Largest local government in Alaska, covering 1,961 square miles from Girdwood to Eklutna. A unified home-rule municipality combining city and borough powers over a population of roughly 290,000.
Anchorage, AK, USA
Video Clips
Browse all clips
Speaker C
“the very drafty version that you're seeing here with a bunch of notes and kind of fill this in is a first pass at doing this from myself, Mr. Boland, and Ms. Baldwin-Day, who has joined us as the third member on this committee. But this— the goal is not that this coming from three of us, it's from all of us.”Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole · Jun 18, 2026
Speaker C
“last year we passed this in September. We know that's pretty late. In terms of kind of when some kind of guidance like this would be useful, what timeframe would you recommend?”Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole · Jun 18, 2026
Speaker C
“So fixing this is going to involve a real trade-off.”Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole · Jun 18, 2026
Speaker C
“the intent is that we bring this forward probably at the July 21st meeting, so we have some time. And of course, this does not need to reflect every single person's individual priorities. We want to find what, you know, at least a majority of us can agree on at this point.”Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole · Jun 18, 2026
Speaker C
“The first section really deals with asking for information in what's called the preliminary budget memo or the 120-day memo that that will come out around September 1st. So it's really asking for basically scenarios or any information to really, you know, project that the point of that memo is to say, here's the revenue we expect, here's the big trends, here's our capital improvement program list, and really kind of a preview of what the actual budget will look like.”Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole · Jun 18, 2026
Speaker C
“the thing that Bill did not say, Mr. Fauzi did not say, was if we build more stuff, the Building Safety Service Area also fills itself back up, as we saw in the revenue. And so that is also a relevant piece piece of that conversation.”Anchorage Assembly: Budget and Finance Committee-of-the-Whole · Jun 18, 2026
Anchorage canceled five assessment appeal sessions over the summer
Anchorage canceled five Board of Equalization sessions between June and August while 2026 assessment appeals stretched toward a November resolution date.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Anchorage paid to expand the crime center, then put off the rules
The Anchorage Assembly approved a $598,998.10 audio-visual buildout for the police Real Time Crime Center on Sept. 1, then continued the public hearing on the ordinance that would set data retention and license plate reader limits to Sept. 15.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Some Anchorage homes went a month without running water last winter
Anchorage's water utility reported about 240 frozen service lines last winter, triple a normal year, with some customers waiting a month for running water.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
A fourplex would install no landscaping under this Anchorage ordinance
A proposed Anchorage ordinance would exempt three- and four-unit lots from site perimeter landscaping, a buffer that can run 15 feet wide with two trees and six shrubs per 20 feet. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended it 7-0 with no public testimony. Assembly hearing Oct. 6.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Anchorage police force falls hardest on Alaska Native residents
An outside review found Anchorage police use force disproportionately on Alaska Native residents and at a higher rate than cities like Seattle and Portland.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago4 min read
Anchorage Assembly keeps a non-binding housing resolution moving
The Anchorage Assembly voted 7-4 on Tuesday against postponing a resolution that would urge the administration to prioritize housing when it disposes of municipal real property, keeping the measure before the body.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Planners urged cutting the overlay's R-1 height break. The sponsors kept it.
Anchorage's planning department recommended removing lower height limits for R-1 zones from the Missing Middle Housing overlay. The sponsors did not.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago3 min read
Anchorage would trade away land it bought five years ago for $2.35 million
An ordinance would dispose of the 9.6-acre former Tozier Track through a non-competitive property exchange rather than open bidding. The Anchorage Assembly takes public testimony October 6, with written and phone comments due by 5 p.m. October 5.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Anchorage's next mayor to earn about $183,000, a 26 percent raise
The Municipality of Anchorage Commission on Salaries and Emoluments approved a resolution Thursday raising the mayor's pay to $183,019.20 from $145,392, effective for whoever wins the April 2027 election. Members checked inflation data against municipal union raises.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3w ago1 min read
Anchorage trails plan adds inland fallback route for stalled Kincaid-to-Potter Marsh trail
The 2026 Recreational Trails Plan says the South Coastal Trail extension from Kincaid Park to Potter Marsh is still blocked by mixed support from bluff-top property owners and unresolved routing inside the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge, so planners propose an inland alternate. The AMATS Technical Advisory Committee takes up the plan Thursday.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Anchorage's wetlands plan describes a permit the city cannot issue
An update before the Anchorage Assembly would align the city's 2014 wetlands plan with permitting that changed in 2021 and again after a 2023 court ruling.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Anchorage will weigh housing density, not just price, when it sells land
The Anchorage Assembly adopted policy guidance Tuesday, 11-0, urging the administration to favor multifamily, compact and energy-efficient housing when it disposes of municipal land. Administration staff warned the criteria could slow property transfers.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Anchorage school district proposes splitting $32 million in one-time state money
Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt told the Anchorage School Board on Tuesday that $32 million in one-time state waterfall funding is confirmed. His proposal would restore tutoring, credit recovery, transportation and activities now while cutting the FY28 deficit to about $26 million. The board takes it up in October.
