Opinion: It’s hard to get excited about Anchorage’s mayoral choice.

Today’s Anchorage has a different atmosphere. From car debris and chunks of trash and trash in crowded business parking lots to meaner, dirtier, and more dangerous streets, this city feels as if it’s sliding inexorably downhill. . Some have blamed Mayor Dave Bronson for this malaise, but in fact he has done some outrageous things in recent years, telling the newspaper’s editorial board that his administration is in the best interest of the people. He went so far as to declare that he was not worthy of trust.

Undoubtedly, the Bronson family has at times lacked transparency in their dealings. Many people were troubled by his personnel choices, contract decisions, and actions during his amateur days. You might think that over time the mayor would run out of ammunition and shoot himself in the leg, but you would be wrong.

Others point out that the 12-member, mostly left-wing Anchorage Council refuses to acknowledge Bronson’s victory over Forest Dunbar in a runoff three years ago. Since then, the agency has spent three years haggling with Bronson on just about everything, with the controversial aim of stalling construction and derailing his administration.

So much for the concept of a loyal opposition.

It’s as if the last election never ended. As his three-year term comes to an end, Bronson has been a target for the past several months of the 907 Initiative, a “progressive” underground finance group founded and run by former Daily News reporter and executive director Aubrey Weaver. . In the months leading up to the April 2 election, the group questioned everything but Bronson’s sock size and branded him incompetent. In the April 2 general election, Mr. Bronson fell short of former Assembly Speaker Suzanne LaFrance, a figurehead for the Democratic Party and labor unions, by a few hundred votes, leading to a May 14 run-off for the city’s top job. The two are scheduled to face off in a vote.

Wandering. If Bronson wins, will we be exposed to three more years of mayoral abuse, expensive lawsuits, and massive legislative defiance? Will we accept the idea of ​​civic bliss in Seattle or Portland? What about LaFrance? Her election will give us a nightmare of liberal one-party rule, a runaway Congress that is the rubber stamp we know best when it comes to taxes, services, and moving the homeless into our backyards. I wonder?

The problem is that the mayor and all members of Congress are to blame for Anchorage’s plight today. All of them. We selected this group. They got messed up. They learned that it was easier for them to fight than to lead or govern. I don’t even know if they understand the breadth of the city’s problems. For example, consider the issue of homelessness. It probably cost him millions of dollars to help 3,000 people in this city, but no one seems to have a good idea of ​​the total amount. You’d think that kind of money could buy progress.

no. City officials recently removed homeless residents from Davis Park following complaints from the Mountain View community, but what happened? Channel 2 News reported that the city “provided shelter to all 20 of her people who were staying at the park.” Everyone refused…”

Years ago, I worked for a guy named Charlie Reese at the night subway desk at the Orlando Sentinel. He was a deep libertarian, a nice guy, and a decent chess player. I was a kid fresh out of the military, with a beard, long hair, and wearing his “Caster Had it Coming” T-shirt. I was in college, and of course I was a liberal. Because I simply didn’t know anything. He protected me. We argued until the wee hours of the morning, and I learned more from him than I did from my political science class. He went on to become a high-profile syndicated columnist working across the United States.

His last column for the Sentinel in 2001 was legendary and widely circulated. It places the blame for this country’s woes right where it belongs. “100 senators, 435 members of the House of Representatives, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices represent 545 people out of 300 million who have direct, legal, moral, and and personally responsible for the domestic problems plaguing this country. ”

The city’s problems can be found at the feet of the mayor and 13 politicians on council. They may decide to fix the mess tomorrow. They waste time and breath and blame each other instead.

It’s amazing to see the vibrant, lively streets of Anchorage 20-30 years ago, with boarded-up shops and people living on street corners or in their cars in council-designated parking lots. Of course, I’m not like that. Full of hope.

Perhaps we should establish a municipal therapist’s office, but these people will just fight over it.

paul jenkins Former Associated Press reporter, editor-in-chief of the Anchorage Times, editor of the Voice of the Times, and former editor of the Anchorage Daily Planet.

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