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Video Clips

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

Clips from Alaska Housing Finance CorporationClear
0:13

Christie Collis

“We got over 2,300 comments. We are going through those comments. Have a lot of information to consider.”

Alaska Legislature: Senate Resources - October 26, 2026 10:00am ·

0:18

Christie Collis

“So there's a lot of work that happens after that preliminary decision goes out, even though I know the public feels like it's the final step. It's very much not.”

Alaska Legislature: Senate Resources - October 26, 2026 10:00am ·

0:44
Cathy Giessel“this is a $14 million annual income to the state treasury if this land were leased. Instead, it's going free to Ada. We don't know what Ada is going to gain financially from this land.”

Alaska Legislature: Senate Resources - October 26, 2026 10:00am ·

0:20
Cathy Giessel“one very large conveyance caught my eye, and that was for 20,000 acres going to ADA in the Mat-Su Valley”

Alaska Legislature: Senate Resources - October 26, 2026 10:00am ·

0:44
John Crowther“those are preliminary decisions that have received public comment. We have— Department has not issued a final decision, so we are still in a deliberative process about developing a potential final decision.”

Alaska Legislature: Senate Resources - October 26, 2026 10:00am ·

0:19
John Crowther“I think that what we would interpret ADA being able to do with conveyed parcel is quite broad.”

Alaska Legislature: Senate Resources - October 26, 2026 10:00am ·

0:22
John Crowther“In the case of the ADA parcel, our proposed decision, I think it's fair to say, does not have that in there, in part because we wanted to provide flexibility for ADA as they develop options and plans.”

Alaska Legislature: Senate Resources - October 26, 2026 10:00am ·

0:09
John Crowther“I think some litigation has already been filed by a third-party public interest litigant.”

Alaska Legislature: Senate Resources - October 26, 2026 10:00am ·

0:28
Bill Wielechowski“it just seems like it It's a huge loophole that is being created here. It seems like we've got a constitutional obligation to manage our resources, including our lands.”

Alaska Legislature: Senate Resources - October 26, 2026 10:00am ·

0:12
Bill Wielechowski“if it's your— the Department's obligation to only transfer if there is a public purpose, how can you transfer without knowing what the purpose is?”

Alaska Legislature: Senate Resources - October 26, 2026 10:00am ·

0:45
Cathy Giessel“We have back a memo from our legislative legal indicating that they are probably— it was opined by the attorney writing the legal opinion that these likely were unconstitutional, but that would be up to a court and that type of proceeding.”

Alaska Legislature: Senate Resources - October 26, 2026 10:00am ·

0:20
John Crowther“My impression— the short answer is I believe a suit was filed at the end of last week.”

Alaska Legislature: Senate Resources - October 26, 2026 10:00am ·

0:11
Cathy Giessel“It is a lot of land. It's over 20,885 acres. The purpose of what— it was vague or is vague.”

Alaska Legislature: Senate Resources - October 26, 2026 10:00am ·

0:19
John Crowther“I do think it is a fair characterization that the ADA parcel is larger, the one under consideration right now is larger, frankly, than than other 810 conveyances historically, and its purpose is not as explicitly defined as some have been historically.”

Alaska Legislature: Senate Resources - October 26, 2026 10:00am ·

0:34
Kevin McCabe“ADA doesn't know what business they're thinking about putting up there. Um, so there will be much public comment, there will be much public process involved if it if in fact it does happen, and I'm not convinced, like Senator Rauscher is, that it's going to happen. I think there's lots and lots of pressure on DNR.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:15

Sean Darnell

“Data sheets note special firefighting procedures specifically directing dry chemical water fog or foam should be used, not to use direct stream of water, indicating, uh, using solid streams of water could actually spread the fire.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:30

Sean Darnell

“The state of Alaska is now involved in investigating this contamination. Shouldn't the city wait for the state to complete their investigation for conclusions, including cleanup efforts needed to address the contamination at this site?”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:16

Sean Darnell

“I respectfully request the city council to deny this CUP. Protecting public safety, our water, air, and neighborhoods should come before approving a site for industrial use whose impacts have not been adequately determined.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:12

Tony Woolers

“I'm actually a victim of the contaminated water right now, 'cause it's all flowing directly at my property, which is going to cost me a very large sum of money according to the state when this all settles out.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:19

Patrick Simpson

“it's a requirement for us, it's state law that we have to report these things. I mean, it's not— there's not an option.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:35

Patrick Simpson

“I think what we're planning to do, what I'm planning to do, is monitor probably with permanent wells at, at least 2 locations on site for the next 5 years.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:15
George Rauscher“They're going to read them all and they're going to make some, probably some decisions later after they've, they've calculated all of the limite that they got. But I just thought that the takeaway is it's going to happen.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:41
Kevin McCabe“A few other things, uh, I listened to Senator Rauscher talk about, um, the DNR ADA land transfer. Keep in mind that Senator Rauscher was talking about the ADA response to the public comments. All those public comments that you made, that everybody made to, uh, on this transfer, went to the DNR, and the DNR makes the decision on this, whether or not they're going to transfer it to ADA.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:36
Kent Mitchell“Personally, I'd rather see DNR land in the city limits of Houston be turned over to the City of Houston. That's my opinion. I'd rather be there to manage it as a city so that the people have a say in what— I mean, it seems like they are willing to work, and it didn't seem like they'd be difficult to work with, but So yeah, we've had a kind of an issue with this process of DNR not filling us in or putting us in the loop before they make these decisions.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:39

