[Music] the we're going to go ahead and get started with our meeting today I'm going to go ahead and call to order this regular assembly meeting of February 13th Madame clerk can you please call the role assembly member Myers here member Martinez present chair Rivera present member branga here member Johnson is walking around the Das assembly member constant here and it's my understanding that member zotel is excused this evening yes assembly member cross here member vand happy to be here member broy here member Sut here Vice chair Perez verdia here youth representative Tyrell here Mr chair you have a quorum thank you madam clerk uh member branga can you please lead us in the Pledge yes sir I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you uh member perz Ria can you please read the land acknowledgement yes a land acknowledgement is a formal statement recognizing the indigenous people of a place it is a public gesture of appreciation for the past and present indigenous stewardship of the lands that we now occupy it is an actionable statement that marks our Collective movement towards decolonization and Equity the Anchorage assembly would like to acknowledge that we gather today on the of the denina athabascans for thousands of years the denina have been and continue to be the stewards of this land it is with gratefulness and respect that we recognize the contributions Innovations and contemporary perspectives of the upper Cook Inlet denina thank you next we have the minutes of the previous meetings can I get a motion to approve the minutes of the regular assembly meeting of December 19th 2023 so moved second moved and seconded is there any opposition to approval of those minutes okay seeing and hearing none those minutes are approved unanimously uh next we have the mayor's report uh will you be giving the report Mr bird yes Mr chair thank you Mr chair um good evening everyone uh the mayor is out tonight and so I'll be giving his report uh first thing I want to congratulate uh the West Anchorage boys hockey team and the diamond West United girls hockey team for their championships over the weekend there was a remarkable Victory by the West anage boys in the division one state championships their game against diamond high school is a display of exceptional skill and dedication from both teams and the mayor would like to extend his congratulations to all the players also the diamond West girls United hockey team won its third straight title with a 2-1 victory over Chugiak Eagle River so congrats to the diamond West girls and to the West boys public health and safety emergency today marks the official end of the mayor's public health and safety emergency which was declared on January 26th due to prolonged Sub-Zero temperatures during this period Mr chair we made 90 additional warming beds available across three locations a critical resource for those facing heat in security fortunately we did not reach capacity at any of those locations but the availability of those beds was vital the mayor would like to express his sincere gratitude to everyone who worked tirelessly to establish these resources during the emergency the mayor would also like to address the roof snow removal PSAs that have been out and about he'd like to commend Municipal staff especially for their efforts in providing accurate and timely guidance on roof snow removal to the public the administration sent out 1,70 letters to building owners with roof trust designs that are prone to failure accompanied by an interactive map highlighting these buildings in addition the mayor's office set up radio PSAs to encourage building owners to review the city's roof snow removal guidance we've also made these resources easily accessible on the front page of muni.org ensuring that the public can access the information they need prompt I encourage anybody who hasn't gone to the muni.org website to go there if they have questions about snow removal in recent weeks the mayor has been closely monitoring the natural gas supply in South Central and has set up the South Central mayor's energy Coalition regarding Cook Inlet energy during the recent cold snap we faced a near shortage of available natural gas emphasizing the importance of paying attention to the situation in Cook Inlet this Coalition met for the first time last month Mr chair and is scheduled to meet again tomorrow to discuss the ongoing situation to navigate this the mayor is putting together a technical Advisory Board and we look forward to sharing more about these efforts in the near future in closing uh we appreciate the Public's time and attention to these important updates if there are questions or additional information needed please feel free to reach out to the mayor's office thank you Mr chair for allowing us to address these things today thank you Mr bird uh next we have the assembly chairs report good evening everyone and welcome before before we begin this evening I want to take a moment to recognize the passing of a dear friend to the municipality Bob Owens Mr Owens has been with the municipal attorney's office for over 18 years and played a critical role in many important Municipal issues over those years he always offered wise and thoughtful legal advice and was a true public servant to the people of Anchorage his passing has been quite a shock I want to offer my condolences to his wife Suzanne his family and friends and the staff in the municipal attorney's office who have lost a valuable colleague we will do a longer recognition in the future when his family can be here but for tonight we've placed flowers on the dis in his memory next I want to issue a reminder that that the municipality will hold a vote at the vote at home election this March and April the last day to register is March 3rd ballot packages will be mailed to qualified voters on March 12th and the last day of vote voting is Tuesday April 2nd the mayor several School Board seats service area Board of supervisor seats and the open District 2 Chugiak IG River assembly seat will be on the ballot as well as a proposed Charter Amendment and several ballot prop Bond prop propositions an exciting new development this week was the launch of the online checkbook an online record of Municipal transactions the online checkbook will update monthly posting recent transactions un Ed revenue and procured contracts with historic information dated back to 2018 this is a major milestone in the assembly's effort to make our local government more transparent and accessible to the public I congratulate my colleague chair constant for seeing one of his top goals come to fruition and also thank members cross and vand For Your sponsorship of the legislation that created it finally I want to recognize and thank the team at it and finance especially Sandra Fern Brendan bab and Heather Holland and the assem implementation team including chair constant member barley and our former budget analyst desire kamacho for their incredible hard work to pull this off in under a year to my fellow members um with several members absent from the meeting tonight I asked that if there are any controversial or lengthy items on the agenda that we consider postponing to March so that we can hold a work session on the topic and have all of the members present to participate in debate and voting two items on today's agenda uh fit this theme item items 14b a202 24-14 and 14f AO 20239 will be published oh excuse me we'll be pushed to meetings in March so if you are here for those items the public hearings will not be occurring tonight at the request of the mayor I want to give direction to the clerk to add him as a co-sponsor to items 10 A1 and 10 A4 to honorary resolutions on our agenda tonight with that we have a full agenda and um I'll do my best to move us along so that we can conclude at the most reasonable hour possible this is a business meeting and we are here to do the work of the municipality please help create a climate of respect in the chambers refrain from personal attacks speaking out of turn shouting clapping and pacing keep signs 8 and 1 half by 11 inches in size please keep the AO clear except when lined up to testify please also do not approach the dis if you have something to share with the members hand it to the clerk for distribution uh please stop speaking if any point of order is called so I may rule on the point of order and the record is clear if rules are not followed I may interrupt speakers to call for compliance and if compliance with the rules doesn't occur then I may pause the meeting if there's an actual disruption I will give a warning if the disruption persists or happens again the person will be asked to leave um uh go ahead member constant thank you just a quick point of clarification I believe that for those two items you mentioned to be postponed to the meeting in March the public hearing will be opened I think we have to open the public hearing to continue it not that the public hearing won't happen yes thank you for that clarification uh yes the the public hearings will be opened they just won't be happening today all right that is it for the assembly chair's report um we're going to go ahead and move on uh to committee reports uh I will we'll go ahead and start on this side with member Myers thank you Mr chair nothing to report member Martinez thank you Mr chair the last meeting of the community and economic development committee was held on February 8th and at that meeting we had uh two really strong presentations one from the Anchorage Community Land Trust uh focused and really on their setup shop initiative working with small businesses and entrepreneurs and then also uh telling us more about their overall place-based strategy and then we had a a presentation from the folks who held last year's soulstice concert at Cy Park this year it's called the Sundown music festival and uh they have a plan they're they're changing the date to to uh better kick off the season and work with other small businesses and uh those two presentations are available at our website at the community and economic development page and our next meeting will be held on February 22nd at the permit Center thank you Mr chair thank you member branga thank you chair uh February 7th the health policy committee met um we got our usual very complete um report of things going on in the city um we uh heard about winter bike fest big fat ride bike to work and 5,000 reflective lights were given out at Solstice tree tour um Wick has launched a new website uh doxy.me um is they're doing a pilot of telea Health um we talked about changes to AMC 7.2.2 and 72060 to make Grant applications electronic versus having to bring six copies of paper um applications in when there's a health Grant and that is in the process trying to see if we can bring it up up to the 2024 um other things that we heard about is um we had a presentation by a student from Eagle River High named Maddie she was with Alaska teens against abuse and I see that um we are doing a resolution tonight about Teen Dating Violence awareness month and it was uh nice to hear what her group is doing to help encourage healthy relationships around Alaska and that's pretty much it thank you great thank you member Johnson yeah thank you Mr chair the uh next meeting of the assembly Enterprise and utility oversight Committee of the whole will be next Thursday that's uh February 15th from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at City Hall and also online we have uh two related um agenda items one is a continued discussion of Port of Alaska plan of finance and the other is the port of Alaska modernization project update design and finance and folks who have been reading through the agenda for tonight might have noticed that down for introduction we have AO 2024 111s um which would uh allow for a revenue Bond up to in this version $471 million so if that is a topic about which you are interested or curious I would encourage you to tune in uh or participate in that uoc meeting next week thank you member pres Ria thank you Mr chair uh couple of updates uh first the um the Public Safety Committee meeting met on February 7th and we had presentations uh two two of which I want to highlight one was from the Anchorage police department they gave an update on body cameras uh they shared that 19 191 body cameras have now been issued 20 to the academy 171 of those cameras are on the street right now with the upgrades with the associated car video um and that they'll continue to give us updates at that committee meeting um as as we learn more about how those how those are being um how that's going also uh the um both the uh the anchor police department and fire department gave statistics from 2023 I would encourage folks to go on to the uh the assembly Public Safety website to review those there's some really wonderful information on there about um how the how in many cases um we are we are trending down we are actually seeing some reductions in in in crime across many areas so I would encourage folks to to look at that as well the next meeting of the Public Safety Committee will be on March 6th Additionally the um the Anchorage Equity committee uh met uh and they uh they spent a number of hours on a Saturday developing priorities for this upcoming year um and um and those will be finalized soon so we'll be able to get those out to folks so we know what those are um and encourage folks to to attend the next meeting of the equity committee which will be on February 22nd thank you Mr chair thank you member vand thank you Mr chair at the most recent amats policy committee uh the policy committee voted to release uh an Omnibus am Amendment called amendment number two um to the tip uh the transportation Improvement program which is our short range Transportation plan um that Amendment now is out for a 45-day public comment period through March 15th um if folks want to participate and submit their comments they can do so at public input. comom amaps aats thank you Mr chair thank you member broy yeah thank you uh just a brief update um the next meeting of the uh budget and finance committee will be Thursday February 15th in just a couple days 12:10 p.m. City Hall 155 uh we will be hearing our usual reports on the city's uh state of the the city's finances and then of course we're moving for toward um first quarter budget revisions which we won't be specifically discussing in February but just a reminder to members in the public that that uh will be coming up in uh in uh April uh next the legislative committee so we met on on Wednesday February 7th um we had a debrief on current bills and discussed um several members upcoming visit to Juno um for the AML conference as well as to uh have legislative meetings to talk about the city's priorities our next meeting of the legislative committee will be Wednesday March 6th 1 p.m. in City Hall uh 1555 again meeting monthly just to debrief and and uh make sure that we're talking about um developments in Juno as they happen thank you thank you member Sut thank you chair so we had the aedc joint board of directors at investors council meeting on February 7th uh some of the discussion was around the recent uh economic forecast luncheon as well as uh planning the sales tax initiative the next meeting for aedc is March 6 for the board of directors thank you thank you member cross nothing to report chair thank you thank you member constant okay member content may not be on the phone right now uh youth representative terot yeah so just um this afternoon I attended the monthly uh student Advisory board meeting which we just welcome back uh four students who were sponsored to go to Juno to advocate for raising the BSA and then additionally um just last week I attended um the