Video Clips

Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.

Becky Knight

“the so-called moratorium reads more like a de facto conditional use permit because it would allow such facilities to operate during the 9-month period so long as they conform to 3 limitations contained in Section C”

Petersburg Borough: Assembly Meeting · Nov 3, 2026

Jeff Meucci “I was very concerned by the presentation that was there because it's nothing like a 2-megawatt presentation or megawatt data center that they're talking here at Ocean Beauty. They're talking about either a 5, a 10, 12, or 15-megawatt data center”

Petersburg Borough: Assembly Meeting · Nov 3, 2026

Becky Knight

“the city of Houston, Alaska just enacted a 2-year data center moratorium”

Petersburg Borough: Assembly Meeting · Nov 3, 2026

Stan Gregor

“what this would do would be present— prevent a large multi-acre data center that is off the grid”

Petersburg Borough: Assembly Meeting · Nov 3, 2026

Stan Gregor

“I don't believe it is a perfect ordinance, but I think it addresses the bigger concerns the community has.”

Petersburg Borough: Assembly Meeting · Nov 3, 2026

Anna Brawley “I think if you were to wait, I think this conversation around the comprehensive plan is one that will not be resolved quickly. There's a lot of pieces to it, and I know the staff are working on it.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Anna Brawley “So And spoiler, I have one of those listed as repeal, because why would we need this 1994 plan? So until that's done, if you're looking at both of those and they do conflict, then that's— again, because this is saying that we legally have to consult with these things and make decisions based on them.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Daniel McKenna-Foster “I'd suggest that the Commission do in fact take this up. I think there is value in the resolution, or at least elements of the resolution, in terms of advisory or not.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Anna Brawley “essentially what I have concluded as a policymaker and a planner is that we are stuck in an elaborate trap. And so the question is, how do we get out of this trap?”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Anna Brawley “And so I have— I'm currently drafting— it will be introduced at the next meeting on the 17th— an ordinance that repeals portions of this comprehensive plan. So essentially, I went through and found of those 51 items is something more than 30 years old and it's never been amended.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Anna Brawley “So Girdwood Comprehensive Plan. So both the 1994 plan, which has existed obviously since 1995, and then this new one that was adopted in 2025, those are both listed as, as adopted elements of the plan.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Daniel McKenna-Foster “Many implementation items have never been tracked or difficult to track, and most plans have no time horizon for when their action items should be completed.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Anna Brawley “I will note there are 51 elements in our adopted comprehensive plan. So when we say the plan, we are talking about every single document in that suitcase, plus 8 documents that, as far as I can tell, do not legally exist at the city anymore.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Radhika Krishna “I think not to take this item up and instead to let the current Assembly and Assembly Chair propose legislation that might be more timely than this that we might weigh in on.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Daniel McKenna-Foster “Planning and Zoning Commission should review should the comp plan or these district plans have the same force of law as the principal policies and goals of the comprehensive plan.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Anna Brawley “So essentially it proposes repeal of right now 24 items that will be coming to planning and zoning for further discussion well before it comes back to the assembly. So just a preview. So this conversation will come back in that form and provide more food for thought, hopefully.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Daniel McKenna-Foster “the average cost of the a district neighborhood plan is about $300,000 and usually requires about 5 years to be completed.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Jeff Raun “my interest is in putting forward a recommendation that is specific to the question asked of should neighborhood and district plans be advisory, full stop.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Edith McKee “the very fact that she couldn't find some of these plans, and that means they're digital, meaning people who don't necessarily have readily access to digital mediums, internet, whatnot, may or may not even have the opportunity to participate”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Anna Brawley “Okay, so for reference, this is our comprehensive plan, this entire suitcase, and I'm, I'm going to open it very briefly so I'll be off the microphone, but I want to demonstrate it is full of paper. This is not a joke.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Anna Brawley “The ones from the 1980s, certainly. We have a 1979 area-wide library facility plan. We either built them or we didn't, right? And so, so any kind of consideration of where a new library goes should be updated.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Radhika Krishna “whether our comprehensive plan elements have grown so large that they're unable to be updated on the schedule we'd like to keep them updated at, and whether on balance there is a more sustainable future where the department can spend more time implementing plans rather than maintaining a list of, you know, more than 50 plans that appear to still be in effect.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Radhika Krishna “some of this is of our own making that we have crafted and forced neighborhood plans that may not necessarily be about land use priorities to, to fit into the shape of the land use plan map”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Anna Brawley “I think practically speaking, it is legally feasible to repeal all of these and just say we're going to use the Bohl Plan, the Girdwood Plan, and Eagle River Plan.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Daniel McKenna-Foster “if, say, the commission said yes, they are now advisory, then this long list of plans, I think 20 or 30 or 40 or so, they wouldn't go away. They could still be referenced, but they wouldn't carry that potential regulatory weight.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Jeff Raun “I would like to build on and question if, as a community, we've moved beyond the usefulness of neighborhood and district plans.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Jeff Raun “As directed in AR-2025-67, Planning and Zoning Commission should review whether district and neighborhood plans, just district and neighborhood plans within the Municipality of Anchorage, should be considered advisory to the Comprehensive Plan and not have the same force of law as the principles, policies, and goals set forth in it.”

Anchorage Assembly: Planning and Zoning Commission - November 2, 2026 - 2026-11-02 18:30:00 · Nov 2, 2026

Angie Flick “So $3.2 million of the restricted budget reserve is— was pulled out for glof. You also have just about $2.5 million set aside for the Eagle Crest deficit, which I know is something we can— is on the agenda to talk about on Wednesday.”

