Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Problem Corner is an iconic radio show that has become a vibrant community hub. Callers engage in a wide array of discussions, ranging from local political debates to community commentary and casual advertisements for listeners looking to buy, sell, or trade personal items.
The show's rich history is marked by its association with several prominent local figures. Notably, Dennis Egan, a former mayor of Juneau, was a key personality in shaping the show's direction in the 1980s.
As a testament to its enduring relevance and appeal, "Problem Corner" has etched its name in the annals of Alaskan broadcasting history. It's not just a radio show but a cultural landmark, celebrated for being the longest-running radio show in Alaska.
Welcome to Problem Corner, Alaska's longest running radio show. Connect and discuss the topics important to Juneau and all of Southeast Alaska. Call (907) 586-1800, and subscribe to the podcast at kinyradio.com, powered by Princess Cruise Lines, Alaska Laundry and Dry Cleaning, and Juneau Power Sports.
Speaker 2:Alright. Welcome to Problem Corner. Good morning. My name is Wade Bryson. I'll be your host today.
Speaker 2:Problem Corner is a community service of KINY. The purpose of the program is to swap and trade items noncommercially and to discuss issues that affect the community. Programs not intended for businesses or something that would require business license such as firewood sales or arts and crafts services like daycare providers. The other restricted categories, home sales and rentals. If you're in need of any of these services, you are more than welcome to call.
Speaker 2:I mean text the latest update on phones here on Problem Corner. The phones are in. They cannot get the 1800 number to this phone in front of me in the studio. So hopefully soon we will have phones back on Problem Corner. Since we don't, I'm still taking your text.
Speaker 2:5861809075861800. Send me that text, and I'll be more than happy to read it for you. You can also send me an email, k I n y radio dot com. Click the Problem Corner link, and I'll get your Problem Corner email right over here. Alright.
Speaker 2:So we were talking about a shredder yesterday at the end of the Problem Corner show. Oh, because I was by myself again yesterday. Okay. So I end up having to talk to myself. So the more of your text questions, it'll feel less like talking to myself.
Speaker 2:Okay. So somebody made a joke about a tire shredder. I was looking down where to see it, and I don't see it on my text here, but a tire shredder in the community. The question I had out there is do we think that it could be a benefit to the citizens of Juneau if there was like a public use tire shredder. So instead of having to pay $25 to take your tire, your used dead tire, or the tire that got left in your yard, or the one that you found in the ditch, you know, we all come across used tires.
Speaker 2:$25 to just go throw one of those away If there was a tire shredder place where you could just go throw it in there and not have to pay to dispose of tires, could that be a large enough benefit to the community that it would justify the Amazon industrial grade tire shredder for as low as 7,100, 7,100 plus $600 in shipping. And this person asked me if I'll finance. Know, I would I'd be down to do that except for that I'd need to have a final product. Like, what would I do with all the shredded tire stuff? I'd love to have a a like a source that says all by all the shredded tire rubber that you can provide, Wade, and I would take your tires for free, buy the shredder, everybody wins.
Speaker 2:I don't know what the final out like which manufacturer would use that recycled tire material. Tire shredder would be good. It could help with composting material. It could help with our construction debris. Trash is one of those looming problems in Juneau that affects every household and every business.
Speaker 2:So regardless of who you are or where you live or you have trash. That's the one universal thing that connects every Juneau way, and it's another one of those things that are expensive. So are shredders the answer? And not the shredder from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shredder. I'm thinking somebody else.
Speaker 2:Okay. 586-1800 send me a text. 586-1800. Somebody sent a dad joke, but it's the same slipper banana joke. So if you have a new dad joke of the day, by all means, include it.
Speaker 2:Send us a new one. Send me a text, (907) 586-1800. Oh, here's a topic. It's definitely one I've been thinking about. This person first sent the message a week ago or so that says, can we talk about e bikes on the walking path?
Speaker 2:And then it looks like yesterday they saw three kids on the bike path doing 30 miles an hour. Their question was, shouldn't they have a driver's license of some sort? Alright. So then I know that that's been a growing issue. I would imagine that if you've spent time on the trails, you've kinda started to develop your feelings about this.