CCL the career um life Readiness uh ASD program and which was in the Ean Center um as attending part of of the attending as part of the alternative schools committee so thank you thank you all right that completes our committee and liaison reports uh before we get to the addendum to the agenda oh actually briefly brief really briefly yes go ahead uh member constant yeah thank you I just uh don't have a committee report except to say that the this week leadership was uh run by both Mr Rivera and Mr PR and I want to extend my gratitude from both Miss Alo and I that you are stepping in in our absence thank you thank you um so before we get to the agendum to the agenda we're going to address the late on the table items which incorporates any laate on the table items into the agenda we have three uh laate on the table items tonight uh first we have item 10 G9 resolution number AR 2024 a numbered a resolution approving administrative agreements between the Municipality of Anchorage and the international Union of operating engine engineers local 302 the Anchorage Municipal Employees Association and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers technicians agreeing to incentive payments for employees directly involved in snow removal operations and calendar year 2024 can I get a motion to introduce and set this item for a public hearing on February 27th so moved second moved and seconded is there any discussion on the motion seeing and hearing none members May proceed to vote on the motion to uh introduce and set this item for public hearing member constant yes member cross yes member Sut yes all right and then um yeah and then youth representative Terrell yes thank you all right that motion passes 11 to Zer with the youth representative voting yes um so the next two uh items are supplemental so we don't need to make any motion I'll just read them into the record uh 14 H2 information memorandum number aim 21-2024 AO 20241 information for the assembly's consideration member Boland 1492 information meor memorandum number aim 2020 22-22 24 ao2 24-2 information for the assembly's consideration assembly member vand those are our three laid on the table items um can I get a motion to incorporate the addendum as printed and distributed and laid on the table items so moved and second moved and seconded um can I get unanimous consent is there any opposition okay not hearing any then that motion is approved unanimously next on our agenda we have a couple of appearance requests starting with uh Mr mcke if you can come on up and the mic is if you can please turn the mic on you will have three minutes welcome it's the green or yellow button there you oh there you go oh now it's on yes uh I submitted this for audience participation for this uh ordinance uh a202 and I'm sorry can you introduce yourself Mr mcke huh Can you introduce yourself please oh yes um my uh my name is Charles mcke and uh I want to let you know that uh I'm a private civilian and not a statutory Citizen and I'm talking about this voter registration uh process this ordinance referred to and um the word of God is with God and is God and it comes with land title and with that water rights and it comes with the fact that this country is established as a Republic from that beginning so with the right of vote you have a vested interest in your rights and if you have your rights you have access to the Bill of Rights so it comes with that when they separate us from our title which is God the word of God then you have been separated from your rights and then you become a commodity to be bought and sold we're supposed to been done away with slavery so it goes with the fact that you have been beguiled by the bar association and the marketing as I described in this page and dated February 10th 2017 two pages so um then you went ahead and ignored what I had submitted and pass this ordinance about the concern of your sovereignty of the voting process and not to be able to bring about the begly nature of the organization that controls the Commerce of the buy and selling of commodity which is what they have done to us or you people that relinquish your rights to the statutory rules and regulations and not common law not God's law so with that um I would encourage you to reread this and consider the agency coupled with interest blocks Law Dictionary to regain your structure thank you thank you for particip ating uh next we have Miss Thomas welcome hello my name is maranne Thomas spelled t h m and I live in East Anchorage my Representatives Karen branga and George Martinez have drafted a resolution for ceasefire I'm here to support the ceasefire resolution and to urge you to end the genocidal campaign against Palestinian people I've been an ICU nurse for over 10 years during the early pandemic I worked harder than I imagined Poss possible to use the skills and experience I had to help sick people live but all our patients died we nurses were called Heroes while the world outside the hospital normalized the Spectre of death all around us we nurses refused to normalize a culture of death my profession trained me to work towards life in alignment with a distinct ethical and moral framework that's what I'm here to do today healthcare workers around the world are standing against some of the most egregious and well documented violence in human history enacted by the state of Israel which has bombed hospitals ambulances and Healthcare infrastructure hundreds of times and is currently attacking over 1.7 million people crowded into an area only the size of Anchorage from downtown to anmc over 400 Palestinian healthcare workers have been killed and this is not a guess I have distri had distributed the names of the healthcare workers who we know have been killed already already if you called nurses Heroes if you thanked us for our service when you or your loved ones were sick or dying you must listen to healthcare workers now it is our role to give the medicine needed in the moment to work towards life we are seeing genocide and the medicine needed as a permanent ceasefire now I'm asking you to be brave I've heard from Karen that she's afraid to introduce the bill because of the far right this is even more reason to stand against the violence of white supremacy colonization and imperialism that lands people in the icus I've worked in for over a decade in Silence You normalize genocide which shows me what you would do if and when the far right comes for me if and when they attack Healthcare institutions that I've worked at like the native Hospital you are part of a government that aids and abets genocide it is your responsibility to stand with me a nurse who cared for your family members friends and who continues to unconditionally care for sick and dying people like I refuse to normalize Mass death from covid I refuse the genocide of the Palestinian people this genocide is not inevitable and I call on you to act thank you for your time thank you for participating next we have uh the consent agenda consent agenda items number 10 a through 10f are typically routine or non-controversial items such as bid Awards new business information and reports and ordinances and resolutions for introduction the items on the may be approved by the assembly by a single vote on a motion to approve the consent agenda prior to approval items may be pulled by an assembly member for discussion and separate vote on each of those items under the assembly's rule of rules of procedure all ordinances and some resolutions will have an opportunity for public hearing on a future date so with that we'll go ahead and pull items uh I will go ahead and start on this side of the dis starting with Mr constant I think that um I'll wait to upon the items I don't know that I have any okay I'll come back to you then uh Mr Cross no items chair thank you thank you Mr sutting Mr chair thank you member broley yeah thank you I'd like to pull 10 a 1 10 A4 10 Delta 3 10 Delta 4 and 10 Delta 5 thanks thank you so I have items uh 10 A1 4 10 D 345 uh member vand thank you Mr chair uh I I would like to pull item 10 A2 and 10 B6 thank you so I have 10 A2 10 B6 uh member Presa no items Mr sh thank you member Johnson no items thank you member branga no additional items thank you member Martinez no additional items thank you member Myers yes Mr chair 1083 got it 10 A3 I'll go back to you member constant I think everything I need has been plugged thank you and then youth uh I do ask no my apologies all right so all of I'll go through the items one more time that's uh 10 a 1 2 3 and 4 10 B 6 10 D 3 4 and five any additional items all right seeing and hearing none can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of the pulled items so moved to Second moved and seconded is there any opposition seeing and hearing none that motion is approved for The public's information the assembly has now passed or accepted all items in 10A through 10f other than the items that were just pulled which we will take up next or that have been introduced for a future public hearing which are all the items in 10 G if you're here to see action on an item listed on the consent agenda that was not pulled those items have been passed or accepted all right we'll go ahead and go through the pulled items starting with 10 A1 uh a resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly recognizing February 2024 as teen Dating Violence Awareness Month what is the will of the body move to Second moved and seconded is there any opposition or I'll ask for unanimous consent I'll ask that all right seeing no opposition that is approved unanimously uh who is reading and who is presenting Mr chair I'm reading okay great and then yeah coming up okay uh a resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly recognizing February 2024 as de teen Dating Violence Awareness Month whereas teen Dating Violence is a serious issue that can have both short-term and long-term negative effects teens that experience Dating Violence are more likely to experience depression anxiety engage in dangerous or unhealthy behaviors and have thoughts of suicide and whereas according to National studies one in 12 us high school students experience physical and or sexual violence in a dating relationship in the 2019 Alaska youth Behavior risk survey 10% of Alaska high school students experienced physical Dating Violence and whereas 88.4% of Anchorage students surveyed had been physically hurt by someone they dated within the past year and 7.6% were physically forced to perform sexual acts by someone they dated and whereas Brianna or Bri Moore was tragically murdered by her boyfriend in Alaska in 2014 as a result of Dating Violence after which her parents worked with the Alaska legislature to pass the Alaska safe children's act in 2015 and in 2018 they passed the bre more teen Dating Violence awareness and preventative program known as Breeze law because of Breeze law Dating Violence education is being taught in grades 7 through 12 in all Alaska public schools and whereas in 2022 Breeze law was recognized nationally and signed into law by the president of the United States as part of the violence against women act and authorized funding of $40 million to help prevent teen dating violence and whereas teens and all persons deserve happy healthy relationships where conflicts are managed without threats supporting healthy nonviolent relationships and teaching safe and healthy relationship skills can have lasting effects on youth now therefore the Anchorage Municipal assembly resolves that February 2024 is designated as teen Dating Violence Awareness Month in the Municipality of Anchorage passed and approved by the Anchorage assembly this 13th day of February 2024 thank you thank you so much my name is Cindy Moore and I'm Bree's mother and first of all I just want to thank the Anchorage assembly for your non-w support all these years it's been 10 years this year and we've worked very hard the last 10 years to prevent what happened to Bri from happening to any other teen in the state of Alaska and it's working and we run into teachers and teens and parents all the time that give us such amazing feedback to this education that's being taught as a matter of fact I met a teacher when I walked in today to the assembly chamber Chambers with Highland Academy and he said they're teaching Bree law and it's working he said there's five modules with education and there are 45 minutes each and he said truthfully it takes us at least two hours to get through each module because all the kids want to talk about it and they want to discuss it and he said that is huge because kids don't normally want to talk about that kind of stuff so I just want to thank you again and I want to thank all the parents out there and all the teens who have embraced this and have taken it to heart so thank you I'll say it again thank you so much Anchorage assembly it's we've had 100% support from the Anchorage assembly the whole time some of you know what we went through in Juno two different times which was completely the opposite in in in part but we had a lot of support there and Bree law passed both times with 100% voting um you know we we had this idea that that why did this happen to Bri and we didn't know that she was involved in an unhealthy relationship and that she was being abused until 3 months after she was murdered and we thought what why was this education not out there before it's like wear your seat belt don't let friends drive drunk I mean life best and it was just crazy so we you know we thought Cindy made a bunch of calls around the country to find out about Teen Dating Violence prevention education and she talked to Anne Burke Lindsey an Burke's mother in Rhode Island and she had passed a similar law there and that required teen Dating Violence education prevention and you said Cindy you have no idea what you're going to be up against Cy said why didn't you do it nationally you have no idea so this month we'll be participating in the National Committee with the uh US Health and Human Services which is going to be directing the well basically the input from names that you know in the news and the media where these funds will go and how they will be used in teen Dating Violence prevention and education uh throughout the country and so it's amazing the feedback we've had from Washington DC which is how did you get this passed people can't pass laws like this where they mandate this education and so there's not an attempt for us to mandate it across the United States but to the two biggest hurdles we had is it's an unfunded mandate so our goal with the 40 million is to create curricula make it free the second biggest argument is why are we going to put Bree's name on it and I think the way we do that is each state has not just a vict victim but many victims but in the case of Gabby Patito who we all know unfortunately from the news that state can adopt it as pre law Gabby's law or more importantly Gabby's law and Bree's law they can use the curricula that's developed and they can tailor it to their state to their region what their needs are so that's kind of our next goal we could not have done all of this without you we've had unwavering support we just are so appreciative thank you thank you great thank you so much for being here and for your continued advocacy next we have item 10 A2 resolution number ar202 24- 59 resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly recognizing and celebrating February 2024 as Black History Month in Anchorage and acknowledging the incredible unique journey of African-Americans member vand move to approve second moved and seconded uh I'll go ahead ask for unanimous consent seeing no opposition that is approved unanimously Mr chair I'll be presenting and member