|
Assembly briefed on
waterfront development plan
Members of the Juneau Assembly were presented with the Draft Waterfront Plan
during a meeting of the Waterfront Committee yesterday. (Monday)
A year ago this month, the Assembly appropriated $150,000 to get the plan
underway.
The draft divides the waterfront into four areas.
The first is bordered by the Douglas Bridge and Gold Creek
Consultant Scott Lagueux says the draft plan envisions a mixed
development area next to the bridge of commercial and residential. It
also includes the extension of the sea walk crossing through the edge of Gold Creek through
some environmental restoration in the Gold Creek area.
The Subport is the second area. The area would be redeveloped as year-round, mixed use with marine facilities supporting yachts, small cruise
ships, and small vessel traffic.
The plan includes a cultural showcase at Marine Park and it would serve as a
gateway to the city. The Coast Guard and NOAA facilities would remain where
they are now.
The third area consists of downtown and South Franklin Street and looks at
expanding the Marine Park green area. The plan includes a cultural showcase
at Marine Park that would serve as a gateway to the city.
Lagueux says the plan accommodates increased pedestrian and vehicle traffic
along Franklin Street and the waters' edge.
Under the draft plan, the city's two downtown large cruiseship docks would
be expanded and reconfigured to accommodate 1000 foot ships.
And finally the Big Rock Dump would continue as light industrial and marine
related, and the Little Rock Dump would evolve over time from open space
recreation into possibly a marine industry zone for commercial fishermen or other related businesses.
The Waterfront Committee will meet twice in March to gather public comment
on the draft plan which will eventually come before the Assembly for
incorporation into the CBJ Comprehensive Plan.
The Draft Plan is available at the CBJ website at www.juneau.org
Pile driving to commence
for new cruiseship dock in Juneau
Work is about to begin on a new cruiseship dock at the end of the Rock Dump.
CBJ Port Director John Stone says the two barges with a crane that showed up
in the harbor yesterday will be installing piling for the new private, dock
that will accommodate 1,000 foot ships.
Drew Green of Cuiselines Agencies of Alaska says they hope to have the dock
open for business by mid-summer.
The piles will be driven for the next six weeks or so.
Whether the piling is completed or not, they'll have to stop March 15th.
That's when the first run of salmon start coming up the channel.
Green says plans are to have the main dock completed by May 15th, but the upland
work like utilities, parking and amenities, will proceed through mid summer.
The private dock is owned by the Jacobson's of Juneau and other interests.
It's official name will be the Alaska -Juneau Dock, otherwise known as the
A-J Dock.
Low income housing project funded in Juneau
The Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority has secured funding to complete
41 homes in the Glacier Village Subdivision
The Alaska Housing Finance Corporation has selected the authority for a 5.56
million dollar low income tax credit allocation
The funding comes from the IRS and is called the Low Income Tax Credit.
The Housing Authority's Business Manager, Ed Phillips, says the program is
very effective at merging the non-profit world with the for-profit business
world to produce housing that otherwise couldn't be built.
He says right now there are 25 homes currently under construction and due to
be completed in July. Work on the other 16 units will get started this
spring and be completed by February of March of next year.
Philips says selections will begin starting in June. The homes are rent-to-own public housing and applications are based on
median family income.
The 41 homes consist of 16 single family, 8 zero lot line, and 8 two bedroom
and 8 three bedroom condominiums.
Signatures now being
collected for petition on Valley High school
Sponsors of the initiative petition on funding of a new high school in the
Valley are now out collecting signatures.
CBJ Clerk Laurie Sica says her office certified their affidavit Friday. At
that time, petition booklets were printed and distributed to the committee.
She says they have until March 1st at 9 a.m. to turn in the signatures of
2,408 registered voters.
A special election would probably be held in May, unless the Assembly takes
similar action.
Former City Manager Dave Palmer is spearheading the effort
The petition asks that the Assembly stop spending bond money on construction
of the high school until the conditions voters okayed in 1999 come to
fruition.
Those conditions include a projected enrollment number that has not met
expectations and has actually declined. In addition, Palmer says its not clear if there will
be enough money to operate two schools.
School Board to conduct executive session
There's a light agenda for tonight's (Tuesday) School Board meeting.
There are no items up for action.
The board will listen to various committee reports during the regular
meeting which begins at 6 p.m.
It will conduct an executive session to discuss contract negotiations at 5
p.m.
Following the regular meeting, the panel will hold a budget work session.
State teachers association urges Alaska to
dump federal funding
Alaska educators want the state to drop the federal No-Child-Left-Behind
law, which would mean giving up millions of dollars in funding.
At their annual gathering in Anchorage over the weekend, educators voted to
send that message to the state.
The meeting of the National Education Association's Alaska chapter was
closed to the public. But Union president Rich Kronberg told the Anchorage
Daily News that the organization's opinion is that it's better not to have
the funding and not have to deal with the mandates.
The education reform law requires additional standardized tests and demands
annual student improvement on those exams, as well as tougher teacher
qualifications.
Public school districts have found meeting the requirements is expensive and
time consuming. It often means hiring more staff members or starting new
programs to help students make progress.
Possible land swap subject of meeting
The Assembly conducts a work session tomorrow with the Alaska Mental Health
Board of Trustees.
