In last year’s municipal election, 10 candidates ran for two areawide seats. This year, five are running for a single District 2 seat.
The winner will replace outgoing member Michelle Hale, who is retiring from her role after serving six years on the Assembly.
As Election Day nears, candidates share their views on the propositions on the ballot, the local economy and how they think the city should better spend its time and resources.
Split views on Ship Free Saturdays
One of the hottest topics on this year’s ballot is Proposition 2. It asks voters whether to ban all cruise ships that carry 250 or more passengers from visiting on Saturdays and on the Fourth of July as soon as next summer.
According to a poll by KTOO, District 2 candidate Mary Marks is the only candidate running for Assembly this election who is voting in favor of the proposition.
“The free-ship Saturday ballot, I believe would be beneficial. And I come from my perspective as a tribal citizen, as a community citizen,” she said in an interview. “I like to hunt and gather my foods, and it would be really nice to be able to have that open freely, whether I’m heading out on Thane Road or out in the Valley gathering or fishing.”
Other candidates like Dorene Lorenz disagreed. She said she would be a “no” vote because of the negative economic impact it could have on some residents and local businesses.
“I think that the Ship-Free Saturday ballot initiative is a bit shortsighted and that we already have seven months that are ship-free, and we have a bunch of people who really rely on that income and can only get it when the ships are here, and we need to allow them to take advantage of the investment they have made in that industry,” she said.
Maureen Hall said she thinks the proposition could tarnish the positive steps the city has taken with the cruise industry in recent years.
“I feel like this is not quite the right approach. I feel like the partnership between the cruise industry and our city, as well as concerned citizens, is working,” she said. “I think it would be very detrimental to the economy of our community.”
Nano Brooks and Emily Mesch also said they plan to vote “no.”
Support for public safety and wastewater bonds
In a survey conducted by KTOO, all five candidates for District 2 said they would vote ‘yes’ on the $12.7 million public safety radio bond on the ballot this year, but Brooks was the only candidate in the District 2 pool to say he wouldn’t be voting in favor of the $10 million Juneau Douglas Wastewater Treatment Plant bond.
In an interview, Brooks said that while he thinks both are important things for the community, he doesn’t support the way the city wants to pay for them.
“We have a lot of savings for projects that either haven’t been approved or haven’t had much forward progress,” he said. “So before placing a greater burden on the people of the community, I would have liked to have seen the consideration to maybe use funds that are already available.”
Meanwhile, candidates who supported both like Mesch said they think the bonds are critical projects to ensure the community’s health and safety needs are met.
“I think they’re important. I think there are certain things that we need for a functioning city, and I hope the voters approve it,” she said. “I think both of the initiatives will go a long way toward making lives of people in Juneau better.”
Mesch ran for one of the two open Areawide Assembly seats in last year’s election, but lost to Ella Adkison and Paul Kelly.
Glacial outburst flooding preparation takes the forefront
All District 2 candidates expressed concern about the record-breaking glacial outburst flooding event that happened in Juneau this past August, which damaged hundreds of homes in the Mendenhall Valley. But, they differed on what types of actions the Assembly and city should — or should’ve already taken — to mitigate its impacts on residents.
In an interview, Mesch said she thinks the city needs to hit the ground running on getting mitigation efforts and a plan in place for residents before next year’s anticipated flood breaks.
“Any mitigation we can do that’s on city land should be done. Any effort to push the federal government and state government where it’s relevant to. As long as there is a plan in place by June of next year, physically to stop a flood,” she said. “Whether that is drilling through the mountain, whether it’s putting a giant dam around Mendenhall Lake – whatever the people above my pay grade decide is the right thing to do.”
While others agreed, some candidates like Brooks were more pointed about what actions they wanted to see the city take.
“This issue now being a reoccurring disaster that’s affecting hundreds of homes and people needs to be one of the highest, if not the highest, priority of the Assembly right now,” he said. “The easiest thing to do right now is a basic alert system and evacuation program. The second thing to do is that you can build levees or dams to divert the water when we do have the next potential overflow or outburst.”
Marks criticized the Assembly for not taking action after the flood in 2023.
“I really believe that this should be a lesson to our Assembly, as well as the administration that we need to act here and really pay close attention if we don’t know what we’re up against,” she said. “It’s important to ask those questions and not be afraid to ask the questions and allow the community to be a part of that solution, working together.”
Who’s donating to their campaigns?
Hall leads the group in the amount of money raised for her campaign. According to campaign finance records, she has raised just under $7,100. Some of her donors include Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon, former Assembly member Maria Gladziszewski, former school board member Brian Holst and Sealaska Heritage Institute President Kaaháni Rosita Worl.
She’s followed by Lorenz, who has reportedly raised $1,250 this election. According to the Alaska Public Offices Commission, neither Brooks, Mesch or Marks have raised more than $5,000 toward their respective campaigns. That means they’re exempt from filing campaign finance disclosures.
Find more election coverage at ktoo.org/elections.