Johnson will be reading and whoever is accepting oh great thank you a resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly recognizing and celebrating February 2024 as Black History Month in Anchorage and acknowledging the incredible unique journey of African-Americans whereas between the 16th and 19th centuries 12 million Africans were transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas as part of the Atlantic slave trade where enslaved Africans built the economies of the Southern British colonies and later the southern states of the newly founded United States and whereas on July 4th 1776 the Declaration of Independence proclaimed the ideals of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness unfortunately the new nation's lofty ideals of all men are created equal did not apply to the millions of enslaved Africans who toiled under harsh inhuman main conditions and who are considered property not persons and whereas it took a Civil War the Emancipation Proclamation and three constitutional amendments to end slavery in our nation and for African-Americans to gain their freedom and constitutional rights as Citizens a freedom and rights that were bridged by Jim Crow laws and legal barriers to civil and voting rights that still stay in our nation's soul and whereas in 1926 Dr Carter G Woodson chose to establish the second week of February as negro history week because the month of February includes the birthdays of fed Frederick Douglas web da and Abraham Lincoln and the founding of the National Association for the advancement of colored people on February 12th 1909 and whereas since 1976 every American president has designated February as Black History Month recognizing the month as an opportunity to reflect upon the incredible unique journey of African-Americans their contributions to our nation and how they have never given up on the promise of our nation and whereas the association for the study of African-American life and history's 2024 Black History Month theme is African-Americans and the Arts which recognizes the lived experiences of black Americans in the fields of Visual and Performing Arts literature fashion language film music architecture colonary arts and other forms of cultural expression and whereas during the dark times of slavery while millions of African-Americans were physically enslaved the traditional music songs dances and oral Traditions that they had brought with them from Africa often kept them from being spiritually enslaved and later gave birth to gospel music and the blues both of which were based on the musical Traditions brought from Africa and the lived experiences of enslaved African-Americans and whereas throughout our nation's history African-Americans have shaped our nation's Soul through their contributions to the Arts and have helped to Define who we are as a nation in good times and in bad African-American artists have held up a mirror to our nation allowing us to confront hard truths about who we are and pushing us to live up to our founding ideals and whereas from the Harlem Renaissance to the black Renaissance to the Negro new negro movement to the Black Arts Movement to hip hop and afro futurism artists including Josephine Baker Langston Hughes Amir Baraka Nikki Giovani Sonia Sanchez Alvin iy K Lorac DJ Cool herk sunra Roland Kirk and Jimmy Hendricks help to shape our nation help to shape who we are as a nation Paul Robinson once noted that artists are The Gatekeepers of Truth we are civilization's radical voice and whereas African-American artists have helped to shape the artistic and social history of Anchorage including dancer Velma Miss Wiggles aderson Tammy Miss personality Townsend singer and Performing historian Dr Calvin Williams singer and story taler Shirly May Springer Staten visual artist and educator vonie gaier editor and publisher George C Anderson historian and educator Dr Everett Lewis over Street historian George Harper sofa Dance Theater of Alaska and entertainment promoters Dexter and Andrea Antoine and bbad Productions and whereas the lives and destinies of African-Americans have been intertwined with Alaska's Destiny since the era of Pacific whaling in the mid 19th century through the Alaska gold rush World War II the oil boom and the Civil Rights Movement although their stories and contributions to Alaska have often been written out of history and a mission addressed in the recently published black lives in Alaska by Dr Ian C Hartman and Dav dreamer and whereas black history is American history for far too long the stories triumphs and struggles of African-Americans were left out of our left out or marginalized in mainstream history it is essential that we acknowledge and are aware that although their numbers are small African-Americans have had and continue to have an outsized impact on the culture economy Civic life and history of Anchorage in Alaska and whereas during Black History Month 2024 the University of Alaska Anchorage the NAA CP Anchorage the Alaska Black Caucus Jack and Jill of Anchorage an of America Anchorage chapter and other Community Partners will be hosting community events including Alaska's Premier Black History Month event the Betty Davis African-American Summit AT Betty Davis East High School on Saturday February 10th offering multiple workshops seminars lectures vendors musical performances and Community Resources including Jack and Jill Anchorage chapters fifth annual living wax museum other community events include the sound of black music Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad The Ninth Annual black business expo and Summit the uja MAA co-working space open house the SFA Dan theaters elements 2: to 6: p.m in the West High Auditorium on Saturday February 24th these organizations represent the past present and future of the ongoing struggle for civil rights Justice and equity in our community State and Nation now therefore be it resolved by the Anchorage assembly that February 2024 shall be recognized and celebrated in the Municipality of Anchorage as Black History Month passed and approved by the Anchorage assembly this 13th day of February 2024 gness ch um first of all I want to thank you for this detail report the history um as a clink I would probably would say it is more directed to our African tribes that have brought that came over here um so it'd be more like um African cultural herited History Month um to remove most of the stuff that happened for ridding us from our culture by calling us blacks CU cuz as you can tell the African bloodline is flourished in um Alaska and goodness Jesus I really appreciate this thank you so much thank you good afternoon everyone I'm Jackie Oliver of the Alaska Black Caucus um in Li of President celest H groud and I just want to share a few words um thank you so much for this resolution um the proclamation truly represents a historical step towards up uplifting community and black creativity through the Arts to remember where we came is to to help us to keep going May the plights of these black alaskans and the regards of this Proclamation remind and remind serve to remind you to give others their flowers while they are here no matter how big or small the impact to plant the seeds in the community and help water from water the garden from which we all will eat thank you it's an honor I'd also like too a Shameless plug that the Alaska Black Caucus will be having a live and iners Community conversation this upcoming Sunday connecting black Joy it'll have four panelists of black women who will be sharing holistic practices to well-being and spiritual nurturing and teaching through different forms of Arts thank you so much for this honor thank you next we have item 10 A3 resolution number a 202 24-6 resolution of the inage municipal assembly recognizing and celebrating February 16th 2024 is Elizabeth patrovich day uh member Myers thank you Mr chair move to approve second moved and seconded I will ask for unanimous consent seeing no opposition that item is approved unanimously who is reading and who is presenting I am reading Mr chair and Mr Perez verdia is presenting great I want to apologize if I get any of these names wrong just saying that ahead of time a resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly recognizing and celebrating February 16th 2024 as Elizabeth petrovich Day whereas Alaska native Sisterhood Grant president Elizabeth Wanamaker petrovich was born in Petersburg Alaska on July 4th 1911 as a member of the luak ad clan in Raven Moi of the kinket nation with the kinket name Kus uh quotes person who packs for themselves in quotes and whereas after being orphaned Elizabeth was adopted by Andrew and Jean Waker graduated from the kakan high school attended Sheldon Jackson college and Western College of Ed education and married Ray petravic on December 15th 1931 and whereas seeking greater opportunities the petrovich family moved to Juno where Elizabeth and Roy encountered discrimination against Alaskan natives in their attempts to secure housing and gain access to public facilities spurring them to become leaders in the battle for Native rights and rights in Alaska and whereas Leever ing their positions as Leaders with the Alaskan native Sisterhood and the Alaskan native Brotherhood Elizabeth and Roy work to bring attention to the issue of discrimination lobbying the territory legislature and the governor groning for passage of the anti-discrimination legislation and whereas Elizabeth's compelling passionate testimony before Alaska territorial Senate was in instrumental in the passage of the anti-discrimination act of 1945 which provided for equal access to public accommodations in territory in the territory of Alaska in which Governor groning signed into law February 16th 1945 foreshadowing and helping to inspire National civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s and whereas in 1988 the Alaska legislature designated February 16th as Elizabeth petrovich day and in 2020 the United States Mint issued a $1 coin bearing the image of el Elizabeth petrovich in honor of her Legacy and civil rights activism making her the first Alaskan native to be honored in the United currency and whereas the Alaskan native Sisterhood and Alaskan native Brotherhood continue to carry on the legacy of Elizabeth and Roy petrovich and other Alaskan native civil rights Pioneers by advocating social justice equity and inclusion and or with A&B ands Camp 87 sponsoring Camp 87 first annual Alaska civil rights Conference October 14th 2023 now therefore the Anchorage Municipal assembly res res olves that February 16th 2024 is Alaska or Elizabeth petrovich Day in the Municipality of Anchorage and encourages the community to celebrate the Life and Legacy of civil rights and social justice Champion Elizabeth Wanamaker petrovich and and the ongoing work of the Alaska native Brotherhood and Alaska native Sisterhood passed and approved by the Anchorage assembly on the 13th day of February 2024 words welcome whoever would like to speak thank you my name is Tasha hch I live in the downtown district so voland and constant are my Representatives I'm Flink my clink name is Jake which means where the sun meets the mountain or for those of you not familiar with that kind of terminology Daybreak um I'm just really excited that we continue to recognize this day um I grew up in cluck one which is in Southeast Alaska where this is a very prominent holiday and a lot of activism happens and the small group behind me we're really active in this community you might not always know it because we're not looking for accolades but we're a service organization when people are looking for volunteers we show up when the people that are vulnerable and don't have a voice we show up and the organization started in 1912 and we're continuing to do that work today the laskan native Brotherhood Sisterhood is the oldest indigenous Le civil rights organization in the world and it's [Music] just it means a lot to me that we continue to work together and give a voice to those that would normally go unheard goodness ches thank you hi again so this group behind me if you can rise up please because I'm going to give them a Voice come on stand up appreciate you all being here um it's not only the indigenous that uh fought to be heard in for human rights it's Global we are Global everybody knows you we mentioned it they go oh the clets they're the ones that fought to make sure everybody has a voice everybody you know is heard so I just wanted to make sure that these people representing the ones across um the world are being heard today cuz that's how we that's what we do every day uh we wake up and we make sure that everyone has a voice goodness Jes thank you again for this detail I mean it's appreciate it I don't have to talk that much I mean it's a goodness FR stop being shy I'm not to s first of all I'd like to thank the assembly um the mayor and all of us that put this resolution together because it's important that we continue fighting discrimination in the systems in the schools and you know we've got to continue the good fight and we will continue the good fight I've been with the Alaskan native Brotherhood since 1991 and been with the grand Camp organization you know since then as the grand secretary and Grand treasure but we're not new to the Anchorage assembly we've done debates with the mayor we've done debates with the assembly on canb radio and we will continue doing that because I think it's important that our voice be heard and the views be heard of our elected officials but also in closing would like to recognize the Anchorage um civil rights uh Organization for helping us sponsor uh the first annual civil rights organization meeting in Anchorage on October 14th special recognition Was Daryl Hass and uh uh kiyoki Kim they did a really good job representing the municipality and and and uh the assembly and the mayor so I just really want to thank let you guys know what a great job they did representing the organization K thank you next we have item 10 A4 resolution number AR 202 24- 61 resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly recognizing February 24 2024 as National Trio day and the trio programs at the University of Alaska Anchorage member Broadley move to approve second moved and seconded asking for unanimous consent seeing no objection objection that item is approved unanimously who is reading who's presenting okay yeah come on up a resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly recognizing February 24th 2020 4 as National Trio day and the trio programs at the University of Alaska Anchorage whereas Trio programs are federal Outreach and student services programs in the United States enacted in The Higher Education Act of 1965 and designed to identify and provide students of services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds and whereas Trio programs have operated at the University of Alaska Anchorage since the early 197 7s providing invaluable educational assistance to lowincome and first generation college students including academic career and financial counseling to help students complete their post-secondary education and whereas uaa's Trio programs including Upward Bound for high school students and student support services for college students are an integral uh are in are are integral to the education of underrepresented Youth and adults throughout the Municipality of Anchorage and currently serve about 300 Anchorage School District students in grades 9 through 12 at Betty Davis East High School West High School and Bartlett High School and whereas Trio day is a nationally recognized event on February 24th bringing colleges and universities across the country together to celebrate and raise awareness for trio