Juneau: Assembly Committee of the Whole Worksession · Nov 2, 2026

Beth Weldon “before we get too excited about the $12 million, we still have the glop conversation. Um, see no further questions. Um, I'll have a question. So the restricted budget reserve, we pulled some money out of that without replacing it. Can you give me a ballpark figure of that and just remind my assembly members that we are supposed to replace this when we pull it out?”

Juneau: Assembly Committee of the Whole Worksession · Nov 2, 2026

Angie Flick “we went from March having $12 million to July having $10 million, and now because we've experienced everything in FY26, we're up to $18 million. So we've got an increase— almost $19 million— an increase of $8.6 million from the adopted budget.”

Juneau: Assembly Committee of the Whole Worksession · Nov 2, 2026

Angie Flick “As we looked through the various ways that we can slice and dice sales tax data, the biggest driver was an anything that used fuel. So anything that needed a barge to come up here, anything that needed a plane to come up here, whether that was a thing or a person, you know, those, those were so clear as differences from a year ago. And, and you all know when you drive by anywhere that's got the fuel price, diesel at over $6 is mind-blowing.”

Juneau: Assembly Committee of the Whole Worksession · Nov 2, 2026

Katie Koester “Tonight's item is a fiscal update on FY26. This is in preparation for your retreat.”

Juneau: Assembly Committee of the Whole Worksession · Nov 2, 2026

Angie Flick “If you were to, um, direct us to resolve the Eagle Crest fund deficit through regular unrestricted general funds, it would take you from $17 million up to $19.5 million.”

Juneau: Assembly Committee of the Whole Worksession · Nov 2, 2026

Angie Flick “at the end of FY27, after all of the budget decisions were made And, um, with anticipated FY26 legislation, you were going to be at, um, $3.3 million.”

Juneau: Assembly Committee of the Whole Worksession · Nov 2, 2026

Paul McDonogh “the shortfall in student nutrition is something that other school districts are seeing everywhere. I've seen recently like a Georgia school district had an equally sized $6.8 million shortfall where ours is $7.5 million.”

Anchorage School Board: 11/2/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Nov 2, 2026

Herper Kushner

“how many more dedicated educators have to walk away before we recognize that this is bigger than burnout? At some point, we have to acknowledge that when the people that we've entrusted with our students aren't being adequately supported, the problem isn't their ability to endure. It's a system asking them to. Uh, I was here in September. I stood before this board and spoke about the physical, emotional, and psychological toll this work takes on educators.”

Anchorage School Board: 11/2/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Nov 2, 2026

Herper Kushner

“Pull up the district's job vacancy listings. The number and range of openings should prompt serious questions about recruitment and, more importantly, retention. We are not just teachers. We are case managers, crisis counselors, nurses, secretaries, behavior specialists, and whatever, whatever else the day demands.”

Anchorage School Board: 11/2/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Nov 2, 2026

Herper Kushner

“I'm standing here again in November, and I have to ask, what has actually changed since that testimony? Two members of our SBBS team have resigned. Uh, one was a newly hired para who entered an incredibly demanding environment with very little training. The other was a behavior intervention coach with more than 10 years experience in this district.”

Anchorage School Board: 11/2/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Nov 2, 2026

Paul McDonogh “Costs are up in staffing. For the first time in, I think, a while, we're fully staffed in that program.”

Anchorage School Board: 11/2/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Nov 2, 2026

Pat Higgins “How does this— these transfers, how does that affect how much money we're carrying forward from this year to next year that we put aside in the budget?”

Anchorage School Board: 11/2/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Nov 2, 2026

Paul McDonogh “this $11.8 million for all of these backfills is coming out of our BSA fund. Into that, that we could use for next year's budget shortfall. So I really hope to see legislation come through, the 35th AK legislation, that is a universal meal plan.”

Anchorage School Board: 11/2/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Nov 2, 2026

Herper Kushner

“These concerns are not new. Educators have raised them repeatedly. Uh, when the same concerns continue to surface without meaningful change, it becomes increasingly difficult not to feel like those voices are falling on deaf ears. Staff do not need another district-wide message telling them how valued they are. They need leadership that demonstrates it through action, because appreciation without action is just words, and words don't keep good educators in the classroom.”

Anchorage School Board: 11/2/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Nov 2, 2026

Rachel Blakeslee “I was wondering if maybe we could provide just some of that context about what we're seeing around the forecasted deficit around student nutrition and the ability to feed kids and what that looks like, sort of the trade-offs that we're going to have to contend with in FY28.”

Anchorage School Board: 11/2/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Nov 2, 2026

Herper Kushner

“We are exhausted in ways that sleep cannot touch. Exhaustion is not a badge of honor. It is not proof of dedication. It should never be an expectation of this profession. We cannot preach trauma-informed care for students while ignoring the toll that this, uh, is taking on the teachers and the adults that are providing that care.”

Anchorage School Board: 11/2/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Nov 2, 2026

Pat Higgins “Partially. Sorry, because we took quite a bit for food service. We've got other things out there which I don't think was being anticipated at that point in time. So I'm a little bit surprised that somehow or another this is covered because it tells me how much would have not been covered. I mean, if we had not done this, we would have had more carrying forward.”

Anchorage School Board: 11/2/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Nov 2, 2026

Carl Jacobs “during board— during public comment, board members will not answer questions or engage in discussion. This is the public's time to speak and the board's time to listen.”

Anchorage School Board: 11/2/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Nov 2, 2026

Paul McDonogh “the heartburn I feel of using next year's, like, BSA, like the money that could be able to adjust next year's BSA-related shortfall, it comes at a huge cost.”

Anchorage School Board: 11/2/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Nov 2, 2026

Rachel Blakeslee “I speak from experience as a former teacher in Title I schools of, you know, watching my preschool students save their free and reduced-price lunch or breakfast and put it in their backpacks to bring home to eat for dinner that night.”

Anchorage School Board: 11/2/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Nov 2, 2026

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