by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read
Fifteen Anchorage Assembly members will have their spending accounts examined in a 9-2 vote
The Anchorage Assembly voted 9-2 to have the municipal internal auditor examine the spending accounts of 15 current and recent members going back to 2023.
by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read
Anchorage's surplus school buildings could bring in money, the district says
Anchorage School District administrators told the board that surplus buildings including Abbott Loop and Campbell STEM could generate revenue for the district.
by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read
In 1997 Anchorage voters rejected automated camera enforcement. Its new surveillance system needed no vote.
Anchorage is debating rules for a police surveillance system that arrived with no public vote, nearly 30 years after voters banned traffic cameras in 1997.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3w ago4 min read
Anchorage had no ALS ambulance available about 70 times last year
The Anchorage Fire Department will mark new engines entering service at Stations 3, 4 and 6 on Sept. 8 and 9. The ceremonies come as the department's 2026-2031 capital plan reports about 70 instances in 2024 with no advanced life support ambulance available.
by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago1 min read
Anchorage Assembly takes up a $599,000 crime center purchase and surveillance limits
Three residents filed written testimony against AM 524-2026, a nearly $600,000 audio-visual purchase for the Anchorage Police Department's Real Time Crime Center, arguing privacy rules should come first. The postponed item returns to the Assembly's Sept. 1 agenda as unfinished business.
by Alaska News4w ago2 min read
Anchorage's rewritten emergency plan adds six annexes, voids all earlier versions
Mayor Suzanne LaFrance has promulgated a rewritten Anchorage Comprehensive Emergency Operations Plan that supersedes every prior version and is built to meet National Incident Management System requirements. The Anchorage Assembly receives it for informational review Tuesday.
by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago1 min read
Cook Inlet Housing Authority chief backs Anchorage housing code changes his projects use
Cook Inlet Housing Authority CEO Gabriel Layman praised Anchorage's housing code changes at Mayor LaFrance's Aug. 25 town hall. The authority's project The Nest is cited by the city as a beneficiary, and CIHA is asking the Assembly to widen the same tax abatements.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4w ago2 min read
Alaska's youth suicide rate reached a 10-year high in 2025, state data show
A resolution before the Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday would recognize September 2026 as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, citing state data that the region covering Anchorage, Mat-Su and the Kenai Peninsula records the most suicide deaths in Alaska.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Anchorage Assembly weighs $305,000 more for South Goldenview road repairs
Ice and spring runoff eroded roads on the South Anchorage Hillside, and an amendment before the Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday would add $305,000 to a Northern Gravel & Trucking contract, lifting its not-to-exceed total to $3,455,000 while a new bid process is completed.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Auditors found no central list of Anchorage's state agreements
Internal Audit Report 2026-05 found the Municipality of Anchorage keeps no central repository for Transfer of Responsibilities Agreements with the State of Alaska, covering $17.2 million appropriated for 47 projects since 2021. The Assembly takes it up Sept. 1.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Anchorage marks preparedness month after housing 655 evacuees
A resolution up for reading before the Anchorage Municipal Assembly on Tuesday recognizes September as National Preparedness Month and lists Anchorage's role hosting the 2025 Typhoon Halong evacuation of Western Alaska communities alongside the 1964 earthquake and COVID-19.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Anchorage weighs $470,000 no-bid sale of Government Hill lot
Chugach Electric would take outright ownership of the former Fire Station No. 2 lot at 921 Hollywood Drive for $470,000 under an ordinance noticed for an Aug. 18 Anchorage Assembly hearing. The sale is non-competitive, and it conveys land, not an easement.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Anchorage Assembly to vote Tuesday on $6.7 million wastewater bleach contract with lone bidder
The Anchorage Assembly is scheduled to decide Tuesday on a three-year contract worth up to $6.7 million for the sodium hypochlorite used to disinfect Anchorage wastewater before it enters Cook Inlet. Only one company bid, the utility's current vendor, at $9.96 a gallon.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min read