Speaker 2:So I'm curious how much are Juno's trails being impacted by e bikes? And I'm talking about the like class one and class three, the kind where you absolutely have to be pedaling to receive any benefit from the motor. Those are all battery driven. They all have a little motor that just amplifies your pedaling. Is that what's causing the problems?
Speaker 2:Or we have these new things that people are using for transportation, and they're not quite street legal motorcycles, they're not quite complete dirt bikes. And in fact, today I saw two Vespa scooter looking things on the sidewalks. And so maybe realize we have three forms of transportation now, the the analog, if you will. Walkers and regular bikers. You're going anywhere from three to 13 miles an hour if you're on the sidewalks at Juneau.
Speaker 2:Is that fair? Same thing. It's probably somewhere close to that. Could some bikers be going slightly faster? Maybe.
Speaker 2:It takes a lot of energy to sustain above 15 miles an hour on a bike, even just going flat like in Juneau. And then we have motorized vehicles. All the vehicles that get to use the road, they can have all the appropriate running lights and function lights, and they can hit the appropriate speed limits. And so for the last one hundred years, one hundred and ten years, those have been the two kinds of traffic that we have. We're getting into a third level of traffic because of the battery powered equipment that is changing the way that people can travel.
Speaker 2:And in a time period when gas prices are hovering around $5 a gallon with no end in sight, Do you wait till gaskets to be $10 a gallon? $15 a gallon? We've all seen apocalyptic movies where gasoline's like $20 a gallon. Right? At some point, more of the population is gonna go to these e vehicles because one, Juno's small, so you don't have to don't have great distances to travel.
Speaker 2:It's not like you gotta go ride an e scooter for forty five minutes to get to your next location. What do we do about this third level of transportation that is just gonna become more and more prevalent as time goes on? And right now it seems easy. We'll just say, just ban them. Just ban them.
Speaker 2:How's a ban gonna work when we've reached the tipping point of there's more e bikes than there are regular analog bikes? At some point that will happen. Not anytime soon, not right now, but e bikes are just becoming more and more available. And so what can we do to have that third level of transportation? Because every person that goes to work on an e bike is one less car on the road.
Speaker 2:And it seems to be the right direction to go, especially if you're concerned about gasoline prices over $5 a gallon. If you have a solution or wanna comment or talk about that third segment of transportation that is that is growing, yeah, by all means, send me a text, (907) 586-1800. The other component of that conversation is trails. How do we limit or police or restrict or have appropriate speed limit trails. So maybe you have a trail that is designated an e bike trail.
Speaker 2:Maybe a trail next to it is designated an analog trail only. And this is not the first time that Juno has run into user groups competing for the same area or the same trail. Many many many times we heard the arguments between the cross country ski groups and the snow machine and four wheeler groups. They both wanted to use the same area of Montana Creek out there by the gun range. I'm think I'm pretty certain that's the same area.
Speaker 2:They both had to cross they had to use the same area to get to their separate areas. And there were conflicts there. And you have two very different types of transportation modes, but you also have two Junoites, two people that live and work and pay taxes here in town and have as much right to recreate how they want to as you do. So how do we navigate that so that way the people that want to be on a quiet well, that's not even fair to say because most mountain e bikes are as quiet as a regular bike. There's no sound to the motor.
Speaker 2:But how do we satisfy the people that want to just be analog bikers, but also have appropriate trails for the people who enjoy the battery assisted benefits of biking? So this is a great topic because What's a good way to say this? Everybody kind of has a little bit of stake in this. You've hiked on a Juneau trail if you've lived here, right? I don't know.
Speaker 2:Maybe I could be wrong. Maybe some people live in Juneau and don't hike on trails. I'd hate to be on a trail and be massively interrupted by something I wasn't expecting to have on that trail, regardless of what it could be. So I get where the arguments are, but at the same time, if I was wanting to recreate in the mode that I chose to recreate in, and somebody started fighting with me like, hey, don't belong here. And I'm like, wait a second, you know what, I'm just enjoying myself here.
Speaker 2:Why are you getting all bent? So how do we navigate that? What do you think about that idea of having like designated analog trails for hiking and non motorized bikes. So just hikers and bikers, but then have a couple of trails that are designated e bike trails. So that way when people are on that trail, they're expecting bikes to be moving at the speed and performance that they can have in an e bike on a trail.
