Mid-Hillside & Hillside East
Community Council News
February 2002
Our next meeting is Thursday February 21 at 7:00 pm in the O'Malley Elementary School Gym.
Feature Presentation
Anchorage Bonds: It's your money, spend it wisely!
We'll be talking Bonds and we'll be talking big numbers, but it's not Barry Bonds we'll be talking about !
On April 2 you will get a chance to decide where the big money gets spent! This month we'll take a look at the bonds we'll be voting on in April.
Anchorage has about $1,500,000,000 in bonds outstanding. A yes vote here and yes there and it really starts to add up! Where does it all go and how much should we add to that total this year?
Real whoppers are the School District bonds. We'll hear from a representative of the school district who will fill us in on where the money would go. We'll combine with the O'Malley Elementary PTA for this part of the meeting.
For information on a broader scope of bonds, Kathy Fontaine from "Anchorage Tomorrow," an APOC-certified political action committee, will speak in support of selected Municipal bond propositions.
In addition to the bonds, we'll vote on a 50% increase in the bed tax from 8% to 12% to support the building of a new convention center. We'll have a representative from "Anchorage Civic & Convention Center Yes" give a pitch for this project.
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Trails and Horses follow-up On February 11, John Weddleton and PJ Hill followed up the December Council meeting by attending the board meeting of the Anchorage Horse Club. We were invited by Ralph Clampitt to discuss ways to develop tolerant attitudes on the multi use trails.
The horse riding community is a loose group so it can be hard to educate all riders about trail etiquette. We discussed putting an article in a statewide equestrian newsletter, developing separate trails and various ways to scoop poop.
PJ wrote an article in the Nordic Skier encouraging tolerance on multiple use trails in Bicentennial Park. You can read it at www.bicentennialpark.info/FNBPtrails.htm . The Arctic Bicycle Club will include the trail rules in a newsletter. We'll encourage other groups to do the same.
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The Wildfire Mitigation Office is lighting up a new program called the Firewise Alliance. Neighborhood groups that become an "alliance" will get help becoming "firewise." It's all voluntary, but after you see some pictures of houses that survived wildfires and those that didn't, there's a sense of coercion by mother nature!
Two crews will travel through "Firewise" neighborhoods to evaluate homes and give tips on how to make them less likely to burn when wildfire comes ripping up the hill. They may even spend money directly to the property for hazard tree removal.
The alliance is a good match for LRSA, road or Crime Watch groups. If you want your group to be part of a Firewise Alliance, contact Sue Rodman, Forester, Anchorage Fire Department 267-4902 or email RodmanSU@ci.anchorage.ak.us .
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IF YOU STOPPED DIGGING, WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT SHOVEL? At the January teleconference with our state legislators, the state's fiscal crisis was the main topic. The mantra we heard was "If you're in a hole, stop digging!" Since then, it appears that a few legislators got ahold of the shovel.
On the revenue side, Con Bunde got the discussion rolling with his amendment to the alcohol tax bill. I'm sure there will be lots to learn from him on that move.
This is a great opportunity
for you to get face-to-phone with our reps in Juneau. Since we have three representatives
plus a Senator available, it can be a busy phone call!
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BEFORE THE TELECONFERENCE, HERE'S SOME HOMEWORK FOR YOU
Here's a note from Con Bunde February 8, 2002:
Dear District 18 Residents:
As you know, at current oil prices Alaska is facing an $870 million budget gap. I have encouraged many of you to take a close look at the functions of state government and let me know your thoughts on which services should be reduced or eliminated. While the workings of state government can be a mystery, there is a reference available that sheds some additional light on agencies' work that may be helpful to you.
The "Handbook on Alaska State Government" outlines the functions of the various state agencies and their divisions. It is produced by the Legislative Affairs Agency and was last updated in November of 2000 to reflect statutory and administrative changes that have taken place since 1998.
A copy of this reference may be found at http://www.legis.state.ak.us/infodocs/handbook.pdf . The library at the University of Alaska Anchorage also has a copy.
I encourage you to take a look at this document, to inform yourself about what state government is doing, to evaluate the necessity for some of these functions, and to then inform me of your opinions regarding those functions.
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Abbott/Lake Otis Town Center The new Anchorage 2020 Comprehensive Plan recommends the development of "Town Centers." Roughly, these are walkable places that have shopping, residences, businesses and parks all centrally located so we can do more of our urban activities with less driving.
Exactly what these will be is now
being considered. A meeting on January 24 got the ball rolling for a Town Center
in the Abbott/Lake Otis area. April 8 - 11, there will be a four day cram session
where the planning team will take all the comments they get from people who
stop by and present at the end a conceptual plan for the Town Center.
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DUAL VOTE OUT, THEN BACK AGAIN.
The rule is that a bond that is paid off only by a service area must still pass
a vote of the entire city because the city backs the bond in case of default.
This has caused problems with some bonds being voted down by the city as a whole
even though they passed easily in the service area. The Assembly dumped this
rule a few weeks ago.
There was an outcry from some service areas who were afraid that without the dual vote, they could have bonds imposed on them. Also, one rationale for dumping the dual vote is that it would "bring us together as a community." That should put a little fear in those of use who have independent road groups.
The Assembly, including our reps Janice Shamberg and Dick Tremaine, are to be commended for reinstating the dual vote. There would be less commotion on issues like that if they were floated by Community Councils before the changes are made.
Agenda
O'Malley Elementary
Multi Purpose Room
February 21, 2002
Tom Newins, President
Hillside East CC 345-8881 newins@gci.net
We meet at 7pm on the third Thursday of the month at O'Malley Elementary School on Rockridge off O'Malley. For more information see www.communitycouncils.org/hillside
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