Municipality of Anchorage · Photo source · US government work
George Martinez
Assembly Member · Anchorage Assembly · District 5
50 articles · 20 transcripts · 15 clips
Self-employed strategic consultant. Former college professor, artist, and U.S. cultural envoy. Previously Special Assistant to the Mayor. BA and doctoral fellow in political science. Term expires 2026.
Affiliations
Anchorage Assembly members push back on draft social media rules
Read literally, draft rules would bar Anchorage Assembly members from touting their records on campaign pages. Members balked. The attorney: "Not the intent."
Anchorage Assembly chair readies a plan to replace Zac Johnson if his ticket wins
The Anchorage Assembly is penciling in a December meeting to replace Zac Johnson in case he becomes lieutenant governor. The count so far leans his way.
Anchorage proposal would replace yearly ambulance bonds with a $3.345 million levy
Anchorage has borrowed to buy ambulances for at least a decade. The mayor and an Eagle River Assembly member want voters to OK a $3.3M levy instead.
Assembly shelves salary commission pick after questions over his firm's city contract
Anchorage's mayor picked a consultant for the panel that sets officials' pay. Then his firm's $86,899 city contract came up, and the Assembly shelved the pick.
Anchorage Assembly delays Missing Middle housing vote again, this time to Dec. 1
“courtesy is what I feel I'm providing with the yes vote.”
Anchorage passes surveillance rules, rejects new limits on plate reader searches
“So when does the quantity of pings become from the public to a private sphere?”
Alcohol tax advocates ask Anchorage to put more into prevention and treatment
Groups behind Anchorage's alcohol tax say it put nothing into substance misuse treatment in 2025 or 2026, with none planned for 2027. They want a change.
Anchorage overlay developers would pay full cost of water and sewer extensions, AWWU says
Anchorage's water utility says Missing Middle builders would pay for new water and sewer lines themselves, and the price can change across a street.
East Anchorage Assembly member proposes free People Mover rides for enrolled students 18 and older
“People Mover should not have to cross check a student ID with”
Assembly hears proposal Nov. 4 that would make candidates disclose property tax exemptions
Under Martinez's proposal, Anchorage candidates would have to say where they claimed a residential tax exemption. The Assembly holds a hearing Nov. 4.
Anchorage's water utility could own the rights to most of the city's tap water in 2055
Most of Anchorage's tap water comes from a lake whose water rights belong to the hydro owners. A deal OK'd 12-0 lets the city's water utility own them in 2055.
Anchorage ordinance would make candidates disclose residency dates and tax exemptions
An Anchorage ordinance would make candidates for mayor, Assembly and School Board disclose home move-in dates and tax exemptions claimed.
Anchorage Assembly amends proposed police surveillance rules, then runs out of time
The Assembly agreed an administrative warrant isn't enough to share surveillance data the rules bar, made it easier to pause a tool, then ran out of clock.
Downtown business leaders ask Anchorage Assembly to make police foot patrol permanent
Downtown business groups asked the Assembly to make APD's foot patrol permanent. The bed tax money paying for it is nearly gone, and the 2027 budget has none.
Anchorage officials propose asking voters to fund an ambulance and its crew
Anchorage wants voters to buy one more ambulance for $380,000, then pay about $1.5 million a year for the crew. City officials call it a test.
Anchorage Assembly approves Tozier Tract land swap with nonbinding housing targets
Anchorage agreed to trade the Tozier Tract, land it spent decades trying to get, for four downtown parking lots. Its housing targets are only recommendations.
Northeast Anchorage council urges "thorough and independent" study of Assembly spending
A Northeast Anchorage community council voted 19-0 to back the Assembly's spending study, and asked members and staff to skip the "half-hearted compliance."
Alaska Supreme Court hears Valdez redistricting fee dispute
Alaska Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday on whether Valdez and a resident can recover attorney's fees from their challenge to the state's 2021 redistricting plan.
Anchorage voters could update ballot signatures with the clerk under proposed ordinance
Anchorage voters could soon update the signature their ballot gets checked against, instead of waiting on the state. Fewer newspaper ads, too.
Anchorage weighs requiring candidates to gather voter signatures to get on the ballot
“may be underestimated”
Anchorage Assembly members question plan to elect School Board by district
“demonstrable unrepresentation or underfunding or inequities”
Anchorage Assembly postpones missing middle housing vote to Nov. 4
Anchorage Assembly delayed a vote on Missing Middle Housing rules to Nov. 4 to review amendments that would allow duplexes and triplexes on about 28,000 residential parcels across the city.
Anchorage ordinance would raise transit-corridor density target from 8 to 36 homes per acre
An Assembly proposal would raise the housing density target along Anchorage transit corridors from 8 homes per acre to 36. Testimony is Tuesday.
Anchorage Assembly to consider Disability Employment Awareness Month resolution
The Anchorage Assembly is scheduled to consider a resolution on Oct. 6 recognizing October as Disability Employment Awareness Month. The Alaska Work Matters Task Force has separately reported lower employment among Alaskans with disabilities.
