Quite a couple of weeks, no? On Tuesday, June 16, the Anchorage Assembly held a special meeting to hear yet more public testimony on the proposed Equal Rights ordinance.
This evening we’re back at Assembly chambers in a continuation of last week’s meeting. We spent the first couple hours finishing up “regular” business items before continuing the public hearing on the equal rights ordinance. One new twist is another draft version that makes some changes.
As we’ve discussed the issue of equal rights based on sexual orientation some opponents have expressed a concern that granting equal rights for housing, employment and education to gays and lesbians would infringe on their right to practice their faith. I’ve written about that matter before and thought the story below might offer a slightly different approach (cautionary note: this one is slightly off-color): (more…)
We’re now in the fourth of an expected five hours of public testimony on the ordinance that provide equal rights based on sexual orientation. For the most part things have been respectful, though not entirely, and there’s been a fair amount of crowd noise from the masses outside. If there’s a surprise twist it’s that a significant number of people appear to have driven in from the Mat-Su Valley to join in the debate (by invitation, it seems).
So here’s the deal: Anchorage has an incoming mayor and we have differing opinions on when and how a Knik Arm Crossing should be built. Anyone who follows local government knows that I’ve helped initiate a process that would remove the proposed bridge from Anchorage’s Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). As I’ve stated before, I’m not opposed to any bridge ever, but I do object to the proposed bridge now. So what happens next?
Copyright - Patrick Flynn, All Rights Reserved