Anchorage

Anchorage Assembly OKs new pot shop downtown

In a busy meeting Tuesday night, the Anchorage Assembly approved a new downtown pot shop, created legal safeguards for prostitutes victimized by crimes and authorized the administration of Mayor Ethan Berkowitz to pursue an intricate development deal for a new city health building.

The Assembly also passed an ordinance preventing the city parking authority from charging for metered parking before 11 a.m. on weekends and holidays.

Assemblyman Forrest Dunbar, who introduced the measure, said he was worried downtown bar patrons would try to drive while intoxicated to avoid a ticket Saturday morning. He said he's left his car downtown overnight at times in the past to avoid driving, and has talked to a number of others who have done the same.

At Tuesday's meeting, Andrew Halcro, executive director of the Anchorage Community Development Authority, sharply criticized Dunbar's ordinance, which he said wasn't based on data. He said a pilot program is designed to collect information about parking behavior.

Under the pilot program, which starts this Saturday, drivers won't be charged for downtown metered parking. But cars parked at meters for longer than two hours between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturdays risk a warning ticket.

Development deal gets green light for next steps

The Berkowitz administration has outlined a complex proposal with two developers, Mark Lewis and David Irwin, to use land trades and tax breaks and other concessions for a new city health building on city-owned land at the corner of Tudor and Elmore roads.

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The proposal includes two privately financed developments: A grocery store, shops and housing on the Tudor property and a senior housing development at Eighth Avenue and L Street downtown, the site of the current health building.

The city and the developers have until March 1, 2018, to execute an actual agreement.

The current proposal involves moving an Anchorage School District bus barn from an 8-acre property to a 3-acre lot south of the Tudor property, to make room for the new health building. The bus barn houses 120 buses, or about half of the district's fleet.

At Tuesday's meeting, school district officials said they were worried about potential impacts on bus operations if that move happened. Addressing Assembly members, superintendent Deena Bishop also said that questions from the district about the proposal had gone unanswered, and the district had not been directly included in the negotiations with the developers. The district's buses ferry 26,000 students twice a day, to and from school.

After the meeting, Bishop said she was more confident the city, school district and transit officials would be able to resolve the issues. She said district officials were set to meet with the developers on Wednesday.

New equipment could cut accident investigation time

Anchorage police say road shutdowns to investigate major accidents, including on the Seward Highway along Turnagain Arm, will be significantly shorter with new equipment approved by the Assembly on Tuesday night.

The Assembly authorized the city to spend about $155,000, mostly federal grant money, on a camera system that reconstructs accident scenes. It's much more powerful than the equipment currently used by the Anchorage Police Department, said deputy chief Kenneth McCoy.

The Anchorage Police Department expects to start using the new equipment in mid-August, said city spokeswoman Nora Morse.

Downtown pot shop approved

The Assembly authorized a new pot shop in downtown Anchorage at 541 W. Fourth Ave., at the heart of Anchorage's busy tourist street.

A group of more than 20 investors own Great Northern Cannabis Inc., including Andrew Halcro, the executive director of the Anchorage Community Development Authority, and former Anchorage Assemblyman Patrick Flynn.

But Tuesday night's hearing on the license was overtaken by pleas from some property and business owners for a moratorium on pot shops downtown.

Bob Neuman, a downtown business owner, read a letter from former Alaska Gov. and Anchorage Mayor Tony Knowles, who owns property downtown, voicing concerns about a "concentration" of pot shops downtown.

Assemblywoman Amy Demboski stressed the Assembly looks closely at each marijuana license, including location. If the Assembly decided granting the license would lead to problems, the business may not get the license, Demboski said.

She advised concerned business or property owners to contact Assembly members directly about moratoriums.

Prostitution 

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The Assembly also passed an ordinance Tuesday night that would grant immunity to a criminal charge of prostitution when a person reports a more serious crime. The measure is a local version of a state law passed through criminal justice legislation known as Senate Bill 91.

Immunity would extend until the close of the investigation or prosecution of the particular crime that's reported, according to the ordinance.

City prosecutor Seneca Theno expressed doubts about the measure, indicating prosecutors and police already apply discretion in prostitution cases, which are now very rare.

But Assemblyman Fred Dyson, who co-sponsored the measure, said the measure was narrowly aimed at helping prostitutes report abuse by pimps or clients, or crimes discovered through sex work.

"This is designed to be proactive on him or her reporting crimes, that they know about," Dyson said.

Devin Kelly

Devin Kelly was an ADN staff reporter.

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