As alluded to in a previous post, one of the intriguing aspects of the political process is observing how public officials “adjust” their views to conform with changing circumstances. I don’t mean to imply anything sinister, just that it’s sometimes worth reviewing various facts and considering their relevance.
Today I have two exciting developments to announce. First, the web gremlins inform me that e-mail notification of new blog postings is again working (presuming I remember to click the right box, we’ll test that with this post). Second, and more importantly, it’s time for our third installment of Assembly insider baseball!
Many of my neighbors have called and e-mailed to register concerns regarding the life insurance policy for former Mayor George Sullivan. I am told, but have not yet seen, that at least one of my colleagues prepared a resolution seeking for the Sullivan trust to reimburse the city until further inquiries can be conducted.
I believe it was Emerson who originally said, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds…” How correct he was; all among us can and should reserve the right to learn more about the issues before us and, based on that additional information, reflect upon whether our initially held views were correct.
As I mentioned in my previous post, we’ve scheduled an extra meeting for March 16 to address a few issues for which we lacked time earlier this week. One of those, low-priority signal preemption for buses, got me in a little hot water with the administration.
While the jury may be out on whether I’m worth a darn as either an Assembly member or chair, my powers of prognostication seem to be intact. We accomplished quite a bit on Tuesday night but, as predicted, were unable to complete our agenda prior to the 11 pm deadline. Some of the things we did resolve included: (more…)
Those supporting the new Bike Plan will find the following information of interest (an initial e-mail of inquiry comes first, my response follows):
The Assembly covered a lot of ground at today’s work sessions reviewing encouraging news about Anchorage United for Youth‘s successful efforts to better coordinate programs aimed at helping young people succeed, a new Bike Plan aimed at improving non-motorized transit and more information on municipal finances. Each of these items are important and the bike plan may get a little media attention but you can expect the focus to be on financial issues. The question is what will actually get reported. There were three finance-related aspects of note:
Zoning, and enforcement thereof, are amongst the primary functions of local government but the issues stemming therefrom are some of the most complicated faced by residents and local officials alike. At the heart of most disagreements is the age-old conflict between individual and community rights. Put another way, “it’s my land and I can do what I want to,” versus, “how can you allow that guy to disrupt our neighborhood?” And sins of the past, like sub-standard or non-existent planning, only exacerbate present challenges. A good example in our community are industrial lands that abut residential areas. The latter tend to be noisy, the former tend to seek peace and quiet, and the lack of a commercial- or park-land buffer results in a plethora of hard feelings.
Growth in the Anchorage’s air cargo industry has been a tremendous boon to our local economy so it was bad news earlier this week when UPS announced it would begin furloughing pilots. There are quite a few pilots for UPS and FedEx “domiciled” in Anchorage and, while not every one of those pilots actually make their homes here, quite a few do. But while it’s reasonable to shake our heads in frustration at effects of the global economic downturn on our local economy, it’s better to focus on factors closer to home that negatively affect us.
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