Speaker 2:Would that be an acceptable solution for the e bike situation? The other thing that will need to be answered, and again, I saw this today, it was two people on Vespa scooters. Now they look like Vespas, and they were absolutely on the hike or the sidewalk. Oh, between the church and Fred Myers, that sidewalk that's behind there. But those people just wanna be able to transport themselves as well.
Speaker 2:How do we solve that dilemma? Okay. And then here's somebody was kind enough to send me 2¢ on it. The e bikes, many of my neighbors are concerned about are not really e bikes. They're electric powered motorcycles that go about 50 miles an hour, many without moving pedals.
Speaker 2:Yes. That is called an e moto or an e motorcycle. Those absolutely exist. Person goes on to say they aren't technically legal to ride anywhere. That's kinda correct.
Speaker 2:They're unregistered but ride on roads and bike lanes. I've seen groups of teens riding around going between the bike lanes in the middle of the road at 35, 45 miles an hour. It's dangerous for drivers who don't know how to treat them. Do they wanna be a bike or a motorcycle? Oh my god, that is the question.
Speaker 2:Are we trying to deal with bikes or are we trying to deal with motorcycles or are we trying to put them into the right lane? Forgive the pun. I haven't seen JPD do anything about them. I wonder how they could safely stop them. And the same question that do that you don't have the answer for, are they a bike or a motorcycle, I think is the same question that JPD has.
Speaker 2:CBJ Law, I know, spoke with somebody who they are researching it. They're seeing what other cities have done. They're seeing what some potential outcomes could be. They can't make a rule, no e bikes on this trail without an enforcement mechanism, meaning that it's gonna be a fine or a ticket or a warning. And so because those answers aren't there, CBJ law has not been able to determine what answer they want to give on behalf of the city.
Speaker 2:That alone right there would stop JPD from doing anything about them because JPD doesn't have any operating order. We're supposed to stop these kids that are riding on an e scooter. They don't have a rule for them. And so until CBJ says, oh, here's the rule about e powered vehicles, that's what we're dealing with right now. That's why JPD is most likely not doing anything about it.
Speaker 2:Another good example, one time I was using a little mini floating gold dredge. It had an inch and a half intake, it floated there, it had a little motor on it, and I could suck gravel up off the bottom of the riverbed. Technically it's called dredging. So, and this is like a decade, fifteen years ago, this is forever ago. But I was trying to find gold one time and not well, I did not find any.
Speaker 2:But I look up and there's a forest service officer standing up the incline at the top of the incline there to get down to the river. I looked up at him and I gave him a little wave and he didn't do anything. So I just kept doing what I was doing because he was just watching me. So eventually having a forest service officer, and I knew who the gentleman was, look at me like he just kept was staring at me as I was trying to dredge this lake, trying to look for a little bit of gold or the little river. I was on I believe I was on Montana Creek.
Speaker 2:So then I go, decided to stop and I I go up and I start talking to him and I'm like, can I help you? What's going on? You've been watching me. And he's like, well, somebody called and complained that you were dredging, the bottom of the river. And he said that he thought that that meant I had a bulldozer over here and I was just scraping up the bottom of the river.
Speaker 2:And then I said, well, no. I have this little one and a half, two inch dredge, which my understanding was that was small enough that you didn't have to have like a permit. You have a four inch dredge, I think you have to have a permit with them. Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong on that. And so I said, well, hey, I'm literally asking the Forest Service officer, do I need to stop?
Speaker 2:Are you asking me to leave? And he goes, well, to be honest with you, I don't know what the rule is for this, so I'm not gonna do anything. And that would make sense that JPD is in kind of that same predicament. Well, we don't know what the rules are, so there's nothing we can do or nothing we're gonna do. I mean, that's the right way to say it.
Speaker 2:The one police action that I have heard about is there was a Forest Service officer in the Dredge Lake areas, and that Forest Service officer did issue warnings to people that were on e bikes. And so he was saying, hey, this is state land, not supposed to have an e bike here. And he issued warnings. But then I heard from somebody who was out there the following weekend, that person was gone and there wasn't anybody there issuing warnings. So is the e bike transportation question coming up to a government near you?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It is being talked about on the federal, state, and municipal level. So you're not wrong that you're seeing more varied kinds of equipment and we don't have all the rules for them yet. Does I hope that makes sense the way I've described them. I think I'll leave it at that.