programs during which the University of Alaska Anchorage will join peer Trio programs AC around the country and whereas by recognizing the untapped talent and potential of lowincome first generation Americans with diverse racial and economic backgrounds Trio programs opens the doors to educational access and opportunity for all every day now therefore the Anchorage assembly recognizes February 24th 2024 as National Trio day and recognizes the ongoing contributions of UAA Trio programs to motivate and support Youth and Young adults to pursue and Achieve educational success passed and approved by the Anchorage assembly this 13th day of February 2024 thank you so much my name is Jasmine Carter I'm an adviser for the trio pre-ol program at both Bartlett and West High School um I'm joined today by two amazing Trio students Adeline bakui from Bartlett and Elisha lenta from West High School um like the resolution says Trio aims to mainly serve first generation and low-income students um we provide a variety of services including financial aid literacy um College and Career exploration both trade and college school admission support as well as academic um support and leadership development thank you so much for your time um and we greatly appreciate this recognition thank you actually before you go uh member vand thank you Mr chair actually um I wanted to uh say thank you to uh yourself and member Broly and member Martinez for putting this together um I would love to be added as a co-sponsor um if I could have that opportunity great uh thank you I'll go ahead and just ask is anyone opposed to being added as a co-sponsor okay seeing none then we'll go ahead and just add everyone as a co-sponsor thank you member of vand thank you so much thank you all right uh next we have item 10 B6 resolution number AR 2024 63 a resolution adopting recommendations to be forwarded to the Anchorage metropolitan area transportation Solutions amats policy committee regarding an amendment to the ffy 2023 2026 Transportation Improvement program member vand thank you Mr chair I I would like to move to set this item for public hearing at the regular assembly meeting on February 27th second moved and seconded member vand yeah uh briefly this was a request of AMT staff um as tip amendment number two as I mentioned earlier in my committee report is now out for public comment um they would like this to have a public hearing before the assembly um as part of that process thank you seeing no other discussion members May proceed to vote on the motion to set this for a public hearing member constant yes member cross yes member Sut yes and uh youth representative Tyrell yes that Mo thank you that motion is approved 11 to zero with the youth representative voting yes uh next we have items 10 Delta 3 4 and five I'm going to go ahead and read all three into the record before I turn it over to member Broly um 10 Delta 3 assembly memorandum number am 19 194-202 24 Library Advisory Board uh Donna Moz 10 D4 assembly memorandum number am1130 d224 Library Advisory Board Amy Sims 10 D5 assembly memorandum number am 13122 4 Library Advisory Board Susi Lang member Bry thank you I'd like to move to postpone uh those three items to the regular meeting on July 16th second second moved and seconded member broy yeah thank you uh just briefly um these same three appointments were failed to be cons confirmed by this assembly just six months ago in August 2023 um August 22nd if you're uh Curious and want to go back to the meeting so the only change that's proposed here is is it's the same individuals but they have switched around uh the proposed seats of these three so rather than taking up more valuable time in tonight's meeting and rehashing that same conversation I propose postponing these appointments to later in the year and I also move to call the question second moved and seconded um by member branga let's go ahead and pull up that vote members May proceed to vote on the call the question member constant yes member cross no member Sut no and uh youth representative Tyrell yes okay um that motion is approved 8 to3 with the youth representative voting yes uh so that will take us uh to the vote of the motion which is to postpone these three items to a meeting in July so let's go ahead and vote on that member constant yes member cross no member Sut no and youth representative Tyrell yes thank you uh on a vote of 8 to three with the youth representative voting yes that motion is approved so those items will be back before us on January excuse me uh July 16th um before we go on dinner break as a reminder items 14b AO 202 24-14 and 14f AO 223-9403 20 minutes or so and we'll be back e e an ordinance uh that we're going to go ahead and take care of it's a laate on the table item that I believe is just going to get introduced and set for a public hearing today so it should be simple 1 second and third so I'll go ahead and read the title and then I will ask member broy to start us off um unnumbered AO 2024 an ordinance of the Anchorage assembly amending Anchorage Municipal coach chapter 2107 to roll back amendments by AO 20235 as amended that establish new Urban neighborhood development context standards that created unforeseen challenges for housing developments outside of the original Urban neighborhoods in Anchorage and waving Planning and Zoning commission review of this ordinance member broley uh move to introduce and set the public hearing for I believe February 27th second third okay um thank you so uh first second and third that item has been introduced and will be before us at the February 27th meeting okay so moving on in our agenda we now have before us item 11a assembly member random uh number am 992-2244 thank you Mr chair um so I'm actually going to oppose this reappointment um I know that Miss peas has a history of um volunteerism um and that includes this board as well um and I I appreciate her service to Anchorage um in the past however um you know this board in its quasi judicial Capac capacity gets to make rulings on appeals from the Planning and Zoning commission and other commissions um and you know I just think that it's important that there's sort of alignment with the policy of the legislative body um I recently had the opportunity to attend a meeting of the rabbit Creek community council and Miss peas gave a present ation um on sort of the assembly's policy um legislation on land use and Zoning um and also the home initiative um which is working its way through the Planning and Zoning Commission Now um it was a very interesting meeting it really did not amount to a presentation so much as a back and forth with Ryan yel who's the current uh long range planning manager for the municipality and in this dialogue um my sense was that um Miss peas asked um Mr yel sort of several leading questions um and characterized I think unfairly and inaccurately um some of the assembl uh policymaking and legislation around land use and housing um the co-sponsors of the actual legislation that was discussed were not invited to make a presentation to that community council meeting and so you have um essentially what you had was sort of someone who works for another branch of government being put on the spot and essentially asked to disagree in front of a community council with pending legislation that's in the Planning and Zoning Commission Now um and I I just felt like um it was I'm not going to say go as far as say inap appropriate but I think it was unfortunate in that there wasn't a more folsome dialogue to be had uh with the assembly who are actually the the authors of of that legislation and so um with that I I will be a no vote on this particular um appointee thank you Mr chair thank you member Johnson yeah thank you Mr chair I I strongly support uh Miss PE for this role she's been a very active and outspoken member of her community she's been involved in community counsel she was I think not if you look at the record here one um has a very excellent tenance recor and she was also served as Planning and Zoning commissioner I think she's very well qualified and and I understand that there may be some policy disagreements between her perspective or the views that she uh represents in a role as a community council member but I I'm just I I would be wary of going so far as to say that something as simple as a a disagreement over one piece of policy is is enough to perhaps consider excluding somebody from these appointments I mean I think historically I I've been pretty differential to the role of the um executive branch and the administration to make these appointments and I've generally taken the position that you know I mean politics should not be our primary motivation or or even I think accepting extreme circumstances really a factor in not approving an appointment they've made and I think I would be hesitant because I think uh I I worry about the precent and if we say something so narrow as simply not supporting one piece of action despite somebody being very well qualified very active and I think clearly fulfilling the Mandate of the board um yeah I I'm I'm I'm happy to support uh Miss pce thanks um so I have a few folks in the queue and then I'm hoping that we vote and don't prolong this debate um Mr bird thank you Mr chair uh I'll be brief uh so through the chair I just want to remind the body that the board of adjustment is a five- member board and currently uh there are only three members so uh we are asking the the assembly to confirm Miss P so that there will be four members you may recall the board of adjustment functions by having three member panels so this will hamstring them if we don't have Miss peas um and we'll we'll we'll find somebody else um but as as I've mentioned before Mr chair um this is a volunteer uh this is an a judicatory board um so this one's is this serves an important function for the city um and I also want to remind the body um that I Believe Miss peas was originally appointed by the previous administration so um we we feel comfortable that she served the city well and then she will continue to do so thank you Mr chair thank you member brango I fully support Nancy peas she's smart hardworking does her homework um and we on the east side are very grateful for her foresight and making sure that um there were height limits along MLK Drive when it was going in and making sure the development in that area was sensible and I think it would be um really important to keep her on the board thank you member constant than Mr chair um I have a couple thoughts um I will support Miss piece ultimately though I understand the concerns that are being raised by member vand because we have a certain set of people who have figured out the strengths and weaknesses of our community council system and are effectively utilizing our community council system to perpetuate misinformation and so I don't draw that problem to miss piece I draw that problem to our rules relating to community councils because the council should in fact have made an effort to have a sponsor of the item there as opposed to hosting an opposition session and attempting to get staff on board with the opposition right and so I think that there are um this is just one more argument to the Omnibus Community Council review and update to the code that I intend to see come to fruition before I'm off this body because the community councils themselves have been become the Locust of abuse of the process and so with that um I would note I like that Mr bird pointed out that the a previous administration appointed this person that just goes to show that opposition to individuals are not based on partisan matters but instead on individual calculations of Competency and and um their fit so with that I'll yield the floor thank you member cross thank you yeah I would just want to Echo the statements by constant and band um I have my own reservations regarding this appointment having served on boards and commissions I think it's very important that you come with curiosity and no preconceived judgments on how you believe things should be it's uh there is a servant position to the community and um I'm I'm a little concerned that that is not what we're going to get so thank you thank you members member soul thank you um I'll I'll keep it brief I I I support Miss p uh very fortunate to have her in our district um very well researched very well read on uh Planning and Zoning Municipal items and and assembly I I will say I I do hope that uh Miss peas will come in um as with her mind open and uh be willing to listen to others and and again keep an open mind again very very intelligent very bright I think should be a benefit to have on the commission thank you uh thank you uh member ban and then I'd like us to vote thank you Mr chair I I just I guess I want to respond to member Johnson what came across to me in the in the meeting that I watched and recorded was not simply push back to one piece of legislation it was a characterization of the assembly full on when it comes to the policy that we've been working on regarding addressing a housing crisis um and my sense is that this is someone um who potentially doesn't understand the depth of the housing crisis um and has a philosophical approach that would only um advocate for infill density in certain areas of town so I guess I will just say that I think it's it's Broad than just a commentary on one piece of legislation um and so with that you know again I appreciate the history of um you know Nancy being involved and her former service but I think it's time to have new people and new ideas at the table um in in some of our conversations around land use and housing um and yeah just bring some some new blood new life into the conversation thank you thank you seeing no one else in the queue members May proceed to vote on the motion to approve member constant yes member cross no member Sut yes youth representative Tyrell yes thank you on a VM 9-2 with the youth representative voting yes that item is approved next we have item 11 Mr chair yes sorry to interrupt but I um I had a request to consider uh immediate reconsideration of item 10 d22 which is am1 16222414 Municipal manager and I think it has to do with the uh immediacy of the need to to execute it so I would like to ask Mr KES if he would to to kind of speak to why he thinks it would be prudent to uh consider this thank you m excuse me thank you Mr chair and thank you Mr Johnson for helping me bumble through parliamentary procedure as well this is a contract for legal services for AO and um it took us a while to get it on the agenda through no fault of the body it was our our our languishing but it's critical because they want to start work tomorrow and there's some regulatory issues they're working through with AO and we would like to be able to award this contract as soon as possible thank you thank you seeing no other members in the queue members May proceed to vote on the motion for immediate reconsideration urging a no vote Mr constant boy now I want to talk about it so I'm GNA take yes member cross no member salt no and uh how does the youth representative vote no thank you so on a vote of 10 to one with youth representative voting no that motion fails uh next we have item 11b assembly memorandum number 93-220 Anchorage Community Development Authority board of directors Lesly Rital there is no motion pending what is the will of the body move to approve second move second moved and seconded uh is there any discussion on the item seeing and hearing none members May proceed to vote on the motion to approve Mr Sut yes Mr Cross Mr constant yes Mr Cross yes how does the youth representative vote yes thank you uh on a vote of 11 to zero with the youth representative voting yes that item is