Video Clips
Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.
Edna DeVries
“So that resolution was passed. What it is saying is we're encouraging ADA to assist us as well as the whole state with the West Sioux Access, um, project as well as the port project. And so that will now today gonna be forwarded to the state. That was adopted.”Mat-Su Borough: MAYOR POST BLOG ASSEMBLY MEETING SEP15, 2026 · Sep 18, 2026
Edna DeVries
“Another item that was under reconsideration was whether the assembly should support DNR's allocation of 19,000+ acres to ADA. Uh, in 2 weeks ago, there had just been a letter, and then there— after that letter had been adopted by the assembly, the next day there had been reconsideration by an assembly person. So that put the letter on hold, but that also gave, uh, Deputy Mayor time to do a resolution and get it on the agenda for last night.”Mat-Su Borough: MAYOR POST BLOG ASSEMBLY MEETING SEP15, 2026 · Sep 18, 2026
Edna DeVries
“there's been controversy and a need for better connections of Engstrom Road and Bogard, and that project has been going on for several years. The latest report is that there will be a roundabout, and it should be here within the next year, 18 months, but still a lot of traffic at that intersection.”Mat-Su Borough: MAYOR POST BLOG ASSEMBLY MEETING SEP15, 2026 · Sep 18, 2026
Bill Gamble
“the real problem is Bogard. The Bogard corridor is a mess right now, and it's only going to get worse because people are so tired of trying to drive through Wasilla in the traffic.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Michael Bowles
“If we can protect public safety without building a permanent infrastructure for tracking ordinary citizens, that is the more Alaskan path. Limited government means government having the tools it needs, but also knowing when it has gone too far. We are seeing these things happen. We are seeing these things happen in the Lower 48.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Stephanie Nowers
“I fear with the property owners who do not want us to go through, that we're going to be looking at a project, you know, it's like what you can get versus we just took the heart the hard road, um, that may result in nothing. So we had something that has kind of a lot of support and maybe doesn't do as much versus something that could have an impact.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Rod Hanson
“the fundamental issue we were concerned about, and that is the safety issues around that Engstrom-Bogard intersection and the stretch of Bogard. You talked a lot about the roundabout, but you didn't talk anything about the dump trucks that have to use that roundabout now for the next 30 years. If the southern route was constructed, those dump trucks would go on and off the southern route and not go through that roundabout.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Simon Gilland
“Believe you guys have made a mistake this evening. Thank you.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Dee McKee
“Yeah, there is an upside to have the cameras because sometimes they catch people that do really bad things.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Stephanie Nowers
“that was not a vote I wanted to take, opposing the Northern Route. Um, but, you know, I didn't feel good about that.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Michael Bowles
“We are watching Anchorage pursue these things. Um, when I ran for office, I made it very clear that I was going to be a brick wall from any of this Anchorage stuff making its way out here, and and this is what I'm doing.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Bill Gamble
“I only see the Bogart corridor getting busier, and it's probably going to turn into the next KGB, or, you know, the old West Parks Highway out by, you know, Big Lake, where it was only 2 lanes if we don't do something now and get ahead of the power curve on this.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Stephanie Nowers
“Ms. McKee's totally right. Like, you can catch some of the bad guys, but how much do you sacrifice? And I just recently, a few months ago, picked up 1984, right?”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Stephanie Nowers
“it just breaks my heart to look at people like the Olsons who have owned that property for years.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Stephanie Nowers
“I think this is a good move right now. I mean, maybe in the future they'll come up with some way to limit it so it just catches the good guys and, and doesn't just track everybody wholesale. But, um, yeah, I support this for the time being.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Simon Gilland
“that roundabout is the northern route, southern route, Um, it, it doesn't help the traffic. There's no difference between the traffic. The only advantage to that northern route is it feeds out of one subdivision. One subdivision would have a little better access when they continue development at some point, which we anticipate they will.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Stephanie Nowers
“So your face is now your ticket to move around, and they pair that with the cameras and they can track you. So if you want to get out of the draft in Russia because you don't want to go fight in Ukraine, you used to be able to just kind of flee to the country. It just to what one of the speakers said, there's a lot of potential for abuse in it.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Simon Gilland
“It's owned by a developer. Um, the landowners that are going to end up with a mile and a half of road through the middle of their homestead, 100-year-old homestead, no desire to develop. There's no, no inklings that I've heard from the other landowner that's adjacent, the Buffalo Ranch, that he wants to develop. This is a, this is a road that helps one developer.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Dee McKee
“So I guess what I'm saying is, it's— we don't— we don't— it does— some fentanyl does some good, but it does a lot more bad. So I support this, this assemblyperson.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Rod Hanson
“Page 23 of the traffic analysis report, there's a table that shows the— well, there's a sentence below the table that describes it very well. It says traffic volumes on Angstrom Road and Bogart are most significantly decreased by the selection of the southern route. If you're trying to affect safety in that area, the southern route does so, the northern route does not.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Ron Bernier
“That's a state right-of-way. Does this ordinance prohibit those type of cameras? As a second-class borough, we cannot regulate the state's rights-of-way.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Michael Bowles
“For those that don't know, the borough is pursuing policing powers. They're pursuing a PSA. It's coming. So this is me getting ahead of that before I leave this office. This is me trying to make sure that you, everybody out there listening, and everybody sitting here, and every Alaskan in this borough is not surveilled without their knowing, without their intention, and against their, their constitutional rights to privacy.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Simon Gilland
“If you look at the base number of traffic going down Engstrom Road It does not decrease by more than 50 or 70 cars with that northern route. It actually is shorter. The southern route decreases the traffic going out of that southern— out of the Bogart roundabout by more traffic, by higher number than the northern route does.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Michael Bowles
