Assembly member Wade Bryson can’t stop himself from talking trash — but not how you might think.
Bryson is seeking reelection in this year’s City and Borough of Juneau municipal election, which comes to an end in less than a week on Oct. 4. Bryson — along with all other candidates in the running for assembly and school board positions — remain uncontested.
[Election Day nears for local races]
Bryson said though he’s grateful to be unopposed in this election, he still has big ambitions he wants to share with the public as he prepares to take on his second full term on the assembly.
Self-proclaimed “garbage man” of the assembly, Bryson said the project he is most adamant to work on during his second term is to come up with an effective trash solution in Juneau. He said it’s his priority to look at Juneau’s landfill as an issue that needs to be solved sooner rather than later, or else the city could face a “ginormous” financial burden because of it.
“If I set my heart on it, it’s freaking gonna happen,” he said.
Bryson said he is ready to tackle the issue using the insight he’s gained both from his experience as the current chair of public works and facilities committee and from his time renovating different business locations he owns in town.
“I have the right insight and relationships to really take on this problem,” he said. “A lot of the things we’re doing are Band-Aids, but if we do real action toward our zero waste goal, we’ll actually be making a really big difference.”
He said solving that issue will have the “single greatest impact” on the entire community and said he’s eager to work on finding the solutions necessary to achieve it.
Bryson said as a college dropout after only one semester, he came to Juneau from Nashville when he was 21 years old with his dad and had no idea what his life would look like. Now, he said having spent his entire adult life in the capital city, he describes it as “paradise.”
“I’m really passionate about our city and I believe we live in the greatest city on the planet,” he said.
Bryson said as a husband and father of five children, he has always felt a “huge” responsibility to take care of the people that enhance his life — which he said as an assembly member extends to the entire Juneau community.
“I feel like there is magic in Juneau where there is nothing really impossible here and so for me to receive so much from the community, I’m all about giving back and I will continue to throw myself wholeheartedly in my assembly role,” he said.
He said coming into his second full term, he understands the process of the city “significantly more” which he said will aid his future decision-making and input on city projects.
“It just makes you more effective as an assembly member because when things come up, knowing how the process works allows me to have the greatest impact on it,” he said.
He said he is excited to continue to serve on the Assembly and urges community members to get involved in future city projects.
• Contact reporter Clarise Larson at clarise.larson@juneauempire.com or (651)-528-1807. Follow her on Twitter at @clariselarson.
