Another day on the campaign trail, another surprise. On Thursday afternoon I received a call from a reporter who has worked for two different conservative-leaning, web-based media outlets during my tenure on the Assembly. Turns out she now works at YourAlaskaLink.com, which you likely know better as channel 13, Anchorage’s ABC affiliate.
I recently received an e-mail with good news about the recently re-established Mountain View branch library. Here ’tis:
Mountain View LEED Gold Award Celebration
Our newest branch has achieved LEED Gold status, one of the highest levels of green building design. Mayor Sullivan will unveil a special LEED plaque with help from Senator Begich. Followed by a tour of the building by architect Jason Gamache of McCool Carlson and Green. Cake, drinks and music provided.
Tuesday, April 19, 4 – 5 pm, Mountain View Branch.
Sadly, there’s an Assembly meeting that night so I won’t be able to attend but I’d encourage anyone who hasn’t seen this fabulous facility, or who just wants to learn more about sustainable construction practices, to drop by and enjoy the event!
Regards,
Patrick
On Tuesday, March 15, the community councils of Fairview, Government Hill and Mountain View hosted a candidate forum for the downtown Assembly seat. It was one of the few forums focused on that single seat, and it lasted about two hours, easily the longest of any this season.
Because the airwaves aren’t saturated with political ads like they were last fall, you may not have noticed that municipal campaign season is actually in full swing. A glance at my calendar, which is loaded with various candidate forums (not all of which I can attend), confirms that fact.
Tuesday night’s Assembly meeting was a relatively tame affair, though we expect a busier agenda at our March 29 gathering. The proceedings got off to a very nice start, however, when we took a few minutes to honor a community volunteer.
Editor’s note: for the first time in the storied history of this blog, this post is authored by someone other than yours truly. Tessa Bay is a senior at Service high school in their Seminar program. As part of that program she chose to mentor with me to learn more about local government. Other than using questionable judgment in selecting mentors, Tessa is an outstanding young woman who will certainly accomplish great things in her life. As a first step, here’s her perspective on the Service high school bond proposal, which will appear on the April 5 ballot.
It’s that time again folks, time for another round of insider trivia meant to challenge even the most dedicated Assembly watchers! (Which raises the question; who, precisely, watches the Assembly? Ah well, we’ll ponder that topic another day…) In honor of the pending election season, and in an effort to make this edition a little more interesting, we’ll mix in facts about a couple candidates for the Assembly. As always, any errors or apparent duplication is my responsibility and your burden through which to puzzle, so best of luck figuring out who matches the following characteristics. Here goes:
With the passing of Friday’s filing deadline for the April 5 election the question of who, and what, will appear on the ballot is set. Among other things I decided to ask my neighbors for the privilege of a second term representing the neighborhoods of Downtown, Fairview, Government Hill, Mountain View and South Addition, and I’ve drawn two opponents.
If you’re afflicted with an unfortunate addiction to following local politics you’ve likely noticed a recent series of op-ed pieces and letters to the editor regarding something with the impressive-sounding title of the “Taxpayer Protection Act.” Unfortunately for the authors of these missives, the charter amendment in question would be more correctly dubbed the “So-called Conservative Clumsy Electioneering Effort of 2011.” To understand why, a little background is in order.
The Downtown community council is a little different than the other councils in the downtown district in that many of the members aren’t residents but people who own property or work downtown. Nothing wrong with that, of course, and that’s not really the reason for this post.
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