Sean Darnell

“I'd like to provide comment in opposition of approving a conditional use permit for Alaska Plastic Recovery to operate an industrial plastics processing operation at this location.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:23

Patrick Simpson

“what that indicated to us was that contamination of the groundwater, which wasn't coming from us from any of the soil sample measurements, and was also in an area where we weren't storing any plastics, was actually coming from further upstream somewhere above us.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:28
George Rauscher“And it didn't seem like any question that I asked probably would give that opinion that they were ever going to do that. So it was going to stay no matter what. Does that mean they got a data center in mind? They kept saying no. They also said that there's no future for a data center here because of energy, because of, uh, the, uh, oh, you got a fiber optic line, few other things.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:32
George Rauscher“And, uh, so they did say they were going to keep that in. And since they said they were going to keep that in, that just tells me the whole land trade is going to happen.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:03

Tony Woolers

“If the answer is no, then please do not grant this permit.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:36
George Rauscher“it seemed like, uh, ADA thought that the comment periods were something that they could take into consideration, but no matter how bad they were, how good they were, it would not change their opinion, uh, if they wanted to still go on with the transfer of the land. That was what I was getting at. Now, I did ask a question about the data center, uh, and I basically asked if they were going to actually think about removing it because we had heard that they would take that out of the mix.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:13

Tony Woolers

“So on my conclusion, I want to ask each one of you, if it was you in your backyard, would you want this in yours?”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:25

Sean Darnell

“Information presented recently by Three Tier Alaska at a community meeting identified diesel contamination in the groundwater. The source is not currently known.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:32
Jeff Brasel“I think that 2620 was a big win for the city tonight, and I want to thank Council Member Johansen for drafting pretty much the entirety of that. All I did was modify it a little bit into being temporary and try to work on the language some. Um, but that gives us an opportunity to get our renewed planning and zoning folks on track with plenty of time to make that happen, and, and I think we're gonna come out the other side of that in better shape than had we, you know, gone the original direction.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:07

Tony Woolers

“This is 3 times the legal limit for for consumption. That means technically I can't even shower.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:17
Lisa Johansen“And overall, I think this ordinance makes everybody happy in terms of what the other council members were looking for, what I was looking for. So I think we came to a happy medium, I would say.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:53
Lisa Johansen“As the council knows, I brought forth an ordinance to ban data centers in the city of Houston. Some good discussion ensued, and Council Members Lewis and Brazell specifically had concerns about what I had brought forth, and they brought forth some, some good ideas. And I think this ordinance in front of us, uh, is a good balance between what I was looking for and the concerns that the other council members had. Um, it gives us time as the city to get our planning and zoning involved and looking at things.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:37
Kent Mitchell“The purpose of a conditional use permit hearing is to not, not just to hear the public. I understand there's a few members of the public that spoke out against it today, but some of the comments can be invalidated with proof, and I think that's what we saw today.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:34
Kent Mitchell“Yep, I agree. I think this is a great compromise to a good idea. Um, thank you for your work on it. I think this is You know, this is a good thing for Houston to be able to work through the planning and zoning process, just to set up Houston to where we're not going to get things in Houston that the people of Houston don't want. Um, we have the opportunity to draw some boundaries around businesses that come into the city, and I think that's a great— that was a great suggestion by Deputy Mayor Brazell.”

Houston: Regular Scheduled City Council Meeting 10.08.2026 ·

0:20
Robert Doehl“Our permit management system now is the equivalent of carbon paper and multiple copies that don't talk to each other. It was an over-customized system that they continued to over-customize after they brought it online in 2005. It is unwieldy. It's clunky.”

Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 ·

0:19
Tyler Robinson“Obviously, not having to do these things is a big deal. It saves cost. It saves a ton of time. We have two developments right now that are underway because a process requirement has been suspended.”

Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 ·

0:13
Tyler Robinson“So right now it's paused. It could come back in 2028.”

Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 ·

0:14
Shaun Debenham“this is Raspberry Townhomes. It's a development we're doing in South Anchorage. It's It's a $20 million project, 58 townhomes.”

Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 ·

0:54
Robert Doehl“That cost them hundreds of— actually, thousands of dollars and a 3-month delay in construction. That's why we are going forward to address where— to give the Director the authority to just deal with these de minimis variances rather than tie up the cost, the delay, the risk of missing a building season”

Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 ·

0:21
Shaun Debenham“in Anchorage, we have a very short little window for construction. And when it extends an extra even 3 months and it takes you past the ability to get in the ground and put a foundation in, then we've got serious issues when a permit is taking so much long. And it's easily resolvable.”

Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 ·

0:10
Shaun Debenham“Took me 9 months to go through and get a permit. 9 Months! Like, this is crazy.”

Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 ·

0:21
Shaun Debenham“We need to outsource it, right? This is not a hard thing. If we outsource a review, If we outsource our inspections, we have very talented people here in Anchorage that are more than capable of doing this and doing it well and quickly and under the time constraints that we currently have.”

Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 ·

0:43
Shaun Debenham“we need a comprehensive setback analysis of our Title 21 code that's 1,000 pages.”

Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 ·

0:34
Robert Doehl“They said— we looked at all the appendices we could adopt. So if you wanted to do something that is not normal construction, we will already have in place, if the International Code folks have looked at it, the code path you can expect. So you have predictability when you show up for your permit on how that looks.”

Alaska's Housing Shortage: The Factors That Cause It & The Levers We Control - 8/27/26 ·

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