The new administration stubbed its toe last week by announcing, or perhaps leaking, that it found another $9 million shortfall prior to advising any Assembly members. Indeed, I first heard about it when a KTUU reporter asked me, on camera, at the conclusion of an interview on a completely different subject. Apparently administration officials hadn’t read my post about the importance of the mayor and the Assembly working collaboratively, and somehow forgot that surprising your colleagues in this manner is a nifty way to gain a quick dose of enmity.
As promised, I prepared a new draft of the equal rights ordinance and submitted it to the Clerk‘s office for introduction and distribution. I haven’t seen it on that web site yet but KTUU did a story and posted a copy you can find here.
Update: the Clerk’s office has posted both the new version and the amendment.
In an effort to keep tabs on various aspects of life in Anchorage, the Assembly assigns its members to serve as liaisons to several local organizations. I’m not sure how it so happened that I got tapped to serve as the Assembly representative on the Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau board, but it’s a pretty good fit. Partly because I represent downtown, which sees quite a bit of visitor traffic, and partly because my day job involves a fair amount of interaction with the tourism industry. I attended ACVB’s quarterly board meeting earlier this week so I thought I’d share a little bit about what I learned.
Alaska political theory holds that summer is the quiet time of year. The legislature isn’t in session (unless there’s a “special” one), any campaigning is usually pretty quiet, and Alaskans tend to pursue other activities like fishing, hiking and gardening. While that theory may hold true in other years it certainly isn’t the case during this one! So, in addition to all the other things I’ve written about or you’ve seen in the local media, here’s a few more items percolating away: (more…)
I’m slated to have my first “official” meeting with the new mayor next week – I believe he’s scheduling appointments with each of the Assembly members – and I’m curious if readers have any topics they’d suggest we discuss? We’re only slated for 30 minutes, so world peace is off the list, but feel free to post other ideas and I’ll try to get to them. The meeting takes place on Tuesday, July 14, so please make your posts by the end of the day Monday.
As I look forward to my first Assembly meeting with our new mayor, I’ve begun work on yet another version of the equal rights ordinance. Once I have a draft I’m happy with I’ll try to post it but, in a nutshell, I’m trying to write something a little simpler than the three versions offered thus far and clarify exemptions for religious institutions. There’s one aspect I’m considering, however, about which I could use a little feedback.
If you’re interested in participating in my poll gauging community sentiment towards the new Sullivan administration I’d suggest doing so before reading the remainder of this post. I’d hate for anyone to suggest I’m running push polls!
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