approved before we go on to the next item for testimony on public hearing items please direct your comments to the assembly or the chair please give your name and neighborhood at the start of your testimony you will have three minutes to testify unless you are with a community counsel or other recognized group your comments must remain on the topic of the matter before us and personal tax are not appropriate I may interrupt you if you do not follow these rules for Testimony in addition audience members are asked to avoid clapping or other disruptions during public testimony assembly members don't typically answer questions during this period that comes later during the debate as public testimony is the Public's time to speak with that we have before us item 13 any resolution number AR 20245 resolution of the Municipality of Anchorage appropriating an amount not to exceed 1,300,000 from unrestricted net Equity to the Solid Waste Services Refuge collection utility operating fund 560000 SS department for debt payments and amending the 2023 operating budget public testimony is now open on this item would anyone like to speak anyone at all seeing and hearing none public testimony is closed what is the will of the body move to postpone indefinitely is there a second second moved in seconded member Broadley um yeah my understanding is the Administration has requested that this be postponed so so I would I guess turn to Mr Coast to speak to that thank you Mr chair excuse me that is correct we are requesting to be postponed indefinitely if we have questions about the specifics uh acting om director Sharon lner is here to answer any questions thank you seeing and hearing no one um members May proceed to vote on the motion to postpone inde def Mr constant yes Mr Cross yeah Mr Sut yeah how does the youth representative vote yes thank you on a vote of 11 to Zer with the youth representative voting yes that item is postponed indefinitely next we have item 14a ordinance number a202 24-13 an ordinance of the Anchorage assembly amending Anchorage Municipal Code section 4.6 .220 Municipal military and Veterans Affairs commission to define the length of app appointment terms as 3 years um public testimony is now open on this item would anyone like to testify seeing and hearing no one public testimony is closed what is the will of the body vve to approve second moved and seconded is there any discussion do you want to speak to it member constant I can um I just briefly state that it's a very unusual commission it has an initial term of one year and then allows from a previous code change the second term if you will to be three years but it's really difficult to manage and so what this does it just streamlines the whole thing and makes it a three-year appointment thank you seeing no further discussion members May proceed to vote on the motion to approve Mr Sut yes Mr Cross yes Mr constant yes how does the youth representative vote yes thank you on a vote of 11 to Zer with the youth representative voting yes that item is approved next we have item 14b just as a reminder before I read the title the intent here is to open up the public hearing and then I will go to member ban to make the motion to continue the public hearing to uh the meeting in March so we won't be hearing from anyone today uh next we have item 14b ordinance number a202 24-14 an ordinance of the Anchorage assembly amending Anchorage Municipal Code sections 9.4.1 and 9.14 to prohibit vehicular traffic from executing a turn on red in the Central Business traffic District public hearing is now open member voland thank you Mr chair move to continue the public hearing to the regular assembly meeting of March 19th second moved and seconded member vand thank you yeah I hope colleagues will indulge me uh the downtown community council only meets every other month um and this will allow me to give them a presentation at their March meeting before the assembly takes action on this thank you thank you seeing no further discussion members May proceed to vote on the motion to continue the public hearing Mr Sut yes Mr Cross yes Mr constant yes how does the youth representative vote yes thank you on a vote of 11 to zero with the youth representative voting yes that item is continued to the meeting of March 19th next we have item 14 C resolution number ar202 24-27 a resol a resolution of the Municipality of Anchorage appropriating transer to the area General Capital Improvement projects CIP fund for Capital Improvements at the denina Civic and Convention Center all within the offices of the municipal manager public testimony is now open on this item would anyone like to testify anyone at all seeing and hearing no one public testimony is closed what is the will of the body move to approve second second moved and seconded is there any discussion on this item yes Mr chair go ahead member Conant thank you uh just briefly to the manager I just want to um reiterate that the lighting on the public art sculpture in the building continues to be burnt out going around year six and I'm hopeful that some of this largest that we're appropriating from the various tax funds can go to fixing that project that has been broken for so many years thank you thank you seeing and hearing no further discussion members May proceed to vote on the motion to approve Mr constant yes Mr Cross yes Mr Sut yes how does the youth representative vote yes thank you on a vot of 11 to Zer with the youth representative voting yes that motion is approved next we have item 14d ar202 24-30 resolution of the Municipality of Anchorage appropriating room tax and amounts not to exceed 8474 $8.74 within AI general fund 2023 operating budget and 1,464 1455 cents within the convention center operating operating Reserve fund 2023 operating budget to provide for payments under the Professional Services contract with visit Anchorage and the use agreement with Civic Ventures under the office of the municipal manager public testimony is now open on this item would anyone like to testify welcome hello my name is Brian witzky I go B she her pronouns uh 14 years trans uh gender currently residing at the Alex the only thing I want to make sure that we bring awareness to is when we're talking about a room tax is that when we look at the hotel industry which this is a direct issue of it remember we're trying to always encourage uh more tourism it's very hard when the average hotel room starts at $400 a night in the summertime and that's cheap and when we're looking at that we're looking at our hotels and the quality of our hotels you know they're they're struggling operation there's some of them that are are doing well and there's others that are not and a lot of it depends on how big they are through the lower 48 and up here in enjoyment when we're dealing with Alaska we need to keep it as much as we can in Alaska so I mean there is Appropriations there's a need for a bed tax and it does go into all this and as far as that goes so just be mindful when we're we're making changes to our our industry as Hospitality as far as it goes that small changes on one side can make a huge change in impact on the other especially with our tourism so thank you guys for taking a moment to look at everything and moving forward on this thank you for your testimony would anyone else like to testify on this item welcome hi Mike hedington uh gwood speaking for myself um I'd just like to uh pose a question perhaps I don't disagree with this item as it is I understand how the process currently Works um but I think it's interesting just to take this opportunity to look back at history a little bit so in 2005 when the the uh this Arrangement was first made room tax was bringing about 11 million a year from hotels and about 400,000 from other which is Airbnb sorry which was bed and breakfast and a few other bits and pieces um 2015 the most recent time when the contract was uh so a decade later when the contract was updated um income from hotels room taxed about doubled to 24 million and it was still sitting around half a million dollars from others from the other category now we're eight years later um there been roughly a 50 55% increase in hotel uh taxes room taxes now are about 38 million according to the best guesses I have from last year's numbers which are uncomplete for the public so it's about 38 million from hotels it's now gone from 500,000 to 6 million from others nearly all of that is the growth in short-term rental airbnbs um and my particular Community we probably probably about a quarter of that revenue and tax revenue comes from goodw when itself so when we look back 2005 even 2015 I can see a very clear link between the needs of hotels and what hotels you know how hotels work from uh visitors and everything else and the impact of hotels and that direct linkage to the purposes of uh visit Anchorage I think as we see an increase in short-term rentals and the other impacts of short-term rentals on on communities especially ones like my where we have about 20% of our housing involved in short-term rental it's a little hard to see the excess room tax going to visit anchor Bridge rather than address the direct problems which are caused by uh short-term rentals themselves so again while I think this makes perfect sense this is how the system currently is we have the opportunity perhaps in the next year to look at some bigger questions and uh perhaps come to a different approach in the future thank you thank you for your testimony would anyone else like to testify anyone at all seeing and hearing no one public testimony is closed what is the will of the body move to approve second moved and seconded is there any discussion on this item uh member broy yeah thank you um I do urge support for this item but I appreciate U Mr edgington's comments um I've wondered some of the same things honestly about um where our excess Revenue goes uh currently the way that contract is designed um the all of the excess Revenue pretty much flows into um a savings account which I think um when it was set up was The Prudent thing to do but I think is an is an open question for a lot of the reasons he stated um just that our hotel slh hospitality industry has changed and so um certainly this is not the time to take that up but I think that's something that's important for members to understand we don't have a lot of options right now but I think it is a worthy conversation about where uh where we could best use that money thank you thank you seeing no other members in the queue members May proceed to vote I'm sorry Mr chair uh go ahead M member constant just yeah really quickly um just to add on to what Mr Bry said to not it's not so simple as a contract and where we want to spend the money it's voter driven so it's it's a multi-year question how we might make changes thank you all right seeing no other members in the queue members May proceed to vote Mr constant yes Mr Sut yes Mr Cross yes how does the youth representative vote yes thank you on a vote of 11 to Zer with the youth representative are voting yes that motion is approved next we have item 14e resolution number ar22 24-36 a resolution of the Municipality of Anchorage appropriating a transfer from the 2023 operating budget a general fund in the amount of 1,32 3270 $17 Al to the public transportation Capital Improvement projects fund for the moldun transit center and soil remediation projects public testimony is now open on this item would anyone like to testify anyone at all seeing and hearing none public testimony is closed what is the will of the body move to approve second moved and seconded is there any discussion on this item seeing and hearing none members May proceed to vote on the motion to approve Mr constant yes Mr Cross yes Mr salt yeah how does the youth representative vote vote yes thank you on a vote of 11 to Zer with the youth representative voting yes that uh motion is approved uh next uh similar to the prior item the intent here is for me to open the public hearing and then I will turn to uh member perz verdia to make the motion to continue the public hearing to the meeting of March 19th um so uh next we have item 14f ordinance number a223 d94 an ordinance amending Anchorage Municipal Code title 17 animals the clarify meaning by amending sections 17051 and 17101 um the public hearing on this item is now open member pres Ria thank you move to continue the public hearing to the meeting of March 19th second moved and seconded any discussion on the motion seeing and hearing none members May proceed to vote on the motion to continue the public hearing on this item to March 19th just one second for the computer to catch up Mr constant yeah Mr Cross yeah Mr salt yeah how does the youth representative vote yes thank you on a vote of 11 to Zer with youth representative voting yes that item has been continued to the uh meeting of March 19th next we have item 14g resolution number ar202 24-6 a resolution of the anchor Municipal assembly adopting the naming recommend recommendations of the ly Ary Park public naming panel for certain facilities at linary Park public hearing on this item is now open welcome thank you is this on this is on okay good evening my name is Kathy opinsky you made it yes gonna all right sounds like we're switching up the order here that's fine oh okay welcome is this on yep you're on okay thank you okay uh is the mayor here today if not I will go on to chair and members of the assembly my name is Kathy Gleason current president of Igan Community Council I'm just gonna AP you are you speaking as the council yes I am okay thank you I'm also chair of the um for member linary Park public naming panel which was approved by the assembly September 13th of last year thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on behalf of both of these groups regarding resolution AR of the Anchorage Municipal assembly adopting the name recommendations of the lary Park public naming panel for certain facilities at lener Park and we respectfully request the assembly's approval of this resolution I'd like to start with recognizing the other three naming panel members sorry catching my breath Cathy opensky who is just about to testify Diana dur and John Wilson it's been a pleasure working with these three individuals and I really appreciate their participation collaboration and most of all their patience during this multi-year endeavor to honor contributions and memories of special residents of this community also thank you to Anchorage West little league for their full support of this proposal we can not have gotten to this point in the process without the guidance and collaboration with now retired municip IAL Parks and Recreation senior planner Tom kosi thank you Tom and we hope that you are enjoying a welld deserved retirement and we also hope that maybe working with us didn't push him to retire before he was really ready we'll never know so an effort to formally name these three uh name three specific amenities at lary Park which is located within the TCC boundaries started in 2019 TCC approved a resolution at that time which was amended in 2022 to include the naming of a Fourth Park amenity at this time where we are today the naming panel's recommendations include formally naming the long established Garden at the Northwest area of the park lower level the Michelle Byron Memorial Garden Michelle was killed by a drunk driver in 1998 by a drunk driver was killed in 1998 by a drunk driver and her mother attorne resident work to turn this beautiful open space into an area to reflect and enjoy the park and view of cinlet formerly naming the marsten field Southeast Diamond after turning in Resident Robert Bob Durst who for years tirelessly tirelessly volunteered his time and energy in Reviving and