I give up. As a downtown business person, the downtown representative to the Anchorage Assembly and an ex-officio member of the Anchorage Downtown Partnership board I, along with many others, have tried every conceivable avenue to try and convince the ownership of Phyllis’s Café & Salmon Bake to clean up the embarrassing mess at the corner of 5th Avenue & D Street.
The proverbial straw that broke this camel’s back was an e-mail from yet another downtown business person who registered the umpteenth complaint and all I could do was respond that I’m sorry, we’ve tried, failed and are out of options. All we ever get is anti-government rants (I can do whatever I want with my property) and no indication there’s any concern for the greater good of our community. But a sense of community is one of the reasons why most of us mow our lawns and shovel snow. We don’t have to do so, we simply have a sense of pride.
In my professional, political and personal life I spend virtually every waking hour of every day trying to make our city and our state better, but I can’t prevent a bull-headed business owner from making a mess in the center of our downtown. I hate to publicly shame another business – all downtown businesses benefit when others succeed – but I know of no other option.
I’ll help fix your sidewalk, I’ll help get your street cleaned (or plowed) and I’ll take your arguments with various municipal agencies to the administration; but I can’t fix intransigence. My apologies.
Regards,
Patrick
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Phyllis’s Cafe is NOTHING compared to the blight on Karluk Street between 3rd and 4th Avenue. But who cares about that? Out of sight, out of mind, I guess.
Comment: Annette Alleva – 24. June 2015 @ 6:34 pm
Patrick,
I respect and appreciate your service; I also understand your frustration. Folks that don’t have a sense of community just don’t get it. Please keep fighting the good fight to make our city better, cleaner, healthier and more affordable.
Comment: John Levy – 24. June 2015 @ 8:58 pm
As it turns out, it isn’t an anti-government rant to claim that one can do as one pleases with his own property. If you think that’s an eyesore, you haven’t been looking around very hard.
Maybe instead of worrying about what the tourists see, you could look at supporting a business owner and find ways to help him get along, rather than acting like a spoiled brat blaming everything on “intransigence.”
Just so you know, I have no skin in this discussion, but I am a lifelong Alaskan born and raised, and I do believe that ownership has its rights and privileges. This seems to be lost on you, probably right up until it’s your ox being gored.
Comment: Tamra Nygaard – 26. June 2015 @ 5:11 pm
Patrick — we share your disappointment with the condition of Phyllis’s Café and had a heck of a time trying to connect with the owner because he had been out of the state for medical issues.
Early last week (I think the day before you published this blog posting) we finally connected with Apollo and pitched the idea of doing a mural to cover the walls of the patio while he finishes his work on the restaurant. He agreed to it and we have put out a call for artists to see what kind of design they can come up with.
However, none of this (using murals to cover blighted properties) should be necessary in our downtown. The majority of business and property owners in our neighborhood take great pride in their neighborhood and work hard to keep it looking sharp.
Comment: Christopher Schutte – 29. June 2015 @ 8:07 am