Anchorage Democrat Sen. Forrest Dunbar is looking for a problem to fix with Senate Bill 162. The problem is people who don’t want to rent to partiers. These short-term homeowners are a buzzkill to Dunbar.
The Dunbar party bill would add to the list of actions you cannot take as an owner of real estate in Alaska. You already cannot discriminate based on race, sex, color, gender, sexual status, marriage status, national origin, or just about anything else that distinguishes one person from another.
Dunbar’s bill inserts “residency in this state.” It appears to be a bill aimed at preventing discrimination — but against who?
Against Alaskans.
Evidently, some people in Anchorage like to rent a house for one night in order to have wild parties, and some bed-and-breakfast owners don’t want parties. They want to rent to a different kind of clientele than the ones Dunbar is advocating for.
Dunbar, who is also sponsoring a bill to allow psychedelics to be used on mentally ill patients, believes those who rent houses for short-term should not be able to deny Anchorage partiers from renting homes for their graduation bashes.
The bill pairs well with an anti-free-market bill from Rep. Andrew Gray, another Anchorage Democrat, who proposes to limit bed-and-breakfast owners to having just one short-term property, and no more.
House Bill 184 would require all bed-and-breakfast owners to register with the state and be limited to one rental property. Gray seems to believe, without evidence, that bed-and-breakfast establishments have caused a housing shortage in Alaska. Across the nation, housing shortages are caused primarily by overbearing regulation, but short-term rentals have become the scapegoat.
Now, Sen. Dunbar is adding the party lifestyle as a new protected category in the Alaska statute that covers housing. His bill was pre-filed in advance of the legislative session that starts Tuesday.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – It’s graduation season across Alaska, and thousands of students are getting their diplomas and preparing for big changes in their lives.
It’s a time filled with excitement, but also a lot of unknowns, both for high school and college grads.
Students like Leni Sjostrom from Service High School is one graduate who has a lot of questions on her mind.
“Am I going to be able to adjust well? How am I going to pay for college? Is my passion going to grow? Am I going to think differently once I’m done with college?” Sjostrom asked.
With so many questions, it can be hard to find answers, especially when so much is expected of these new graduates.
Service High School grad Phoenix Perkins said he’s learned to take life as it comes.
“I don’t think you ever make it, you just always like, have fun along the way kind of, and you can enjoy certain parts a lot,” Perkins said.
Saumani Atiifale, a football player from Bettye Davis East High, expressed his feelings on how he feels in the moment as he prepares for life after graduation.
“I feel like I’m not ready, but I feel like when you don’t feel like you’re ready, you just have to, you just … gotta go,” Atiifale said. “I just want to take the risk right now, before it’s too late.”
As Alaska graduates its students, it’s time for them to find their own answers, knowing as they enter this next phase in their lives, it’s okay not to know what’s next.
Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.
The Anchorage Hillside is at high risk of wildfires, and between the abundance of flammable materials and the low number of roads, residents of the area could be in danger if a large fire breaks out. On this episode of Alaska Insight, host Lori Townsend and her guests discuss the ways researchers and the local fire department are working to help inform and prepare for wildfires in Anchorage.
This week’s headlines:
The U.S. Forest Service is planning to build a few dozen new cabins in the Tongass and Chugach National Forests in the coming years. The agency is proposing higher fees – $75 a night – to help keep up with the increased cost of maintenance.
Lifelong Petersburg resident Brian Richards and his wife stay at Forest Service cabins every summer. The 40-year-old said they reserve several cabins that they travel to by boat.
“It’s like a bucket list,” Richards said. “We want to use them all. I’d say we prefer cabins by lakes or rivers, you know, water, it just kind of adds another element.”
The couple sees their cabin stays as good for their mental health. Richards calls it “natural therapy” that helps them reconnect.
“The more we get out there and walk around and look at the trees and listen to the birds and just, you know, disconnect from civilization, I think it’s just incredibly beneficial,” he said.
Richards is excited to see more cabins coming to the area. The Forest Service plans two new cabins in the Tongass this year at El Capitan Interpretive Site and Mendenhall Campground, and four next year at Herbert Glacier in Juneau, Woodpecker Cove near Petersburg, Little Lake near Wrangell and Perseverance Lake near Ketchikan – they’re mostly on the road system for increased accessibility.
Similarly, there are six new cabins scheduled for the Chugach, with half built this year at Porcupine Campground in Hope, Meridian Lake near Seward and McKinley Lake near Cordova, and half next year at Granite Creek and Turnagain Pass. That means the Forest Service needs to set the nightly fees for the cabins soon. The agency is required to have fees set six months before they charge them.
“It can be tricky,” said John Suomala, the recreation program manager for the Tongass.
Suomala helps set the cabin fees. He uses a cost analysis that looks at several factors such as local economies and what similar cabins are going for.
“Part of it too is just, you know, local expertise, from the districts, people that live in these communities,” said Suomala. “Just kind of thinking about, you know, what are the prices within these communities now and what do you think your neighbors are willing to pay.”
The nightly fees for staying at a Forest Service cabin in Alaska mostly range from $35 to $75. All of the new cabins are proposed for $75 a night except for two – one near Ketchikan is $65 and one at Juneau’s Mendenhall campground is $125 because it has electricity and nearby showers.
The new cabins are just a fraction of what’s available to the public. The Tongass has 142 cabins just in Southeast. Most are remote and get visitors less than 10 nights a year. Last year, it cost the Forest Service $700,000 to maintain them. The nightly fees covered about $500,000.
Suomala said the popular, more accessible cabins help subsidize the remote ones – and that’s their hope with the new cabins coming on board. But ultimately, he said, the public will help set the price.
“We want feedback to, you know, to get an idea, like are we way off here?” Suomala said. “Do you think it should be higher? Do you think it should be lower? We can’t raise the fee based on feedback from the public but we can lower it.”
As for Richards, he said $75 a night won’t be a deal-breaker for him and his wife, Ola.
“Because, it’s worth it for us,” he said. “I guess my concern is for a lower-income family. I would hate to think that someone wouldn’t stay at a cabin because they can’t afford it. I think that’s a real shame.”
The deadline for public comments on the proposed cabin fees is July 2. People can comment in person, online, by phone, email or snail mail.
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