maintaining soccer and then ball fields at the park Bob was also serving on the chigan community board chigan Community Council board at the time of his passing in 2007 and also naming another ball Diamond which I couldn't specifically remember but others testifying will give you that exact Diamond um after third generation Alaskan John opinsky who grew up playing baseball at ler Park and his contributions and achievements into adulthood to the Anchorage West little league is a coach and board member are well known in the community John passed away in 2021 while TCC and the naming panel also recommended the tennis courts on the upper level of liner Park be formerly named after the Hendrickson family due to that family's generous contributions for a major Rehabilitation project in 2010 we respectfully acknowledge and accept the Parks and Recreation advisory advisory commission's decision to oppose formally naming this amenity and we just support of the um continuing existing signage at the courts that recognizes the family's role in acknowledgement of their efforts so um thank you again for hopefully your approval of this resolution or I guess it's a yeah resolution and I'd be happy to answer any questions thank you great thank you for your testimony I don't see anyone in the queue for you okay great thanks welcome good evening my name is Kathy opinsky and I live in South Edition uh I am here to testify in support of resolution West little league in 2006 when our boys were just four and 5 years old he joined the board of directors shortly thereafter and served as league president from 2013 to 2016 John spent countless hours coaching managing equipment and Performing field maintenance at lener Park in his final year of coaching Little League the Anchorage West Senior Team won the Alaska District 1 championship after his time with Anchorage West Little League John went on to serve as the head coach of the the varsity baseball team at West High School his Alma moer many of the kids he coached in those early years at lener Park continued to play for him at the high school level and that team brought home the prized state championship title in 2020 the first time for West High since 1977 he often shared with me that after our boys aged out of playing baseball here in Anchorage his Hope was to one day return to the Little League fields and start coaching the younger players again John was a third generation Alaskan born in Anchorage on Christmas Eve 1968 he attended Inlet View Elementary RC jior high and graduated in 1987 from West High School John went on to attend the University of Alaska Fairbanks he and I met shortly after he returned to Anchorage and were married in 1998 our sons are now young adults Jack is 22 and now a baseball coach at West himself and our twins Jimmy and Nick are 21 in addition to coaching John had a successful career in commercial real estate for over 25 years as a partner at Frampton in opinsky John was diagnosed with Glo blastoma an aggressive form of brain cancer in the spring of 2019 he passed away in early 200 or 21 in our home wearing his West High baseball championship ring earned just six months prior he loved being a coach but he was so much more than that to these kids he was a mentor a father figure a confidant and a friend he often said he had three sons of his own but he would borrow 10 to 15 more each summer many lives were touched by his commitment to this game his players and their successes on and off the field for these reasons and so many more we don't have time to get into tonight I'd respectfully ask the designated coach pitch field at linary Park be named in his honor the John opinsky Diamond thank you thank you would anyone else like to testify yes okay welcome hi I'm Diana Durst and I am speaking to support the permanent naming of Durst Diamond there's been a sign on there for 15 years uh I want to thank Ken Patrick Riley a former coach and former Anchorage West Little League board member who lives in Oregon now for some of the information I am providing Bob and I came to Alaska in 1974 he was co-founder and president in Bic Durst and BDS Architects from 1981 until his sudden death in 2007 we raised our children Zachary Ashley and jacqu andigan and all three graduated from West High School and still reside in Anchorage Ashley has been board the vice president of the alumni board at West High School for 15 years Bob's involvement in lener park and baseball began in 1991 when our son Zach played minder baseball for Anchorage West Little League Bob was on the board from 1992 to 2005 and he was President the majority of those years Bob also coached for several years he was is one of the rare parents that keeps participating long after their children are no longer involved at the time Anchorage West Little League was just beginning and Maron field consisted of one minor field for nine and 10 year olds and soccer fields our kids had to be transported all over Anchorage for all age groups and girls softball were using other league fields and had minimal field time for practice baseball has one turnover an evening soccer fields have several parents were driving from all of our Anchorage to these soccer fields in our turnig again neighborhood with cars parking throughout the neighborhood Bob realized that after miners many of our players would no longer be able to participate in baseball because their parents did not have the flexibility in their jobs for them to um to get them to distant fields or the time to do this to him this was unacceptable Bob stepped up on the board with a vision he wanted places that were safe and that kids could walk to and bike to equipment that protected them coaches that were role models and didn't yell or give wrong advice and above all a program that instilled sportsmanship the key to this was relocating soccer fields in closer proximity to the users here is a short version of all that he did to make this happen Bob met with Anchorage soccer leagues and M and the Municipal Park and Recreation Department to find space for fields on the West Side Bob also met with the community council to share his vision of developing Balto seppo Park including Lloyd steel soccer field he convinced the city to put the project on a bond issue which passed soccer leads agreed to movement of soccer fields and locations closer to those use them which led the way for Anchorage West Little League's five Field Complex that is there today after laying out and designing the fields Bob laid out the dimensions and fence lines on the grass with others he dug the fence post and strung the fencing and placed home plate and at the end he went out with his bucket shovel and rig and build a pitcher mound over the years Bob continually worked to get funding to improve the fields having the places to play was only part of Bob's Vision he upgraded equipment and uniforms he recruited other parents and people in the community to help coach he helped bring baseball clinics and teachers to Alaska he encouraged coaches to go to these clinics and to learn more just not about baseball skills but about umpiring scoring and teaching oh I didn't judge that right your three minutes is quicker than mine thank you if if you have a final thought you can share that huh if you have a final thought you want to share with us feel free to um I guess that's fine I I guess another upside of developing complex was it also brought soccer fields close to neighborhoods therefore making them more accessible and allowing more kids to play and I have two granddaughters that play shocker thank you welcome hi my name is Brian whitz I go by Bri she her pronouns 14 years trans female I didn't know much about this until I'm hearing what I'm hearing and I wanted to say thank you to the family of uh Bob I I did not know him but uh when I was in my youth I played baseball so anybody that has that much compassion I I would hope that you know we would take a time to honor and respect and remember them so I appreciate those kind of people I was a child of broken home without those kind of people many of us do not have the abilities to be able to thrive and understand what it is to be a part of a team and good Role Models I played much baseball through many different areas that I've lived in the United States and one of those I'm proud to say was here in Anchorage so anybody that has taken a part in making that a possibility for our youth that inspires growth in our community of Youth being here and producing good young people to be here I say thank you again to the families that do that all including this manand thank you bye thank you would anyone else like to testify on this item anyone at all seeing and hearing no one public testimony is now closed what is the will of the body move to approve second moved and seconded is there any discussion on this item member broley yeah just briefly um and thank you uh folks for being here because I know it's been a long road so um so as they said um this modest set of naming recommendations has really taken about five years to get to this point um I remember back when I was Secretary of turnig again Community Council we were dealing with it um and then we updated when I was president of turnig again Community Council and so now I'm very glad to see that it's moving forward to its completion um and really some of the reason why it took so long is that there was some gaps in the actual records at the city the uh Park information about what had been named or not named and so part of this was just really the diligence to sort that out um things that had been named that those uh names for a long time for the folks that they spoke about as well as recognizing some um uh more newly departed folks and making sure that they're recognized as well so um anyway I won't take long because this has already taken five years but um the size of this packet really illustrates um that there was extensive process around this a lot of work by the stakeholders so thank you everybody who stuck with it and and made it happen um and I really encourage um support and thank you again both to the community council and to Anchorage West little league for working on this together thank you thank you a youth representative Tyro yeah well I do not live close a couple of friends of mine do and I visited I've visited this park many many times I think this is a wonderful addition and thank you for your work thank you member Martinez thank you chair I wanted to uh thank the families who presented today um the burn the BAM the birum family the Durst family the Hendrickson family the opinsky family for rolling their sleeves up in our community and working and loving on our community and providing spaces for our young people um and caring about those spaces I am a a little leager myself and uh back in the day obviously and uh and I'm a parent of a little leager here in in our community so I'm just deeply appreciative of community Sports these fields um I think this is a a great opportunity and something that I just wanted to reflect on one of the the presenters today I think it was uh Kathy gleon mentioned that we do these processes to honor the contributions I'm paraphrasing the contributions of special people who contribute to our community and when naming panels are working at their best um they do that effectively and it's self-evident and so I'm just deeply appreciative of that and I also want to just remark uh sometimes things take long in the the processes of local government and the bureaucracies but uh these are not microwavable decisions and and hopefully they will continue to last and recognize the legacy of the contributions of these individuals thank you thank you member branga I also wanted to Echo that it sounds like these were amazing people and this is uh very fitting um I did kind of want to ask a question though on we talked a lot about how we've changed the naming process and this all started prior to that correct um so you know I just I know that there's someone who's been regularly asking me about having something named and has been told no and that's why this has been going on so long as you're still in the pike for it so I'm glad you got in there but um sounds like incredible people I I just lost a cousin who was an incredible coach at West High and um I think we'll name a hill at King Kade for him thank you member vand thank you Mr chair I'm really excited to support this it's good to see Kathy in Diana here and thank you for sharing your stories my dad was my baseball coach and my soccer coach growing up and I know that just the the commitment that it takes not only for your own family your own kids but all the other kids and so just really appreciate uh the Legacy and happy to to recognize um those contributions thank you thank you member constant yeah thanks and I'll just speak to miss opinsky you know I didn't realize your husband had passed just hearing it t this last week with this document and I'm really glad you're here seeking this renaming and grateful for the ability to support it thank you member broy thank you I just wanted to very briefly respond to member question um yeah to my knowledge this started at least back in 2019 and there was actually another part that I believe was already passed naming one of the diamonds uh for someone else and so this was a a kind of followon ordinance to that so it really was a community-driven process but there was a naming panel that was um impanel and and um appointed thanks thank you seeing no further discussion members May proceed to vote on the motion to approve member cross yes member Sut yes member constant yes how does the youth representative vote yes thank you on a vote of 11 to zero with the youth representative voting yes that item is approved great thank you I I would argue uh that that is an appropriate use of clapping for folks who may be questioning um Okay so this next item possibly okay all right so for this next item possibly both items um there has been a request that we do very similar to the last couple of items open the public hearing and then postpone the or continue the public hearing to a future date um I understand that there may be some debate on that I hope that that debate is brief so that we can get to the heart uh depending on the will of the majority so with that I will go ahead and uh read this item um um next item is 14h ordinance number a22 24-1 in ordinance with the Municipality of Anchorage amending the Anchorage 240 land use plan map designation of three lots containing uh 0.64 Acres from compact mixed residential medium residential mixed use development and Transit supported General excuse me transit supported development Corridor to Town Center wave reading thank you um public hearing is now open on this item uh member Johnson yeah thank you I would like to make a motion to continue the public hearing to the meeting of March 5th second second moved and seconded I assume that was member sold um go ahead member Johnson yeah thank you um these are interesting proposals and I think when we do take them up I I anticipate it'll be a a robust discussion uh I had some questions about the projects and so I reached reached out to uh Mr Spinelli and Mr shy who submitted the application and it was brought to my attention that Mr Spinelli is currently out of town but he would very much like to be present to um speak and I think answer questions regarding the project and so it was uh suggested requested that we postpone this until Mr Spinell gets back um I I would also you know I mean if we decide not to postpone and take it up tonight um you know I think I'll have more to say but I would like just to point out and again I'm hesitant to speak for Mr Spinelli since he's not here but I do believe that if uh