Speaker 2:Alright. Hey. It's almost time for the break. I could really use another email or two for when I come back from this commercial break. 586-1800.
Speaker 2:You can send me that text, Ayr@kinyradio.com. Send me an email there. And, I'm gonna go ahead and take the ABC Newsbreak, and I'll be right back with more Problem Corner on KINY.
Speaker 1:Your city, your station, KINY. Local owned and operated. KINY. The news you need, the music you love.
Speaker 3:And Alaska first media radio station. ABC News. I'm Michelle Fransen. After growing bipartisan criticism over president Trump's acting DNI director, choice Bill Poulte, the president now says he's nominating current US attorney and former SEC chair Jay Clayton to head the intelligence agency. The announcement follows both the house and senate failing to pass extensions of FISA seven zero two that allows wiretaps to monitor for foreign threats.
Speaker 3:Democrats say they were not voting due to Pulte's installation. President Trump now says he's calling off new military strikes against Iran if they didn't make a deal to end the war. Here's ABC's Karen Travers.
Speaker 4:Now there are a lot of questions because of this post. We have asked the White House for more clarity on this, have not received an answer yet, but it's not immediately clear what the president is saying was actually approved. Notably, at no point in this short post does he actually say deal, and he isn't providing details on what was agreed to.
Speaker 3:Excitement building for the start of the World Cup, tonight's first match Mexico City between Mexico and South Africa. This is ABC News.
Speaker 5:If you love to travel, Capital One has a rewards credit card that's perfect for you. With the Capital One Venture X card, you earn unlimited double miles on everything you buy. Plus, you get premium benefits at a collection of luxury hotels when you book on Capital One travel. And with Venture X, you get access to over 1,000 airport lounges worldwide. Open up a world of travel possibilities with the Capital One Venture X card.
Speaker 5:What's in your wallet?
Speaker 1:Terms apply. Lounge access is subject to change. See capital1.com for details.
Speaker 6:This is the story of the one. As a maintenance engineer at a beverage manufacturing plant, he starts his day knowing every line is ready to run because Grainger delivers the industrial grade products he needs to keep mixers, conveyors, and packaging equipment moving. With Grainger's vast selection of bearings, belts, and motors, he keeps operations running smoothly so nothing grinds to a halt. Call 1800, click granger.com, or just stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done.
Speaker 7:I'm Mary Paltola. I grew up in three tiny villages before we moved to the big city, Bethel. Right now, there are families in that region hauling jerry jugs of fuel because they can't afford a delivery. It's not just that politicians in DC don't care that we're paying $10 a gallon for diesel in rural Alaska. They don't even believe us.
Speaker 7:Overpriced fuel, overpriced food, overpriced ammo. The politicians rigging our economy have made life in Alaska unrecognizable. But I know this in my bones. There's no group of people more ready to save ourselves than Alaskans. It's why I'm running to bring our voices to the US Senate, to bring down grocery costs, save our fisheries, lower energy prices, and build new housing Alaskans can afford.
Speaker 7:I approve this message because it's time to show DC what Alaska first looks like.
Speaker 1:Paid for by Alaskans for Mary.
Speaker 8:Hi. Yeah. I'm Emil Mackie. I'm the country financial insurance agent here in Juneau, Alaska. Yeah.
Speaker 8:We offer all kinds of services, home, auto, life, boat. I can broker all kinds of business insurance. I even have a couple airplanes that that we insure around the state. I think it's important for insurance purposes to have a local agent because we have a claim. You need somebody local you can talk to.
Speaker 8:Otherwise, you're talking often time to to a claims agent that's outside the state. They're not here to serve you. Your agent is. And having a local agent that can help you through the claims process can really help you with a lot of heartache avoidance later. Also, you know, we give to our local community.
Speaker 8:I help coach football. I give to the football and basketball and and wrestling clubs and the swim club. And having a local agent helps you. It helps the community, and it really helps you maximize what you're getting back from your insurance company. So, yeah, live local first.
