Pot, liquor represented on ballot
by Berkowitz, Coffey
I think mayoral candidates Ethan Berkowitz and Dan Coffey have some explaining to do.
The political consulting firm where Berkowitz is a partner ran the multimillion-dollar pro-pot legalization campaign last fall and until last week, Berkowitz's outfit was still being paid to lobby the municipality on behalf of the pro-pot group.
As a former lawyer, you'd think Berkowitz would recognize that serious conflict of interest.
And then we have lawyer-lobbyist Coffey, whose recent APOC campaign filing is chock full of big donations from the very special interests for whom he has lobbied for decades: the alcohol industry, taxi cab owners and, no surprise, real estate and commercial development interests. Remember, Coffey got a sweetheart city consulting contract to revamp local land use regulations after he left the Assembly, courtesy of his pal Mayor Dan Sullivan.
One standout Coffey donor is developer Mark Pfeffer, the developer behind the "Taj-MaHawker," the glass-walled legislative palace downtown that Alaskans are paying twice as much for as before.
Pfeffer may expect something in exchange for his big donations if Coffey wins the mayor's race, but voters won't have to worry about a deal for City Hall. Pfeffer already owns it. The building that is, which he leases back to the city.
— Ken Flynn
Anchorage
Lets get high noon back
Regarding the recent letters suggesting Alaska get rid of daylight saving time, not only do I agree but I think we should take it a step further. Prior to the mid-1970s Alaska had four time zones and the main part of the state was in the aptly named Alaska-Hawaii zone. Business interests forced a change that made some sense in the days of land lines and Western Union but is hardly necessary with today's technology.
Let's make "high noon" mean what it is supposed to mean and put the sun back at its apex at that time instead of at 2 p.m.
— John Schwartz
Chugiak
Wilderness not safe label
I read with interest Mr. Thompson's recent commentary on the benefits of designating ANWR as wilderness, by saying it will "let us hunt." Unfortunately, experience has shown that wilderness designation and hunting are not always compatible — just ask the residents of False Pass on Unimak Island.
Much of Unimak Island is designated as wilderness and as such is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under "natural diversity" guidelines. On the island, caribou are in danger of being extirpated. The state was informed that Unimak caribou could be allowed to "blink out" of existence in the interest of "natural diversity."
This leaves me to wonder if the Porcupine caribou herd will similarly be allowed to "blink out" of existence under the Fish and Wildlife Service's natural diversity guidelines. How would this serve the people of Kaktovik?
— Doug Vincent-Lang
Anchorage
Recycle those wrappers
With respect to Tracy Anna Bader's letter to "Ditch newspaper wrappers," while I support her goal to decrease plastic wrapper waste, I'm afraid it will result in a lot of unread soggy newspapers.
An alternative solution that we've used for a number of years is to reuse the wrappers by returning them to the paper deliverer. Did you know that the deliverer must pay for each wrapper they use? We save our wrappers and periodically leave them out for the paper deliverer for reuse. This saves her money, keeps the wrappers out of the garbage, and assuages our guilt about using and disposing of plastic.
— Peter Johnson
Anchorage
Soldier hoped to see Aces
I was fortunate enough to receive complimentary military tickets from the Anchorage Aces a few weeks ago, and looked forward to taking my family to the game. When we arrived, the box office told us that the tickets could not be honored at the arena. They had to be turned in to the main office, which of course was closed.
While being turned away, the team was distributing "Support the Troops" rally brochures. It seemed very ironic to be encouraging people to attend a troop rally, while turning a soldier and his family away over a clerical matter.
One of the great things about serving in Alaska is being made to feel welcome as a part of the community, no matter how far we had to come to get here. I found a place tonight where that warmth was put on the ice. Very disappointing.
— Chase Spears
Eagle River
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