Mid-Hillside Community Council Minutes April 2001

Mid-Hillside and Hillside East Community Councils

Meeting Minutes
October 18, 2001

Call to order:
The meeting was called to order by President Chris Birch at 7 pm. Approximately 13 were in attendance. Board Members present were Chris Birch, Jeff Clarke and John Weddleton.

Introductions:

Minutes of the previous meeting: Summarized in Monthly Meeting Notice. Minutes were approved.

President's Report: Chris Birch

Vice President's Report: Jeff Clarke reported on his October 17 breakfast meeting with Mayor Wuerch.

The Mayor would like to see CC boundaries changed to more closely match other political boundaries.

Bed tax will increase from 8 to 12% to pay for a new convention center.

The MOA emergency response center was operating quickly on September 11th after the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. The center is at 13th and E.
The mayor is concerned about wildfire in our area. Big efforts were made this past year using federal money .

Federation of Community Councils Report: John Weddleton reported on the FCC meeting of October 17, 2001. The budget for the Community Councils Center that coordinates the Councils and handles mailings has been cut about 10%. The budget for the Councils Center is actually less than it was in the 1970's!

Community Councils are required by contract with MOA to do annual surveys of all their members. To meet the new budget, the Councils Center will only pay for mailing every other year. If Councils are to meet the requirement of annual surveys, the funding will have to come from somewhere else. It will cost about $1,000 for the Mid-Hillside and Hillside East Community Councils to do a combined survey.

Legislative Report

Kevin Meyers When (or if?) the recent changes in legislative districts come into effect, Kevin Meyers will be our representative in the state legislature in Juneau. He made an appearance at our meeting to learn about issues in our area. It is very encouraging to see this effort on his part.

FISCAL GAP - Expect an increase in current taxes. It's hard to start new taxes. His surveys of constituents point towards cutting the budget. Redistricting puts almost everyone up for reelection so he does not expect higher taxes or cutting the budget to make much progress in 2002.

Judiciary Committee In Kevin's work on the judiciary committee, he supported the Wellness Court. It is oriented towards curing the drug and alcohol problems that lead to criminal behavior. There have been tests with drug therapy.

Anchorage Assembly Report:

Janice Shamberg

Simonian Little League & Bicentennial Park - Assembly members looked at the Abbott O Rabbit ball fields and then Bicentennial Park in contemplating the best plan for relocating the ballfields. An ordinance was to be introduced amending the updated far North Bicentennial Park Master Plan October 16th, but was rescheduled to November 20, 2001. Assembly members continue to explore other sites as possible homes for little league fields.

Heritage Land Bank - Advisory Commission has been reauthorized. There will be an HLB-Assembly joint meeting in October. The Assembly is making an effort through the legislature for HLB to acquire more federally owned land.

Dual Assembly Districts vs Single Member Districts - A ballot proposition for Spring 2002 to amend MOA Charter to allow that if the Assembly ever went to single member districts they could serve the 3 year terms that are currently in place rather than two years terms.

Hillside Development Issues - Tour with MOA departments and the Assembly took place on October 11. It was concluded that a joint departmental Hillside Development plan would cost about $1.5 million. AWWU is the only department with the resources to do its share of the study at this time.

Free parking Downtown rearranged -

Fee, Fines and Penalties - Ordinance AO 2001-11145(s) introduced to modify existing and add additional fees, fines and penalties. Public Hearing was October 16 and there was surprisingly little comment. This has not yet been passed by the Assembly as a plethora of additions were made by the Administration on the last day. For a full list of fines go to www.muni.org .

Council member comments on this issue included a question regarding the sense in increasing fines when there is decreasing enforcement. The increased fees for some permits required by the MOA appear to cover much moire than one staff person;s time, but also associated overhead. Janice said that MOA departments were challenged to come up with revenue generating plans that would justify their roles.