Speaker 9:Imagine waking up every day knowing you make a difference. At Riverview Senior Living, your companionship can brighten a resident's world one smile, conversation, or gentle touch at a time. Riverview is hiring for a wide variety of positions with or without experience. Here, you'll find a caring community and meaningful work that truly matters. If your heart is big and you're ready to help others, they want you on their team.
Speaker 9:Visit riverviewseniorliving.com to apply. Riverview Senior Living. Bring joy to someone's tomorrow. Now that Wendy's has these new biggie deals, everyone in the
Speaker 10:family can get what they're craving. From nugs to JBCs. The parental units can get an $8 Biggie bundle. The eldest who thinks they're so grown can get a $6 Biggie bag,
Speaker 9:and the little one who
Speaker 10:can do no wrong can get a $4 Biggie bites. You know, assuming they have a credit card. No. I'm kidding.
Speaker 9:We take cash too.
Speaker 10:$4.06, and $8 Biggie deals for the whole family, only at Wendy's.
Speaker 8:Price participation may vary. Single items at regular price. Prices may be higher in the last California and Hawaii.
Speaker 11:It's more than a shave. It's the first thing people notice about you. Level up with Barbasol for a clean, smooth finish every time. It's America's number one brand of shaving cream for a reason. No need to pay more for other brands.
Speaker 11:Barbasol delivers a big and rich instant lather that simply gets the job done. Shave with confidence knowing you're using Barbasol, the American original for over one hundred years. Because it's more than a shave. It's Barbasol.
Speaker 1:Now back to Problem Corner where our community meets to talk, trade, and share.
Speaker 2:Alright. Welcome back to Problem Corner. Give me a call. No. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:Send me a text. 5861805861800. I need your text today because we don't have phone lines yet. Hopefully, very, very soon, though. They get closer all the time.
Speaker 2:Alright. Somebody is looking for a kitten. Doug is looking for a kitten. If you happen to have a kitten, call (907) 796-9102, 796-9102, if you have a kitten for Doug. And if you're looking for a cat, I do know that the Juno Animal Rescue always has way too many cats.
Speaker 2:They just seem to be the one pet that they have too many of. And so if you're wanting to get a cat, if you stop by Juno Animal Rescue, the likelihood that you'll be able to get a cat is very high. So check out Juno Animal Rescue, maybe you can rescue a cat. But if you have a kitten for Doug, 796-9102. Alright.
Speaker 2:We've covered shredders and e bikes. I was trying to think of another topic, and I did come up with one during the break. The number of times that we have heard people request change on a political level is almost like annual rhetoric. And I just heard the announcement that two of my previous colleagues, Alicia and Christine, are not seeking third terms back on the assembly. Those two ladies were the senior ranking assembly members with only deputy mayor Smith and mayor Weldon outranking them, seniority thing for the assembly.
Speaker 2:They're not running. And so that puts Paul Kelly as the senior assembly member. And Paul Kelly is think about ready to run for his second term. And so that puts our most senior assembly member has only had one full term. All the rest of the assembly members will be in first year terms with the exception of the mayor and the deputy mayor.
Speaker 2:And so you got the change you were looking for. There's no doubt about that. You have a brand new well, it'll be a fairly new. Brand new is not a good example. But with Paul Kelly only having three years or he'll be in his fourth year, forgive me if I'm forgetting somebody.
Speaker 2:Maybe I'm forgetting I don't think I'm forgetting anybody. As I went down all the faces there. And so you got the change. We definitely have a change of the assembly over a four year period. The makeup is significantly different than the makeup or than the the role that was four years ago.
Speaker 2:And so now's that time for change. And then with Alicia and Christine, that means I'm asking you to go run for assembly. Have you thought about it? No? Are you thinking about it right now?
Speaker 2:Most likely people are saying no. Christine said it point blank, the time commitment that it requires to be an assembly person is significant. While they might go through a phase here or a phase there where they're not meeting a whole lot, the month of July sometimes is not a heavy meeting month, but most of the other time periods are busy and hopping. Not everybody can dedicate ten to twenty hours a week towards a second job. And so that had been one of the questions that had been raised the whole time.