these this item and the following item were passed as written in fact Mr Spell's intention would be not to proceed with development but would let the zoning lapse which would effectively suggest that we could go to the effort and if we approved both items 14h and 14i um there would be no no actual effect there um but with that I think I'll just suggest that we we we push this off for a couple weeks thank you uh m vand thank you Mr chair um you know uh I guess I'm torn about the the motion to postpone I kind of feel like I was ready to take action on this tonight and did some analysis which you all saw in the late on the table items um I I think for for myself I I would be okay um moving forward and in fact on the the latter piece because we have two related pieces um I have a floor amendment that I would make that I think would probably address uh Mr spanelli's concerns but um I guess yeah up to the body I'll probably vote know to postpone because I think we can just get this done tonight thank you thanks uh so I have a couple people left in the queue and then I would like to move on to the vote member broy yeah thank you I would support the motion to postpone um I I understand um and also did analysis on this so I think I understand what's going on but I also understand that um Mr Spinelli does not have a pending project at this moment so I think postponing by a bit would not jeopardize jeopardize any of those plans and I would like for him to have the opportunity to speak directly to it so I would support it thanks thank you member constant yeah thanks uh just to Mr wen's notion that we had an opportunity to see his aim items that were introduced no I saw that they came across but I really didn't have a chance to read or chew on them and really contemplate what they mean late on the table memorandums tend to not be for members benefit because we don't have a chance to chew on it so I think that argu is to take a little time with your memos and with the item and just wait two more weeks thank you seeing no further discussion members May proceed to vote on the motion to continue the public hearing member constant yes member cross yes member salt yes how does the youth representative vote yes thank you on a vote of 11 to zero with the youth representative voting yes that item has been continued to the meeting of March 5th um so next we have 14 I I suspect we're going to do the same thing with 14i um so we have uh ordinance number a22 24-2 an ordinance amending the zoning map and approving the rezoning of approximately 0.64 Acres from R5 low density residential district to b3l General business districts with special limitations for morehand subdivision number 12 lot 16 through 18 thank you um public testimony is now open on this item member Johnson I would make a uh a motion to continue the public hearing at the meeting of March 5th second second second moved and seconded do you need to speak to that motion again member Johnson I sure hope not okay uh seeing no discussion members May uh member branga I'm just getting a little nervous when we we kick things down the the road um so we're pretty sure March 5th isn't that busy um I'm just I'm getting a little nervous with all the things moving forward uh yeah I can I can speak to that yeah go ahead chair constant thank you yeah so right now there's a little bit of wiggle room all around until after um the election so now is a good flexible time between now and thank you member Bry yeah thank you and I'll just point out that these two items do run together because um in order to effectuate a rezone this one also seems to require um comprehensive plan amendments which would have to happen first so so we can't even if we wanted to now we can't take this one up um in a legal sense thanks thanks member vand thank you Mr chair I did want to highlight the fact that this is a these two items together the one we just postponed and the one that we're on now um one is an amendment to the 2040 land use plan the other is a zoning change just want to highlight for members that those are moving concurrently thanks thank you seeing no further discussion members May proceed to vote on the motion to I'm sorry Mr chair go ahead M member constant yeah thank you um I just want to underscore what Mr vand is saying there make it over not intrinsic that we make amendments to the comprehensive plan and Zoning all the time it's not some big extraordinary thing and so when you hear individuals who have a certain perspective on a certain project say this is not how it's supposed to be done it's never done like this here we are doing it just like this so that's to take it the next step from where Mr ven did thank you uh seeing no further discussion members May proceed to vote on the motion to continue the public hearing member cross yes member constant yes member salt yes how does the youth representative vote yes thank you on a vote of 11 to Zer with the youth representative voting yes that uh item has been continued to the public hearing of March 5th um so that takes us through our uh new business items uh so now we have the uh item 15 uh the next items on the agenda involve applications for a liquor or marijuana license and or a special land use permit for alcohol or marijuana the process to review these items is different than the assembly's legislative role because they these are administrative or quasi judicial hearings and require the assembly to be impartial refered from expart Communications except in liquor license applications and make a decision based only on the record before us in testimony today with that we have before us item 15a resolution number AR 202443 resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly stating its conditional protest regarding the new package store license number 6171 for the Bottle Shop LLC DBA Alaska blooms and Bubbles located at thank you at 8250 Homer drive and Gage AK 99518 public testimony is now open on this item would anyone like to testify welcome again hi my name is Brian whitski I go by Bri she her pronouns 14 trans residing currently at the Alex and not so much as it this particular business and all the other businesses but there has been a growing concern about all these adjustments to our businesses with marijuana and liquor and and bottling that there may be an up and cominging thing that we need to look at with our water aspect as far as waste of it so I just wanted to bring that to the attention to whoever those great minds are that are making all the decisions on as our businesses are growing that we are continuing an Outlook as far as where the disposal of a lot of these goods and and and and waste from these goods are being made here in Anchorage as we're continuing to move forward in a safe healthy community so I appreciate your time and your patience as far as it kind of kind of stretching the boundaries of to the point but I did want to bring that up as I'm hearing chatter amongst many people thank you so much thank you for your testimony what anyone else like to testify on this item anyone at all seeing and hearing no one public testimony is closed what is the will of the body move to approved second moved and seconded is there any discussion on this item seeing and hearing none members May proceed to vote on the motion to approve and we just need the computer to catch up really quick all right Mr constant yes Mr Cross yes Mr Sut yes and just for the record for anyone paying attention the youth representative does not vote on these items uh so that that passes 11 to Zer next we have item 15b resolution number AR 2024 52 resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly approving a modification to a previously approved special land use permit for lower and dryer a marijuana retail sales establishment with liqu with Excuse me with license number m157 7 doing business as Alaska Leaf LLC wave reading thank you public hearing on this item is now open would anyone like to testify anyone at all seeing and hearing none public testimony is closed what is the will of the body move to approve second moved and seconded is there any discussion on this item seeing in hearing none members May proceed to vote on the motion to approve member salt yes member cross yes member constant yes that item is approved 11 to Z next we have item 15 C resolution number ar22 24-55 resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly stating its conditional protest regarding the transfer of ownership of Package Store license number 4919 for liquor of the North LLC DBA North Pole liquor located at 343 West Benson Boulevard anchor jk9 three thank you public testimony on this item is now open would anyone like to testify anyone at all seeing and hearing no one public testimony is closed what is the will of the body move to approve second moved and seconded is there any discussion on this item seeing and hearing none members May proceed to vote on the motion to approve member constant yes member cross yes member Sut yes that item is approved on a vote of 11 to zero next we have item 15D resolution number ar22 24- 56 resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly stating its conditional protest regarding the new restaurant eating Place license number 1508 for King Street Brewing Company lcba King Street Brewing Company located 950 thank you King Street anchor JK 9515 uh public testimony is now open on this item when anyone like to testify anyone at all seeing and hearing no one public testimony is closed what is the will of the B to approve second move and seconded member broy yeah thank you sorry to break the flow on these approvals um I did want to flag a brief thing with this so I do support this it's not an issue with this application um but this is interesting because this is one of the first um new license applications that that I believe we're seeing um at the municipal level um for a brewery that can own other retail licenses and I bring that up because um I'm I'm interested in the fact that that these are new special land use permits or at least it says that it needs to have a special land use permit because it is um it is basically the same premises with multiple licenses so I'm flagging this for uh a future conversation because um the issue of contiguous or overlapping premises with these different license types is something that was discussed at the state level there's regulations around it but um I think we should think about how it plays out in our land use um laws as well um and there is some precedent for that but when you've got these different license types so anyway I believe it's because each license needs a special land's permit and I know I'm getting in the weeds here um but I just wanted to flag this not again for this particular license but it's something to kind of look at going forward as there's going to be more uh breweries wineries distilleries that are going to have retail licenses so um just bringing that up for later thank you thank you seeing no further discussion members May proceed to vote on the motion to approve member constant yes member cross yeah member salt yes that item is approved 11 to Z next we have item 15E resolution number ar22 24- 57 resolution of the Anchorage Municipal assembly stating its conditional protest regarding the new package store license number 1504 for King Street Brewing Company lcba King Street Brewing Company located at 9050 King Street anchor JK 9515 wave reading thank you public testimony is now open on this item would anyone like to testify anyone at all seeing and hearing no one public testimony is closed what is the will of the body move to approve second moved and seconded is there any discussion on this item seeing none members May proceed to vote Mr Cross yes Mr constant yes Mr Sut yes oh sorry on a vote of 11 to zero that motion is approved uh that completes our business items for the day uh next we have audience participation welcome hello Irene quid now I have two comments tonight um Mr chair you broke your own rule you clapped tonight when that was not allowed and so I would you we're not losing this much time maybe it's time to reconsider that rule that it is okay to express appreciation with clapping it's what 3 seconds 10 seconds at the most so I would encourage you to consider that secondly I have testified um to that before um when it comes to the boards and commissions if you truly want to represent ation of the city you need different opinions on the boards and commissions if you have just all the same opinions it's not representative and I find when you have different opinions because then there is often robust discussion sometimes you get even better results because you have to think about things more why do you want it this way and then if you're truly listening you can incorporate that and the end result is often better if you have different opinions so I'm glad you approved that Rec um that appointment today I don't know her but in general we do need the different opinions and I think it makes the commissions better not more difficult thank you thank you for participating welcome hello again hi my name is Brian witzky I go by Bri she her pronouns 14 years trans female currently residing at the Alex I wanted to take this moment to uh kind of share a different story different way of looking at it uh I've been part of Anchorage on my own now for 29 years and I wanted the other day I was driving down the road and I was thinking to myself I remember in my earlier years as I was growing up we had many conversations about positive growth and moving forward I'm 44 this year and I look back and I look around my town and I I can't help but to feel that we've been in darker times as of recently so I encourage people I encourage our citizens to remember that it is our responsibility to take some times and invoke our government process for the people and by the people I do ask the assembly to continue to look forward in ways to be able to encourage growth I remember at one time we were looking at anchorages trying to put our head our bid in for the Olympics of the winter as we have record snowfalls you know I tend to look around and I go if we were to have that right now it would be a catastrophic mess our roads are crazy right now so many roads that usually are two-lane traffic are barely on Lane capable we need to find ways to be able to fix these small problems because these bigger winners are going to continue especially as our shift of our weather patterns has happened I can only say that you know we all have our opinions why but we need to continue to look at the fundamentals of our city we need to look at the ways to be able to solve these problems and sometimes it might be out of the box but I do appreciate you guys willing to look at all venues moving through that into our up and cominging Year we're past the point of the new year and moving into elections coming up I would love to hear more publicly not just from our mayor and our Administration but maybe from different assembly members in different ways of what our plans are coming into the homeless situation I know many programs you guys have put together some of them are are on the verge of kickstarting some of them have started but to be able to get that information as a constituent is very hard still that being said it could be just my technical difficulties going forward beyond that I want to continue to encourage everybody of Anchorage to get involved when it comes to this voting year it's important we choose our elected officials as the ones that you guys are here now you guys have the responsibility I continue to encourage you guys to use that wisely and I encourage that you know whatever you guys are doing to make part to listen to your constituents as much as possible I know