On Tuesday night, the Loussac Library’s Wilda Marston Theater was standing room only for an open house with Mayor Suzanne LaFrance and her transition team. The space was buzzing with excitement around a new mayor and the possibilities her new administration may bring, especially after three years under former right-wing Mayor Dave Bronson.
“I just hope we can start caring for people,” one woman said, referring to the city’s ongoing homelessness issues and the city’s frequently flailing response under the former mayor.
While Bronson’s term was defined mainly by his fighting with the Anchorage Assembly, of which LaFrance was a part until 2023, LaFrance started with a much more community-focused approach. Tuesday’s event was a listening event, an opportunity for the transition team members to present their policy proposals for issues like housing, child care, energy, workforce development, public safety, and homelessness and take input from the public.
“I grew up playing soccer and later hockey here in Alaska,” LaFrance said during her remarks. “I love working in teams, and I know it’s the only way we’ll solve tough problems. Our team has been built around shared values, particularly nonpartisan and collaborative problem-solving … We have a big job before us. We need all hands on deck.”
LaFrance’s approach is already markedly different from the previous administration’s top-down philosophy. Another person recalled that in Bronson’s term three years ago, they had been gathered in the same theater for the former mayor to roll out plans for a massive framed-tent structure in East Anchorage.
Despite concerns over costs and efficacy, the Bronson administration unilaterally pushed forward the plan without community buy-in, spending millions of dollars that never resulted in meaningful progress on the city’s approach to homelessness.
There haven’t been any similar major sweeping policy proposals from the LaFrance administration yet. In her remarks, she said that the first 100 days of her administration will be seen as the transition with plenty of work to assess the city’s state. Some early concerns include messy and incomplete financial reports and widespread understaffing.
The transition team will ultimately incorporate their suggestions with public input and produce a report to the LaFrance administration later this month.
Jason Norris, a Hillside resident who testified in support of the HOME Initiative last month, attended the open house with his high schooler. The HOME Initiative effectively eliminates single-family zoning throughout much of the Anchorage Bowl to boost housing density and lower housing prices, a move Norris said is needed to ensure young people like his kids can eventually own a home in Anchorage.
At her inauguration last week, LaFrance said she supported the initiative and expressed interest in continuing to advance affordable housing. Her transition team’s presentation outlined several goals, such as streamlining zoning and simplifying building standards to make new construction and renovations more practical.
That was all good news to Norris.
“I’m glad that we’re continuing the momentum forward,” Norris said. “I feel like sometimes when there’s a win — like we had with HOME, as small as it is — there’s a potential to stop there … I’m glad to see people continuing to work on it. I think more needs to be done.”
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.