Speaker 2:Should our assembly members be full time people? The mayor's technically supposed to be a halftime. I would ask her, does she do it halftime or is it taking up a larger time period commitment than that? The assembly wasn't supposed to be a twenty hour a week gig, but to do it correctly and to do it well, it takes that extra time period while the weekly hours might the weekly meeting hours might only be between five and ten. It's all of the other stuff that preparing for all those meetings.
Speaker 2:You wanna grow? Do you wanna learn about your community? Do you wanna go meet a ton of people and be more involved, to be more informed? Go run for office. Even if you think, man, I'm completely unqualified.
Speaker 2:So what? That has never stopped anybody from running for local office or for political office. Everybody out there should be laughing right now. It's definitely not stopped anybody. But the experience of just going to run for a seat like that, will give you so much background information about how your community works, how different organization works.
Speaker 2:One thing I've noticed that candidates have a tendency to do when they're running for a local small or the municipal office here is that they're getting to have meetings or they're having meetings with, like, the city manager or the city deputy manager, or they're meeting with the chief of police to find out what those topics are. So the very act of going and running for city office or state of any office like that is the growth that you get to go through. Grow as a person, you grow in your knowledge of the community, you grow in your knowledge of all the people that are in the community that make this place tick. Are you looking for adventure? You know, we could talk about a couple of the more challenging aspects of being an elected official, But one of the most growth aspects of becoming an elected official is that campaign and is deciding to stick your head out there.
Speaker 2:Make yourself vulnerable in front of the community and say, hey, community here is what I think about what we're doing here and here's how I see how I could make it better. And the cool part about a campaign is that you're given like a dozen opportunities to say those type of things. Do you have a housing answer that the assembly has missed? Do you have a Glacier Lake outburst flood solution that the city's not utilizing? A candidate for office has opportunities to say that information.
Speaker 2:The more of those conversations that take place, the more valuable information comes out. So you have a little bit of time. We're in June. It's not till now we're in mid June. Sorry.
Speaker 2:It's not till the beginning of July, mid July. I wanna say July 16 or somewhere around there, is the registration period. The only thing you would need to do is get you go on to the My Alaska website and download a couple of forms. You do need to get 25 a petition of 25 signatures not it's a nomination petition. That's word I was looking for.
Speaker 2:So you need 25 people to sign it, nominating you to go be on the ballot for the next ballot issue. And so to register to be a candidate on your local election is the simplest form or the simplest way that it could be. And once you turn in like an intent and public office financial disclosure form and the nomination form, then boom, you're a candidate. The organizations will reach out to you and say, hey, here's what our function is. Hey, here's our survey.
Speaker 2:And so just by registering to be a municipal candidate, you'll get to give your opinion to I said 12 groups or so. That's probably how many live forums that you'd go to. But the number of organizations that will send you a survey or the executive director will have a conversation with you, now you're able to give your opinion or your take on it or your next great idea to significantly more people than if you just called me here on Problem Corner. That's kind of what campaigning is. Hey, here's the things that I think would make our community better or would work better for our community, and just the very act of running for office allows you to say all those things.
Speaker 2:What a great way to do it. And then the growth that you go through because it is a challenge. It is uncomfortable and it does take you out of your comfort zone to go run for local office because everybody that you are in front of, everybody that's asking you questions are all like local Junoites that are your friends and neighbors. I mean, that's who wants to talk to you and find out your 2¢ what you're doing or give you your their 2¢ on what's going on. So, if you can do that, everybody says change, change, change.
Speaker 2:Well, in a four year period, you have changed the local assembly. That's about as fast as the assembly can change. And so what do we do? If you have a a direction that this new assembly can go in with it, their most senior person going into their only their second term, then by all means, let us know here or go sign up and then, tell me here on Problem Corner that, you became a candidate. I'm sure we can figure out how to get you on air.
Speaker 2:Well, there you go. Good luck to everybody that wants to go participate in the local municipal election. Alright. Good luck to you. We got ten minutes left in the show.
Speaker 2:Somebody reached out to and said, what about Neil? Neil got elected the year after mister Kelly, and they're talking about Neil Steininger Steinger. Neil is one year behind Paul, and so he won't be up for reelection until the following year. It's mister Kelly and then miss Atkinson. Maybe they're next year.