that's a big part of the job and it's a big part you guys take pride in doing so again with all my gratitude of that as I'm moving forward I am hoping to be able to do a presentation in the next assembly meeting and the one after that is going to be outlining a lot more of that in over 30 years of encompassment plus a whole lot of people that I've spoken to recently so I give you guys a thank you and appreciation and have a great night and thank you guys for being here again today thank you welcome hi William William Baxter live in Fairview but why don't we just ship ice out of Alaska they did it in the 30s before they had refrigerators they shipped ice everywhere well we just ship ice out of Alaska that's about all I can to say thank you for participating welcome just one second my name is Evan Leaf I am an off andon again uh student at the University of Alaska Anchorage studying to become a Bachelor's of civil engineering hello assembly members I'm here to talk about an appeal to new forms of public transportation in the Anchorage municipality I believe that at the current status quo and problems facing Anchorage namely a housing shortage an endless cycle of snow plowing and over Reliance on automobile based Transportation the best solution will be effective infrastructure on a caliber never built before in Alaska since the railroads a system of of a system of street cars trams or City rail that can connect all regions and neighborhoods of the city I lived in Anchorage Alaska for all my life and seen many sides of the city but most of it was through a car window according to the United States Census Bureau the estimated population of Anchorage is 287,000 in 2022 in 2018 the DMV of Anchorage had 342,000 registered Vehicles if this information is at face value there are 55,000 more automobiles than citizens of the city I ask the question what is considered excess one will there be too many cars I believe we've already surpassed that number I do not need to tell you the Perils of car ownership or Transportation drive safely has replaced goodbye in my household vocabulary traffic is a given personal cars are expensive to maintain gas costs the fortune and will only increase pollutants from car exhaust cover every inch of of the city and the risk of death is eminent at every IC intersection my advice to the city is to adapt Anchorage to the ways of more enlightened cities across the world electric street cars were introduced in San Francisco in 1906 the Paris Metro and tram system is world renowned and even even our close cousin cities of Seattle and Vancouver have the Sound Transit and Sky Train respectively leading class examples of Light Rail ah Transit infrastructure that can alleviate the traffic problem Aid in building density and allow citizens of the state to have the freedom for how they wish to travel and not have to warm up the car every day but for most practical p uh purposes everyone drives if you are elderly the poor the youth those who license has have been revoked or expired you do not drive you are stuck and less of a citizen of the state and the city parking lots take up too much valuable land in the city widening roads for capacity only makes more people drive leaves more snow to plow and the problem in infinitely expounds and will not sve itself if Alaska wishes to be on the Forefront of infrastructure development expansion growth and combating climate change as is now the national and international World agend agenda Alaska must do its part and at the very least consider the useful solutions that light rail street cars and trams provide I also advocate for better bike infrastructure that is separate from Automotive roads thank you kindly for your time and consideration thank you for participating awesome welcome hello hello my name is Dr Patrick campaign I'm a born and raised Alaskan and also a loc another local optometrist here in town uh I just want to come up to offer a sincere thank you so much uh for your endorsement and approval for the uh rfps in regards to healthcare and community services that was passed uh specifically number 10 D14 uh that one actually helped out tremendously because one of the ones that was serviced or at least funded was for the Mountain View Lions Club Foundation to which I'm also a Lions Club member uh the passion project to which that was funding was actually for a pop-up Healthcare Clinic event that's happening on April 20th and 2st at over at bage Middle School uh what's going to be happening is that I'm uh partnering with remote Area Medical they're kind of like Doctors Without Borders except they do mainly domestic work they're coming up with uh a tractor Traer 53 foot log conx one with over a million dollar of free medical equipment for us as local volunteers to offer free Vision medical and dental care for anyone who needs it first come first served no payments or no IDs necessary uh funding for these kind of things is always uh difficult as you folks are also aware uh grant funding is also fairly tight these days too uh but uh this is single-handedly is going to be able to help us offer almost uh $10 of healthcare for every $1 that was donated for this event uh last year we were able to see over 500 people and we did about A4 million dollars of free services and every dollar that was donated we actually offered $20 of in kind Services which was also provided by uh local legal departments uh Beans Cafe and whatnot there as well so I want to thank you guys again for the approval of that line item today I'm super duper grateful and if anything works out well hopefully I'll get see you guys there to volunteer thank you great thank you can you do a favor and can you email the assembly that flyer absolutely can certainly do that thank you uh member Martinez no that's what I was going to ask for that flyer to be emailed to the members thank you chair okay thank you all right we have one more person on the phone for final audience participation so if we can go ahead and oh actually yeah go ahead come on up and then I'll do the phone next welcome thanks my name is Ka colborn I'm a teacher in the anchor School District I've been teaching for 23 years I came to thank you for your continued support of uh increasing the uh base student allocation that we're fighting for right now but then also to let you know and inform you just before your joint Anchorage School District um and assembly meeting of some things that are just been announced um the Anor school district is and I came tonight specifically with Breeze family here earlier to add on to that the Anor school district is cutting Elementary Health um with a designated health teacher so what that looks like is the health curriculum being pushed back down to the elementary teacher themselves so sandwiched in between the reading and writing and math um those subjects that we have and that we're assessed for so the steam approach is what is being looked at right now and so it will combine and take out of the classroom or well it'll put Health out of the classroom art out of the classroom and combine that um as as well as health and then push the health back down to the class CL teacher so we're able to have that success in grades 7 through 12 because we start having those difficult conversations in kindergarten so the great body shop curriculum when it was adopted it was first adopted in 96 and 97 that was a joint Anchorage School District task force with the endocrinologist and State Health Department at that time my mom was one of the State Health um endocrinologists at that time who was on that team so we moved up here in '96 and 97 so it was exciting to see her work and to get health into the um an school district and work on adopting that curriculum little did I know I'd be teaching it you know after college when I joined the anchor School District as a first year teacher so we're just starting to see um in the youth risk behavior study survey that we're starting to see the difference that it makes to have that Health designated teacher and so so we can look and find results in that study and then we can also see that the best practices that's been recently um released from the CDC is again that health education is best taught with that Health designated teacher so to remove that from elementary school is a huge deal as it is continuing to lay that foundation for the Alaska safe uh children's act as well as that breeze law that we've adopted as law um Additionally the I was just going to talk um about what's in the body great body shop curriculum so in that oh here's my yeah here's my notes so and um I'm sure there's assembly member brong can add to it so in the C in the great body shop curriculum lessons include literacy the interactive component as well as a social emotional component and in the comprehensive curriculum students study about body systems in first grade and then they go all the way through and add-on the nutrition um and nutrition and health all the way through to sixth grade in that safe classroom where students know they can begin to ask all different kinds of questions so just keep in mind to please consider um when you do that joint assembly thank you great thank you and if you have any other information feel free to email us thanks all right let's go ahead and call that one individual hello can you hear me hi is this Lois Gilbert yes great you here with the Anchorage assembly we are on Final audience participation if you can sayate your name and your part of town for the record you will have 3 minutes welcome oh um I need to get to my testimony yes um you we are on Final audience participation which I understand you signed up for oh okay I'll go ahead tell me when to start go ahead ma'am okay um I'm calling about police refusal to obey disability law um Americans with Disability Act and state law um I have four uh strangers in my condo uh and police allowed the squatters to stay um I'm told they're getting into fights in the condo Courtyard and one person's afraid to live there I need the police to follow disability law Americans with Disability Act to proceeds of the Americans with Disability Act requires reasonable accommodation in state and local laws rules policies and procedures so it suedes Squad rights state law says that the disabled have the right to p particip a in the social and economic life of the state which we can't do if we're missing virtually all our belongings to to the squatters selling them I didn't have a chance to prepare to leave um I was taken by the paramedics to Providence hospital where I stayed over six weeks and then I was sent to uh a skilled nursing home so all I had with me was what people were able to bring to me so my family photos my half-written book my disability equipment basically everything is gone now and the police refus to rectify what they did they say that the Troopers are supposed to handle it well the Troopers didn't cause the problem the police did so I've been to the assembly before about uh disability law and I'm hoping that you will look into this and also that the mayor's office will Le into look into this and put the police in compliance with disability law if this is happening to me it's out happening to a number of other disabled people I know um uh the political situation A little better so I can advocate for myself and other people who are disabled more than a lot of disabled people and some people get so depressed about the situation whatever situation they're in they can't really advocate for themselves and others so please take this seriously Mountain View definitely does not need more drug dealers it definitely does not need more violence and um the whole Condo Association would appreciate getting rid of these strangers who were causing H havoc and I never would have allowed them into my condo in the first place thank you thank you Miss Gilbert uh your time is up thank you for participating um if any M thank you Miss Gilbert your time is up uh thank you for participating if any members want to reach out to Miss Gilbert for more information you should have her contact in your email she filled out one of those forms um okay that concludes our audience participation uh so next we have assembly comment I we'll start on this side of the Das with uh Mr Myers no additional comments getting us out of here early uh thank you I'm gonna go ahead and pause uh Mr bird did you have something you're in the queue I did I don't know if the the mayor generally has the the ability to comment but if he does then I would I would ask uh the chair for the Indulgence for the mayor's standing to be able to comment okay I'm going to go go through the Das uh Mr Martinez no additional comments thank you thank you member branga I don't know if this needs a moment of privilege but I just wanted to announce that 34 years ago today I had my first child and she arrived on the scene strong Fierce which she continues to be hardworking adventurous and is making an Anchorage a better place by working as an engineer and volunteer coaching at East High School she's pretty incredible thank you uh member Johnson uh just thanks for feeling filling in uh Mr AA and Well Done uh thank you Mr pz Ria no comments thank you member of Oland yeah thank you Mr chair I I Echo Mr Johnson's thank you and I would say you still got it we're getting out of here like at 8:00 well done and and thank you to member uh pres verdia as well thanks thank you member Bry um other than echoing thank you no additional comments uh thank you memb H ditto uh expeditious meeting congratulations chair thank you member cross no additional comments thank you Felix the flash Rivera thank you uh member constant yeah you know I'm beginning to think it's a Midtown conspiracy to run these short meetings I'm not sure what's going on here but um that in mind I'll say thank you for a well-run meeting as well uh thank you um so although I don't think this is normal practice and I certainly don't want to set a precedent I will go ahead and just make an exception to the rule and allow you to speak uh Mr bird thank you Mr chair I appreciate it and I will try and get us out by 8 after hearing the admonition from other assembly members um I just want to highlight the fact that I think we've come full circle from a year ago where we wanted to have Bard of palooza and we had a whole bunch of board appointees that needed to be confirmed U but as it happened tonight we have board appointees who have been delayed uh Beyond to July um I want to let the body know why we brought these appointees back I didn't have a chance to speak during the meeting and and that is simply that these are very qualified um appointees we had a librarian who worked for ASD we had an ASD Teacher and we had a health executive um I I did a little more research uh and I understand why Miss brawy had the vote that she did I understand that um I do want the body to know that the library Advisory Board currently does not have a quorum and um and I also want to let the body know that um when we dealt with this back in in a August we were asked by the assembly to come forward with Singleton candidates rather than a slate and that's what we've done Mr chair for the last few months um and I just want to highlight the fact that I think today we we dealt with those three Singletons as a slate so again I think we've come full circle um but the administration will stand ready to uh bring more appointees before this body thank you thank you and I'll go ahead and close us off um I want to uh thank assembly uh leadership for giving me such an easy meeting to run uh very much appreciate it um and thank you to the clerk and member Perez verdia for helping me out um with that I will go ahead and ask for a motion to adjourn motion toj we're adjourned