Anchorage police officers now must intervene when a colleague uses improper force
Anchorage police say they've acted on 48 of 52 outside recommendations on use of force, but allow one pursuit tactic at higher speeds than reviewers advised.
Sitka's savings for future repairs has shrunk three years running
“The more we wait, more expensive it gets.”
Anchorage housing overlay hearing carries to Oct. 6 after divided testimony
Anchorage heard nearly 90 minutes of divided housing testimony, then ran out of time. The 30,000-parcel overlay returns Oct. 6
Anchorage wants 10,000 homes. Its zoning fight is over where they can fit.
Anchorage wants 10,000 homes in 10 years. Tuesday's zoning fight is over where they can go — because adding homes means letting familiar blocks change.
Anchorage could shrink its minimum lot size by two-thirds under a pending ordinance
Anchorage could cut its minimum single-family lot to a third of current size and let buildings cover 70 percent of it. The hearing is Sept. 15.
Anchorage auditors flag a gap in Assembly travel approvals
“the extra day is for post-conference -related meetings”
Planners urged cutting the overlay's R-1 height break. The sponsors kept it.
Anchorage planning staff told the sponsors of a housing overlay to drop its special height rules for single-family zones. The sponsors kept them.
Anchorage will weigh housing density, not just price, when it sells land
The Anchorage Assembly voted 11-0 to tell the city to weigh housing density and affordability, not just price, when it disposes of municipal land.
Fifteen Anchorage Assembly members will have their spending accounts examined in a 9-2 vote
Fifteen Anchorage Assembly members will have their $24,000 spending accounts examined. Nobody will be required to answer the findings in writing.
The Anchorage Assembly may audit every member's spending
The Anchorage Assembly votes Tuesday on auditing every member spending account back to 2023. The review seeks to identify potential inconsistencies in how members use their annual budgets.
Anchorage Assembly committees would consolidate under a draft from the Rules chair
Anchorage Assembly committees would consolidate and meet less often under the Rules chair's draft. Members have said the current load is too many hours.
As a crime center vote nears, Anchorage weighs whether its privacy limits should be policy or law
Anchorage votes Sept. 1 on $600K for its police crime center. The chief says it adds no surveillance; a pending ordinance would put its privacy limits into law.
Anchorage approves a Muldoon Road marijuana store, over a dispute about how close it sits to a playground
Anchorage approved a Muldoon Road marijuana store 8-3, over objections about how close it sits to a playground and whether a stricter state buffer applies.
Mayor LaFrance faces a campaign-finance hearing over her 2024 expenditure reports
Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance faces an APOC hearing Wednesday over how her 2024 campaign reported spending. A resident alleges 89 flawed reports.
The Assembly says Anchorage hunger is rising. Its resolution does not say how it knows.
An Anchorage resolution up Tuesday says nearly 40,000 residents, including 12,000 children, face food insecurity — a rate that's climbed since last year.
A matter the Anchorage Assembly declared closed still draws a request for five minutes
Pastor Leon D. May asked the Anchorage Assembly for five minutes to testify about Assembly Member George Martinez at the Aug. 18 meeting, citing public comment limits at prior sessions.
Anchorage Assembly rejects investigation into member Martinez's travel, 5-6
Anchorage Assembly rejected an investigation into Assembly Member George Martinez's travel Tuesday, 5-6, after Vice Chair Daniel Volland switched his vote citing flaws in the accusation.
The Anchorage Assembly studied how to remove one of its own. It never has.
The Anchorage Assembly studied how to remove one of its own members, a power it has never used and, on a coalition body, likely won't. The member in question sat in on the session.
A substitute would swap Martinez's removal for a travel investigation
A substitute before the Anchorage Assembly would drop the effort to remove George Martinez and instead investigate his travel since 2023. Members vote Aug. 4.
Anchorage takes another run at its missing-middle housing rules
“Anchorage must have more realistic housing options for working families, young professionals, elders, and longtime residents who want to age in place”
Removing an Assembly member takes 94 days and a supermajority
Anchorage published the map for removing an Assembly member: 94 days, a two-thirds vote, and the city pays the accused member's legal bills either way.
Anchorage Assembly weighs how hard to investigate Martinez's travel
The Anchorage Assembly must pick between a quiet look at George Martinez's travel and a subpoena-backed investigation that could end in his removal.
Anchorage police oversight proposal dies without a second
Anchorage has had no police oversight body since 2024. A proposal to create one — with no power to investigate — died Tuesday for lack of a second.
Anchorage resolution would steer infrastructure to neighborhoods absorbing new housing
Anchorage Assembly will vote Tuesday on a resolution directing city infrastructure spending toward neighborhoods absorbing new housing under municipal growth plans.
Anchorage's Assembly weighs censure — or removal — of George Martinez
The Anchorage Assembly votes Tuesday on two paths for George Martinez after a state ethics order — censure and close it, or launch removal proceedings. It's never done either in 50 years.
Anchorage Assembly approves $750K True North grant after amendments fail and crisis-care dispute divides members
Anchorage Assembly approved a $750,000 grant to True North Recovery for a Fairview behavioral health facility after rejecting two amendments that would have required written limits on crisis care.
