanaka and Jim Sawhill and Loren Becia from Lounsbury and Associates and Kathy Burgess from Anne Brookes & Associates accompanied about 15 others.

Under any of the proposals, O'Malley will be significantly wider. The impact will be dramatic.

It’s still most important that homeowners prepare their home ignition zones before the wildfire happens.

For more information on Wildfire projects, click here.

Take a look at Transportation expert Dan Burden's evaluation of the DeArmoun Road project. Dan Burden was brought to Anchorage late February 2004 to meet with officials and citizens.

Capital Improvement Projects
Every Spring, Community Councils are asked for a list of projects to be considered for future construction. Click here to see a list submitted in May of 2003.

Here you see Josh, John and Mike taking a break from refurbishing the bridge over Abbott at Birch. That project has been on the CIP list for many years.

Homeless in Anchorage.
This page presents the issue of homeless camps in Anchorage through a series of emails starting in the Spring of 2003.

Hillside Park is within the north boundary of our community council area. It serves as a gateway for Far North Bicentennial Park, a hugely popular undeveloped park in the heart of Anchorage.

In the winter, downhill and cross country skiing draw crowds. Skijoring is becoming more popular.

In all seasons, you'll find people mountain biking, running, horseback riding, orienteering, birdwatching and hiking in the woods.

Community councils give you and your neighbors an easy and effective way to control events in your area. Dozens of sections in the municipal code call for involvement of community councils. Councils are to receive notice of land use applications, Heritage Land Bank proposals, road development, tax foreclosure properties, and other matters. Some councils formally elect the members of local road service areas.

There are 38 community councils in Anchorage. About 28 hold regular meetings and send out monthly newsletters. Those with regular meetings get attendance ranging from a loyal few to several hundred if a controversial issue is at stake.

Community councils are made up of your neighbors who care about the community. The meetings are generally presentations focussing on current topics followed by informal discussions . The council's stand on issues can be communicated to government decision makers through formal proclamations. Often our area's assembly members and legislators attend the meetings.

The Mid-Hillside and Hillside East Community Councils include members who run a wide gamut of political viewpoints, party affiliations, and neighborhoods within the council area. We're helping to guide events that impact your life.

Get involved ....It's your neighborhood!