LETTER: Juneau is your city, stop dumping on it

Published 7:30 pm Friday, April 17, 2026

Criticism is an essential element of democracy, and of good government. However, in recent times, an anti-tax, anti-government movement has emerged in Juneau. Their relentless attacks on the Assembly and city staff are misguided and damaging to the town they undoubtedly love.

Assembly members take on a stressful, essentially volunteer job. They must wrestle with urgent, complex issues and whatever decision they make will be bitterly criticized, often by people who have not made the effort to fully understand the issue. City departments are chronically understaffed and overworked. When the city deals successfully with a problem, as with the recent Hesco barriers, they receive little credit, and instead its critics move on to fresh attacks, often about vague things like “grants,” or “transparency.” They attack Juneau’s Assembly for housing and cost-of-living problems that exist all over the United States. Solving complicated issues is difficult. Stoking resentment is easy.

The “Affordability Juneau” campaign embodied this dynamic. That measure cut sales tax on food in the name of “affordability,” even though most of the people buying food in Juneau are not struggling with affordability. Likewise, the tax cap principally benefited the wealthiest among us. While the tax break did little for affordability, it did smack the city with a $12,000,000 loss of revenue. While that amount is small relative to the overall budget, it’s a large portion of the CBJ’s discretionary income.

Here’s the real story about affordability: We are a small remote roadless community, and we will never be “affordable.” When I came here 44 years ago, the cost of living was high and housing was scarce, and barring an economic downturn, it will continue that way. The recent “affordability” vote did not make us meaningfully more affordable; it just hampered our ability to meet our very real challenges.

As our birth rates drop, the competition going forward will be to keep young people in Juneau, both those born here and those from outside. Things like quality schools, sufficient housing, affordable childcare, and ample recreation and arts options help to create an environment that appeals to mobile young people who can choose to live anywhere. The private sector is not set up to provide these unprofitable benefits; they have not done so outside Juneau and won’t do it here. It falls to government, and it costs money.

Juneau is an aging population, and the “Affordability” campaign was spearheaded by older, wealthier Juneauites who objected to what they considered frivolous expenses. With their ballot measures, they found a way to force budget cuts without doing the hard work of deciding them. Fiscal conservatism has a valid place, but the recent tax-cutting was more appropriate to a dying retirement community than a city that wants to attract and retain a vibrant young population.

Juneau will never attract young people and families because it is some sort of tax haven. We can have a high-cost community with great amenities and services, or a high-cost community with lousy facilities and struggling public services. Guess which one is more likely to win the competition for young people and workers?

It’s important to say that while I feel that those attacking the city are mistaken, I also see them as valuable members of our community, with much to offer and often long histories of public service. Their point that the city should spend money carefully is a good one. But their misguided way of achieving that, and their continued attempts to discredit city government, are deeply harmful, and reminiscent of broader anti-government efforts that have landed us in our current national malaise.

The city is not flawless. City executives can be closed-minded and obscure when their turf is infringed upon. By law they are more focused on correct process than creative solutions. They make mistakes. But this is the nature of every city in world. There is no magical place where the government does only what you want it to and operates with the efficiency of an Amazon warehouse. Those with concerns should run for Assembly or serve on city boards, lending their valuable perspective to address issues in detail. In the meantime, we should move to replace the lost tax revenue before it causes more damage and depletes our city’s hard-won savings.

Stuart Cohen serves on the Utility Advisory Board overseeing the Water and Sewer system. These opinions are his own.