If you were to look no further than the driveway of East Anchorage’s Ptarmigan Elementary School, you might wonder why the classroom seats are empty, but it’s abundantly clear once you take a step off school property and onto the roads maintained by the city of Anchorage.
The school’s neatly plowed parking lot with cleared sidewalks stands in stark contrast to the snowy, rutted-out neighborhood streets that even trucks and SUVs were having trouble navigating on Wednesday morning — not to mention the many kids who walk to school — a day removed from the latest round of snow to slam Anchorage.
The Anchorage School District saw the situation coming after evaluating the roads on Tuesday and canceled the fourth day of in-person learning since the city was blanketed with snow last week, leaving families scrambling for an alternative for at least one more day.
“We’ve sent many of our drivers on the roads throughout the Anchorage Bowl today and have carefully evaluated our ability to safely operate bus transportation outside the major road networks,” the district said in a statement posted to social media. “Large vehicles and small vehicles continue to get stuck. Some are left abandoned in the street, preventing snow removal teams from clearing the roads.”
The update struck a sympathetic and conciliatory tone, asking for patience and understanding as crews dig the city out from a historic dump of snow. It says the district has been in close contact with the city, recognizing the ongoing efforts and predicts that schools will be back open on Thursday.
“The Municipality is actively working to clear the neighborhoods but needs one more day,” the district says. “We have had several meetings with our MOA partners and they are confident that their big push over the next 36 hours will allow us to safely reopen all of our schools on Thursday morning. Again, safety is our top priority as we navigate conditions caused by this record-setting snow event.”
Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, however, must have seen it as a slight and fired back with his own news release critical of the district’s decision.
“I’m really disappointed that schools will be closed for another day,” said Mayor Bronson. “Street maintenance crews have been working 24/7 to get the roads cleared after a week of record-breaking snowfall. We are in constant communication with ASD throughout the day and provide them with frequent updates on the snowplowing operations. Ultimately, it is their decision, and we will continue working to get residential areas cleared so schools can open again, and buses can transport students safely.”
The news release goes on to offer excuses for the city’s slow response to snow removal, claiming crews have already removed enough truckloads of snow to cover about half of a regular season’s worth. The announcement stops short of claiming that the things are actually safe under the current conditions.
In the big picture, the city’s first snowstorm of the year has been an unmitigated disaster for Mayor Dave Bronson and his administration. After last year’s snow storms hobbled the city, Bronson took a pre-emptive victory lap heading into this year with a tour touting a beefed-up response and pleding, “If this winter is anything like last year, we are ready.”
On Thursday, 24 hours after snow started to fall, Bronson declared a snow emergency for the city. In addition to allowing the city to increase enforcement to move cars in the way of plows, it also allowed the mayor to suspend the city’s procurement code and ink potentially lucrative contracts with private plow operators.
According to documents provided to The Alaska Current, the Bronson administration has already signed several contracts with private plow operators with the latest slate extending through the end of the year with rates of about $250 per hour. That includes an additional contract worth up to $150,000 with the Bronson-aligned McKenna Brothers Paving through the end of the year on top of a $116,200 contract already signed through this Thursday.
The heavy reliance on contracting hasn’t sat well with other elected officials, who say it’s a costly substitute for essential services that should be provided and maintained by the city. Anchorage Assemblymember Anna Brawley said that for all the cost, people aren’t seeing the results and frustration is growing.
“What seems to be the case is adding a bunch of contract capacity in itself isn’t the answer. Granted we had two snowfalls, but it seems like people are more frustrated today than they were a few days ago,” she said on Thursday. “There is enormous pressure from the public that we would all want to say, let’s put everything out there and get it done as soon as possible, but it doesn’t seem like we’re getting that even for the additional costs we’re going to pay.”
Brawley, who co-chairs the budget for the Anchorage Assembly, said they plan on introducing additional money into the budget that would boost pay for city operators during high-demand times when it comes up next week. The city’s low pay for operators — around $22 an hour — has long been blamed for the trouble filling positions.
In the meantime, Brawley said she’s continuing to receive emails like one from a middle school student that reads: “I Need to Go to School, But the Streets Aren’t Plowed”.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