Budget Time -

Moratorium on Zoning Cluster Housing - The ordinance being developed by Anna Fairclough was pulled by her. Apparently there was an agreement between Ms. Fairclough and the Administration to pursue the problem in a different way.

Wildfire Support - A resolution was passed appropriating $1.75 million for AFD for new fire fighting equipment.

Community Council Boundaries - A Resolution was passed after public testimony setting forth the process for reviewing the district boundaries of CC's. P&Z Commission first, then to conduct further public hearings followed by submitting an ordinance to the assembly for approval of CC boundaries.

Elections for the Community Council Board

Chris Birch stepped down from the presidency of the board.

Jeff Clarke and John Weddleton were nominated for the board of the Mid-Hillside CC. Their election to the board was unanimous. John Weddleton was chosen to serve as President. Jeff Clarke will continue as Vice President.

Tom Newins stepped forward to take the position of President of the Hillside East CC.

Discussed MOA budget

Roughly 10% cuts to most departments. Some rejuggling of departments makes it hard to compare.

The Mayor's proposed budget is posted at www.muni.org.

PRESENTATION:

Should High Schools be "Closed?"

This is a topic that is sure to generate lots of debate in coming months. The problems associated with kids leaving campus during the school day are apparent to many. The solutions are more elusive.

Should High School campuses in Anchorage be "closed" during school hours? A closed campus would require that students stay at the school during regular school hours unless they have an acceptable waiver.

Proponents say closed campuses decrease crime, increase grades and make for a better city. Opponents say it's impractical, costly and not necessary.

Rick Helms spoke on his drive to add to April's ballot a proposition to close Anchorage's high schools. His group, "Anchorage Safe Schools and Community Coalition" is gathering signatures now. We were also fortunate to have in attendance Service High Assistant Principal Curt Green, Service High student government representative Autumn Buckridge and Service High PTA representative Mary Manuel.

Rick said that he and others have been working for closed campuses through the school district for some time but have met with resistance. He feels that the Anchorage School District (ASD) has not dealt with the issue of student crime during school hours. School lunch rooms continue to be built too small for the number of students, lunch hour activities are too few to keep kids on campus, there are too many entrances and exits to allow control of people coming and going.

Rick referred to studies that suggest closed campuses lead to better attendance, better grades, less crime and better food on campus. Parental waivers to allow students off campus during school hours become a tool for parents to control where their kids are. Rick said that there will still be crime by students outside of school hours, but that will be dealt with using other tools.

Autumn presented a list of things students have done to solve problems on their own including: safe driving signs, clean up day, car pooling, education through peers. She pointed out that closing the campus will not impact student smoking. There may be problems with students who take classes off campus. She also pointed out that vandalism during school hours will still occur by students who simply skip school.

Curt Green said that Service High staff does not have an official opinion on the issue. He said whichever way it goes, they will deal with it positively. He pointed out that students leaving campus is an economic issue. When he was at West High, few students had cars so few left campus. At Service High, lots of kids have cars so they leave campus. With few administrators on campus and required "off" time during the day for teachers, it would be a logistical challenge to monitor students leaving campus. He feels that schools should be inviting places and surrounding them with fences would be bad.

Comments from council members suggest that ASD has under estimated the strength of opinion for closing the schools. It was also suggested that ASD should provide more reasons for students to stay on campus voluntarily such as intramural sports and more computers.

Community Council Boundary Changes.

John Weddleton summarized a proposal to modify our council boundaries. The council's position paper is posted at www.communitycouncils.org./hillside. Hit the "ISSUES" button.

PRIZE DRAWINGS

We had a drawing for generous gifts provided by local businesses for our Annual Meeting. A big Thank You to these businesses!

TALL TREE'S (248-3900) donated ½ cord of firewood.
Hilltop Ski Area (346-2169) donated two day-passes for great skiing.
A+ Home Service (345-1890) donated a residential septic pumping. A $95 value!
BOSCO'S (274-4112) donated two $20 gift certificates.

Meeting Adjourned at 8:40 pm