“I hope every member of this assembly supports this. We have a duty to support this, and it is a constitutional right that we have to privacy.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Stephanie Nowers
“Your grandfather, I mean, there is history in that. Property. They don't want a road on it. I don't, I don't care why. I don't get to say to them, oh, you know, you should do it.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Bill Gamble
“the decision tonight about the northern route was not an easy one. In fact, I came in thinking I knew what I was going to do, and then halfway through the conversation up here tonight, I was second-guessing myself about my decision.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Michael Bowles
“We live in a free society. We should not be tracked. We should not be recorded. If I step on somebody's private property and they've got a camera, that's my choice to make myself available to that property owner. That's very different than driving down the road, minding my own business, going to the grocery store or my daily activities.”Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 part 2 · Sep 15, 2026
Speaker A
“Madam Mayor, it passed with Assemblymember Bernier, Bowles, and Nowers opposed.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - September 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Dee McKee
“So I guess what I'm saying is, it's— we don't— we don't— it doesn't— fentanyl does some good, but it does a lot more bad. So I support this, this.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Dee McKee
“Yeah, there is an upside to have the cameras because sometimes they catch people that do really bad things.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Stephanie Nowers
“Ms. McKee's totally right. Like, you can catch some of the bad guys, but how much do you sacrifice?”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Bill Gamble
“Or when I was in Atlanta or Portland, you'd see signs that say video surveillance conducted here, and then you just see you know, cameras all over the place, and I want to make sure that we don't ever get to that spot in this borough.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Lisa Agnew
“This body can keep every dollar for this park upgrade and build a playground and leave the assembly's position on the National Scenic Trail designation exactly where you voted to put it back in 2024 in opposing it.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Stephanie Nowers
“There's a story in the New York Times called The New Moscow, a digital Utopia Doubling as a Surveillance Trap. And it's about in Russia how they're using biometric data, so facial data, and in China as well, where you use that to pay your bus fare and everything else. So your face is now your ticket to move around, and they pair that with the cameras and they can track you. So if you want to get out of the draft in Russia because you don't want to go fight in Ukraine, you used to be able to just kind of flee to the country.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Bill Gamble
“I wholeheartedly agree with Assemblymember Bowles getting ahead of this. This summer I did quite a bit of traveling down in the lower 48, and I was just amazed at how many places I saw signs that said, this highway under video surveillance.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Stephanie Nowers
“There's a lot of potential for abuse in it. And so I think this is a good move right now. I mean, maybe in the future they'll come up with some way to limit it so it just catches the good guys and, and doesn't just track everybody wholesale. But, um, yeah, I support this for the time being.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Stephanie Nowers
“What we're talking about is something different where you can track somebody as they're moving around. And this prohibits— this certainly prohibits that.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Lisa Agnew
“A sign on borough land maintained by borough dollars is evidence to support this when it goes to Congress for approval. And to remind you that the same U.S. code that governs designation also states motorized use is prohibited. Please do not give this trail ammo to get that designation. Second, 4 documents describe this project and none of them match.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Lisa Agnew
“I would rather see you spend $100,000 on a playground improvement for kids rather than a sign that doesn't appear to have been part of the original planning. Um, the grant agreement's not at risk. It never mentions a sign in the actual grant agreement that's attached to your memorandum. Striking it takes nothing out of what the foundation funds”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Bill Gamble
“would that allow the federal government in any way, shape, or form, if we designated or put that sign on there, could they do anything to restrict the borough's use of land, motorized vehicles crossing borough land? And they can't.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Lisa Agnew
“As stated earlier tonight, I also have some concerns about ethics. Alaska Trails is the organization that advocates for the National Scenic Trails designation along this trail. According to their own website, the director who brought this appropriation also served as their founding executive director and recently headlined one of their fundraisers that benefits their mission. My concern is, has this disclosure been made to this body?”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Lisa Agnew
“The Rasmussen website states $300 grand to upgrade a playground, utilities, and the Matanuska River Campground, utilities at the campground, and signage to designate the park as part of the Alaska Long Trail. However, the grant agreement in your informational memorandum in this packet states $300,000 to support the Matsu Park and Campground improvements, no playground, no sign, and nothing— it's not stated anywhere else in this agreement.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Lisa Agnew
“I'm asking you to support Assemblymember Bowles' amendment as modified in her secondary amendment. Strike the Alaska Long Trail Gateway sign and keep the Matanuska River Park campgrounds upgrade.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Bill Gamble
“I don't think we oppose the Alaska Long Trail. What we oppose is to the Alaska Long Trail being designated as a National Scenic Trail, which brings all kinds of other federal regulations along with it.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting - Sep. 15 · Sep 15, 2026
Speaker A
“Seeing and hearing no objections, Resolution 26-17 has been approved.”Mat-Su Borough: Planning Commission Meeting August 17, 2026 · Aug 17, 2026
Speaker A
“keeping our roads safe and maintained actually aids in to getting to school safely, whether you're walking next to or driving on. I think they both go hand in hand. You can't necessarily really separate them, but when you're looking at it like this, I think it's a smart move.”Mat-Su Borough: Planning Commission Meeting August 17, 2026 · Aug 17, 2026
Edna DeVries
“We are here again to keep alive our strong concerns about the borough reclassifying the Zero Lake parcel to allow for a future shooting range.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting August 18, 2026 · Aug 18, 2026
Edna DeVries
“As you all know, my cabin sits less than a quarter mile, or about 1,000 feet, feet downrange from the proposed site.”Mat-Su Borough: Assembly Meeting August 18, 2026 · Aug 18, 2026