With the calm personality of a diplomat, Ernie Hall is trying to accomplish something no man or woman has achieved before: an agreement on how to rebuild Spenard Road.

The new Anchorage Assembly member from West Anchorage hopes to break a 10-year stalemate over what, if anything, should be done with the north end of the road, which cuts through one of the city's busier commercial centers.

Some business owners don't want a major re-configuration of the four-lane road. "I don't see why we have to re-invent the wheel," said Rene Haag, owner of Blaine's Art.

Others say the road should be converted from four lanes to three to make room for bigger sidewalks and bike lanes.

Architect Jae Shin, who bikes to work through Spenard daily, is among many who hold that view.

"The biggest factor is safety," said Shin. "Traffic calming, amenities for bicyclists -- all those things dovetail into a healthier community."

Hall's strategy to deal with these conflicting opinions: talk it out. With everyone who cares about it, in big meetings and small.

Hall, a sandy-gray-haired furniture manufacturer, seems to get along with people regardless of their views. He's the kind of person who sounds like he really wants to know when he asks, "How are you?"

He used his skills as an even-handed problem-solver to help revive the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous winter festival after it sank into debt-ridden doldrums in recent years. He wants to do the same thing for Spenard.

This summer, he's organized five different meetings with fellow Westside Assemblywoman Harriet Drummond, legislators and sometimes city officials to hear peoples' concerns and ideas.

As an Assemblyman, he says, "One thing I can do is get everybody in the room at the same time."

WALKERS DODGE TRAFFIC

It's a tough case, figuring out how to re-do Spenard Road.

The area is home to some of the hottest shops, restaurants and nightspots in town, from REI to Chilkoot Charlie's to the Bear Tooth Theatrepub and Grill. And the commercial area is growing with shops like the popular Sugarspoon bakery moving in.

People who fill up the apartment houses and condos on side streets and other Spenard-area residents have made it a big walking district, too. Spenard is home to nearly as many people as live in downtown, South Addition, Fairview and Government Hill combined, says former city demographer Sue Fison.

But Spenard Road is aging and cramped for space, with four-foot sidewalks that don't meet disability standards. And walkers get no crosswalks at all for the stretch from Fireweed Lane to Northern Lights Boulevard.

The road right-of-way is limited to 60 feet mostly, not a lot to play with. Parking is a problem. It's tight. Many businesses have spots right in front of their stores, where people have to back out onto Spenard Road to leave.

One section Spenard residents and businesses did reach consensus on -- from Hillcrest Drive north down to the Westchester Lagoon -- the city has updated, converting a wide strip of asphalt into a narrower road plus a bike path that connects to the Chester Creek Trail. That section is expected to be ready to open within a few days.

The city has a design that's close to finished -- it was developed, then put on hold, under the administration of former Mayor Mark Begich. It would convert the three-quarter-mile section between Hillcrest and Benson from four lanes to three lanes -- a through lane each direction, with a turn lane in the middle. That was intended to be the next phase.

But many other business owners besides Haag object to the idea of a three-lane road. And that's the heart of the controversy that has kept anything from being done.

AGAINST THREE LANES

What's wrong with three lanes?

Chilkoot's owner Mike Gordon said you can tell that if you look what happened to Arctic Boulevard. Most of it was converted from four lanes to three, and it includes an unexpected shift in lanes so they don't go straight across at some intersections. You have to swerve. In winter, drivers can't see the lines separating lanes, he said.

With three lanes, traffic backs up behind People Mover buses, and people can't get around the buses, Gordon said.

Sometimes traffic backs up from Fireweed Lane going south all the way to 27th Avenue, he said.

"Arctic Boulevard is just an absolute disaster. I don't want them to do that to Spenard Road."

Road planners say the national standard is that three-lane roads, with the turn lane in the middle, are safer than four-lane roads.

Some businesses are fine with going to three lanes, and they are joined by avid bike riders and walkers.

Barbara Smart, owner of Alaska Leather at Minnesota and Spenard, walks to work along Spenard from the Westchester end, usually with one of her Belgian malinois.

"In winter, there is absolutely no sidewalk. The sidewalk appears whenever they decide to plow them. ... I walk on top of snowbanks. And the bicyclists have to go in the streets. It's awful," she said.

Bicyclists are arguing for bike lanes in the shoulders, which likely could only be done in a three-lane plan.

How will this controversy be resolved? Hall only says, "I think it will be a hybrid."

EVERYBODY SPEAKS

Hall got into the conflict shortly after he was elected to office in April. At his first Spenard Community Council meeting, he said, Sen. Hollis French and Rep. Mike Doogan made the point that Spenard isn't getting its share of state capital projects because the community lacked consensus.

Hall set up the first meeting in May, and 70 people came.

He wanted to start with an open slate. "Not show any maps. No presentation. I opened the meeting, and said we're here to have a conversation."

After two large meetings, Hall set up some small ones -- with maps -- to have deeper conversations.

At a meeting of about 10 people he gathered together at City Hall to pore over maps last month, Hall said some decisions already seem clear.

"There's no question, the street should be slowed down to 25 miles per hour," he said. That's what it needs to be safe, people have said.

And the city should put in some crosswalks.

The city already bought up some land at 27th Avenue next to Alaska Mountaineering and Hiking to add some much-needed parking and re-align 27th. There's "pretty much consensus" the city should get another vacant lot next to La Mex for parking, too, he said.

After making those points, Hall sat back and listened, interjecting himself only to ask if everyone had a chance to say what they wanted.

In a separate interview, he said there's at least one other point of agreement: "Everybody in the conversation says we don't want to do anything to hurt Sunrise Bakery."

The bakery, at Hillcrest and Spenard, provides 110 jobs, Hall said. With its delivery trucks parked around the building, it's squeezed in, but people are holding it sacrosanct, he said.

After the extended listening sessions, Hall met last week with the administration to see what's possible. When city planners draw up some new alternatives, he said he'll get Spenardians together again. He wants to have a plan together this fall, in time to ask for money for it on next April's city ballot, as well from the state Legislature.

WHAT NEXT?

Will all this talking result in a plan people on both sides can live with?

Not everyone involved thinks so, but even doubters say he's clearly trying.

"I think part of the problem was there wasn't really a political person who was taking it on," said Margaret Auth, a long-time Spenard resident who says the road should be three lanes.

"Compromise should be feasible," said Haag. Hall is a good mediator, who listens to both sides without bias, she said.

"Ernie Hall is definitely the person that can make it happen."