Empire Archives is a series printed every Saturday featuring a short compilation of headline stories in the Juneau Empire from archived editions in 1985, 1995 and 2005. They include names, AP style and other content of their eras.
This week in 1985, after 25 years, Juneau residents are finally getting a place to park. The Juneau City-Borough Assembly gave tacit approval to parking garage and Marine Park extension proposed by a Seattle design team. The garage will be finished by the end of the year. As proposed the garage will have three floors of parking and 373 spaces. The Assembly narrowed 18 applicants to a field of four finalists for further evaluation before picking the winning bid. Community leaders have been considering whether and how to build a downtown parking garage for 25 years. This is the first time the effort has gotten past the talking stages.
Original Story: “Assembly gives municipal parking garage go-ahead,” by Christopher Jarvis. 3/9/1985.
This week in 1995, the five Republicans of the Senate Finance Committee passed a bill today that would move the Legislature to Anchorage beginning in January 1997. Senate Bill 19, sponsored by Sen. Randy Phillips, R-Eagle River, next moves to the Senate Rules Committee, where many people hope it will stay. Clark Gruening, the Juneau city-borough’s lobbyist, said a similar bill introduced by the legislature in the past session got as far as the Rules Committee, but was never scheduled for a floor vote. “I don’t think it’s going to pass either house,” Gruening said. The Rules Committee, chaired by Sen. Mike Miller, R-North Pole, determined which bills will move to the 20-member Senate for a vote. “Are there 11 votes to move the bill? I believe there are not,” said Sen. Jim Duncan, D-Juneau, and Senate Minority leader. The Senate majority consists of 12 Republicans, while the minority has eight Democrats. Duncan would not say which Republicans might vote against moving the Legislature to Alaska’s largest city. Even if the Legislature passes the bill it is not supported by Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles.
Original Story: “Move bill OK’d by key committee,” by Jeanine Pohl. 3/9/1995.
This week in 2005, Celebration is coming back to Juneau in 2006. After reviewing offers from Ketchikan and Juneau, Sealaska Heritage Institute, the event’s organizer, has decided to keep it in Juneau. This was the first time the institute solicited bids outside of Juneau, and Ketchikan made a play for it. The capital has hosted the biennial Native cultural event since its inception in 1982. Rosita Worl, president of the institute, said the board of trustees chose Juneau for the city’s financial contribution. “The other community had expressions of a lot of support but there were real firm commitments,” Worl said. Juneau pledged $10,000 cash and law enforcement to manage crowds. The Juneau Convention and Visitors Bureau pledged $5,000 toward the rental of Centennial Hall. The bureau and the Downtown Business Association also offered to solicit donations for the institute. Ketchikan didn’t commit a definite amount of contributions, although it promised to secure in-kind donations and financial support. The institute decided in December to solicit bids from Juneau, Ketchikan and Sitka, hoping one community would be willing to help offset the expenses of holding Celebration. The institute spends about $250,000 hosting the event. About half of that amount is recovered through contributions and ticket and retail sales, the rest is underwritten by Sealaska, a regional Native corporation. Sitka declined to bid on the project, saying that it is too big for the community. In 2004, Celebration attracted 5,000 people to Juneau.
Original Story: “Juneau wins bid to keep Celebration,” by I-Chun Che. 3/11/2005.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