CBJ Lands and Resources Manager Steve Gilbertson says the purpose is pursue
a memorandum of agreement that will the stage for a land exchange.
The city is seeking trust owned property around the National Guard Armory
next to Centennial Hall for expansion of that facility or construction of a
performing arts center.
Gilbertson says its yet to be determined exactly what city land the trust
might be interested in. One possibility, he says, is the city owned gravel
pit behind Costco. Gilbertson says there's about 30 acres of industrial land
there. That property will be available for development after the gravel
operation is completed within the next two years.
Gilbertson says it will probably take a year to complete a land swap with
the trust.
Tomorrow's meeting begins at 11:30 a.m. in the Assembly Chambers at City
Hall.
ANWR sales figured in to
President's spending plan
President Bush's budget projections for fiscal year 2006 are counting on
more than two billion dollars from oil lease sales in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge.
The hitch is that drilling in ANWR would require congressional approval. And
that's something the Senate has repeatedly thwarted in recent years.
But Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, at a budget briefing yesterday
(Monday), said the administration believes it's appropriate to count on
ANWR's oil leasing revenue in fiscal year 2006.
The Interior Department's budget, released yesterday, outlines spending
plans for fiscal year 2005, which begins October first. But Bush's overall
budget plan also includes government income projections several years into
the future, which is where the ANWR leasing revenue is found.
Under the administration's plan, half the two-point-four billion from
ANWR oil lease sales would go to the state of Alaska. Current law calls for
90 percent to go to Alaska.
Bush budget increases wildfire prevention
and salmon restoration spending
President Bush is calling for increased spending for wildfire prevention and
salmon restoration, but his proposed budget would cut other spending for
natural resources and environmental programs.
The president's budget would fully fund a new law aimed at preventing
wildfires in national forests. It also would increase spending for Northwest
salmon restoration to 100 million dollars, a ten million dollar
increase over current levels.
But the Forest Service overall would see a nearly eight percent decrease to
four-point-two billion dollars, under the plan Bush proposed today for
the budget year that begins October first.
Environmentalists and some Democrats called the budget plan inadequate. They
said it would under fund parks, forests and wildlife refuges, and weaken
important environmental protections while making it easier to sell public
lands for private profit.
Propane truck fire hinders
travel on Alcan Highway
Canadian authorities say a fiery crash involving a propane tank truck could
close the Alaska Highway in northeastern British Columbia for a week.
According to Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a fireball stretched across the
highway and shot flames 50 feet into the air Monday afternoon following a
collision between the truck and another vehicle about 50 miles north of Fort
Saint John.
A traffic jam developed last night as cars and trucks were redirected onto a
detour over narrow, icy roads.
Police say the fire was in a remote area of brush and trees and posed no
danger to the public. But emergency officials probably will let the fire
burn itself out because it is too dangerous to get close. No one is being
allowed within about a mile of the flames
Authorities believe the tanker contains about 20-thousand gallons of liquid
propane.
Police say the accident occurred when the propane truck driver lost control
in the slush shortly before 4 p-m.
Both drivers ran to safety as the tanker began venting propane, engulfing
both vehicles in flame.
Anchorage traffic crackdown continuing
Anchorage police continue their mission targeting red-light runners and
other traffic violators.
The city's five new traffic officers have written 1,614 tickets, 188 of them
for red-light violations, over the past month.
Police say they'll be focusing on one driving violation each week. They'll
be watching for red-light runners from today until Sunday.
The crackdown is part of a larger effort to make the city's roads safer and
to educate drivers.
Police will announce each week's target violation on Sunday, to give drivers
fair warning.
Authorities say 33-year-old woman posed as
teen boy
In the southeast Kansas town of Galena, an investigation is under way into
an unusual case of a hoax, involving a woman who has played similar roles in
others states, including Alaska.
Pastor Jim Jones of the Galena Assembly of God said a person showed up at
his church in October claiming to be Chris Gomez, a 13-year-old male child
abuse victim.
Jones said that after a series of inconsistencies, he confronted the person
claiming to be a boy last week, and she confessed she's 33-year-old Birdie
Jo Hoaks. She said she has three children.
The case was referred to the Cherokee County prosecutor's office, but no
charges have been filed.
Hoaks attracted attention in Salt Lake City in 1995 with a similar tale.
People donated money for the apparent victim, but it was returned after the
hoax was revealed.
Racial slur leads to calls for resignation
of Washington state lawmaker
A Washington state senator is apologizing for using a racial slur during an
argument with another lawmaker, a blunder that has some black leaders
calling for his resignation.
Republican Senator Alex Deccio used the ``N-word'' in a heated
argument over health insurance reforms with another white Republican.
Deccio has issued a public apology on the state Senate floor -- saying he
realizes his words were hurtful. But he says -- quote -- ``if the Reverend
Martin Luther King were here today, he would accept my apology, so I'm
asking you to do the same.''
He's also apologized in person to Washington's only black state senator, who
says she's accepted it.
Some black leaders say they'll accept the 81-year-old's apology only if he
resigns. The president of the N-double-A-C-P's Seattle chapter says Deccio
isn't ``deserving of being a representative of the people.''
Deccio says he doesn't intend to step down.
(Copyright ©2004
Alaska Juneau Communications - KINY Radio)
|
