Mini-Snowzilla squadron overthrown at City Hall

A group of protesting snowmen -- apparently rallying in support of their towering cousin -- appeared on Christmas Day at the city's doorstep.

They held picket signs with messages like "Heck no we won't go," and "Snowzilla needs a bailout." "Snowpeople have rights," read another.

The mysterious protest caps a giant week for Snowzilla, the monstrous snowman Billy Ray Powers has been building in his Airport Heights yard for the past several winters. This month, city code enforcers told him to knock it off, saying the project broke local nuisance laws. But with Christmas approaching, the news spread worldwide and the roughly 25-foot snowman suddenly appeared overnight Tuesday despite the city ban.

Powers said he had nothing to do with the tiny protesters, though he saw the snowmen Thursday while passing through downtown.

"They're cute as can be," he said.

It's unclear when exactly the snowmen appeared.

Sheila Parker, who works at the nearby Covenant House, said she saw the lot of them, each about 3 feet tall, near the door to City Hall on Christmas.

"There was probably a dozen of them out there, with little bitty signs," she said.

By Friday morning, remains of the protesters lay in frozen pieces beside the heated sidewalk -- a mess of twig arms and coal buttons.

Their signs sat in a City Hall trash bin.

City Manager Mike Abbott said the building's super removed them. Employees at the nearby Kaladi Brothers coffee shop across the street say it was the security guards.

The city is battling Powers -- whom city officials say has long ignored land-use rules, to the dismay of his neighbors -- over whether Snowzilla represents a safety hazard or good holiday fun.

Abbott, the city manager, has said Powers' neighbors might be inclined to cut him some slack if he followed land-use rules the rest of the year. On Tuesday, the city issued a statement accusing Powers of running what appears to be a year-round junk and salvage yard and refusing to pay a stack of related fines. Powers counters that the city is harassing him and said he is not operating a scrap yard.

Regardless of the context, trying to ban Snowzilla only made the city look like a Grinch to the snowman's many fans.

City spokeswoman Jenny Evans said employees have likely fielded hundreds of calls on the topic this week. Abbott said that in his years as manager or deputy city manager, nobody ever called him at home to complain about something.

Until Snowzilla. Twice, people phoned him after 10 p.m. this week to say shame on him.

"There was no threats or anything like that. It was just clearly inebriated people."

Evans said one option is to negotiate a deal with Powers that would allow him to build Snowzilla for a few weeks each year rather than let it stand for months.

Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich recently spoke to a Fur Rondy board member about Snowzilla possibly becoming part of the annual winter festival while moving to a new location, according to another spokeswoman.

Abbott said Powers is a hard guy to deal with and has ignored attempts to accommodate his snowman.

"All of it requires sort of a good-faith effort on Mr. Powers' part to work with the city, and his neighbors, to figure out some way to accommodate what he wants to do, and what's legally allowed in that area."

Powers says the city hasn't ever tried to work with him before, that it may just be looking to put a good spin on the story now, and that city officials ought to pass an anti-snowman law if they ever want to stop Snowzilla.

There will be no negotiations, he said.

Find Kyle Hopkins online at adn.com/contact/khopkins or call him at 257-4334.