$5.5 million for Anchorage public health nurses, WIC and child care inspectors
Three resolutions on the Anchorage Assembly's consent agenda would appropriate $5.5 million in state grants for public health nursing, WIC and child care licensing.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Anchorage legalized triplexes. Now it wants to drop their landscaping requirement
The Anchorage Assembly takes up an ordinance exempting triplexes and fourplexes from perimeter landscaping, part of the mayor's 10,000 Homes housing strategy.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Anchorage weighs a fiscal summit as property taxes carry the city
Anchorage's operating revenue has shifted from state funding to property taxes since 1982, and the Assembly takes up a fiscal summit resolution Sept. 1.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Anchorage homeowners wanted every big assessment rechecked. They got a narrower fix
Anchorage Assembly members proposed rechecking every property whose 2026 assessment rose more than 8 percent. The Assembly passed a narrower substitute instead.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Anchorage wants $202,468 back from the owner of the Big Timber Motel it demolished
A case study presented to the Anchorage Assembly's Friday housing work session lays out 15 years of code violations at the Big Timber Motel, a failed 2025 settlement attempt, and the lien the municipality recorded on the property to recover its demolition costs.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Cook Inlet Housing Authority asks Anchorage Assembly to make design-standard pause permanent
Cook Inlet Housing Authority's memo to the Anchorage Assembly's Aug. 28 housing worksession puts making the multi-family design standard pause permanent at the top of its recommendations. The pause now expires Jan. 31, 2028, and neighborhood commenters have urged a narrower waiver.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Anchorage's park rezone meets the Knik Arm bridge route
The Anchorage Assembly takes up a rezone of 7.9 acres of port land to parkland Sept. 1, the latest turn in the decades-long fight over the Knik Arm Crossing.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Abbott Loop rezone drew 223 notices and no comments; hearing is Oct. 6
A 0.27-acre lot in Anchorage's Abbott Loop Manor Subdivision could move from R-5 to R-2D zoning, raising the allowed density. The Anchorage Assembly is scheduled to read AO 2026-111 on Tuesday, Sept. 1, after planners recommended approval and received no public comment.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Anchorage Assembly to vote Sept. 1 on two $4 million AWWU on-call repair contracts
The Anchorage Assembly is scheduled to vote Tuesday on three-year, $4 million on-call construction contracts with YH Constructors and Frawner Corporation, deciding which crews AWWU can dispatch when a water or sewer line fails.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Anchorage ordinance would drop 45-degree shelter trigger, raise site cap to 200
An ordinance up for first reading before the Anchorage Assembly on Sept. 1 would delete the automatic 45-degree activation rule for the city's emergency shelter plan, leaving activation to a written determination by the Health Department director, and raise the single-site cap from 150 to 200 clients.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Anchorage weighs surveillance rules 11 months after buying the system
An ordinance laid on the table Aug. 18 would cap Anchorage surveillance data at 14 days, limit license plate readers to a narrow hot list, end live camera sessions after 60 minutes and require Assembly approval before police buy new surveillance tools. The public hearing is Sept. 1.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago4 min read
Anchorage developer says fire lanes cost his 58-unit project 15 homes
At a Commonwealth North forum in Anchorage on Thursday, developer Sean Debenham said fire code drive-aisle widths and a nine-month permit wait cut units from his 58-home Raspberry Townhomes project, while a municipal official listed fee and code changes meant to speed building.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Anchorage officials pitch Assembly on Block 102-Tozier land swap for housing
Municipal and ACDA officials told an Anchorage Assembly work session Friday that trading the former Tozier Track in Midtown for downtown's Block 102 would set up housing on both sites, but the pending item approves only the exchange, not rezoning or any development agreement.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Anchorage Assembly set to waive protest on six marijuana license renewals
Two resolutions before the Anchorage Municipal Assembly on Tuesday would clear six marijuana license renewals without objection. Separately, AK Legend Gardens drew a conditional protest of its state cultivation license after an Aug. 18 hearing.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read