Speaker 2:Forgive me, I'm out of the loop. I don't know everybody that's up. All I know is that when you take those two candidates out, that's the cycle that you have. Alright. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Neil and Maureen Hall were elected that year after mister Kelly and mister miss Atkinson. So Alright. Hopefully that helped. So I've been pitching to you because I think you should go be an assembly member. You really should.
Speaker 2:Just the action of trying to do it is gonna help your growth. And so what I would normally instruct you to do is go to City Hall, and the first person that you would see is a lady named Elizabeth. Elizabeth would answer all of your questions. You could call city hall, go to the clerk's office cause it's through the clerk's office that you do all your registration to become an assembly member or to have like a ballot petition or a petition ballot or a ballot on the citizen initiative on the ballot. That's what I'm trying to spit out.
Speaker 2:Elizabeth would make sure all your paperwork's in order, would answer any of your questions, and literally assist you in the first steps of becoming an elected official. I shared this back on Tuesday, Elizabeth's position was one of the ones that was cut as they went through the budget and tried to scalpel out Nichols out of the budget because they didn't want to make a significant cut. The only way to have achieved the financial reduction that they needed to would be to end programs. And no one wanted to do that. Oh, nope, I'm going a different direction.
Speaker 2:However, the very person that would help create more assembly members or assist them on the path to being an assembly member, the actions or the reductions literally removed that person. And so now anybody that wants to go run for office, there there are still great people up in the clerk's office. There's just not that one receptionist position that dealt with everybody that came in so that they could get you the right person. Little ironic, don't you think? But like I said, if you have better ideas, like you know how to balance their budget and you know what capital projects should be moved forward and you have a better idea of what capital projects should be scrapped and housing solutions and homelessness solutions, then head to city hall, go get registered.
Speaker 2:But do be aware that the cuts that have been made impact the people that are trying to go run for office. And there's some really thick irony in there. You just have to go sort it out for yourself. Alright. Send me a text, please.
Speaker 2:I got seven minutes left in the show. Five eight six one eight hundred. I think this is the single longest Prom Corner that I've had to just talk to myself with a couple of two texts that were helpful. So 5861805861800. Send a text to that, and that'll get it over here.
Speaker 2:I did hear some really good news for some 440 plus Junoite households that even though the LID, the local improvement district, which levied a $6,600 bill on those 440 something houses to pay for the Hesco barriers, CBJ was able to figure out how to have those Hesco barriers paid for with money other than the citizens lid money. And so your 440 Juno neighbors that lived in the valley are not being charged, that 6,600 and change lid figure. They were billing it out on property tax, it was going over a several year period. I think we talked about it. It ended up being like 50 or $80 a month, to cover that.
Speaker 2:But now, in case you haven't followed, what has happened was, the lids are being expanded. I'm sorry. The Hesco barriers are being expanded above and beyond because we we know that's our short term solution to preventing the valley from getting flooded and that while these people were the most impacted, the entire valley is counting on those Hesco barriers working. So the assembly, even during a time of reductions, were able to get other mechanisms of funding, not taxpayer money, to pay for the Hesco barriers. And so if you were one of those four forty families, yay for $6,600 back to you, that is not gonna be collected from you.
Speaker 2:A penny saved is a penny earned. So especially so that is as you're talking to either Denise Koch, director of public works or any of the public works folks or even the people that are working on the Hesco, tell them thanks because through their actions, they made it where the most impacted houses no longer have to pay that $6,600 LID fee because the whole valley is being impacted by that efforts. So yay to public works and facilities for saving 440 households, 6,600 apiece using other people's money. That is an example of things going right. So that's why I would send that thanks out there because somebody did do the right thing for that.
Speaker 2:Alright. What do we got here? 586-1800. You can send me those last text messages. 586-1800.
Speaker 2:Have you heard about this Youth Safe Space program? Heard it announced earlier today, and right before I sold Subway, I actually got this letter that the lady's sending out. Had I maintained that location, I would have absolutely been a safe space. And so if you're a business owner and you have the type of business that teens would come into, hopefully not only do they have a great spread throughout the community so that no matter what part of town a teenager finds themselves in a predicament that they could go into a nearby business, that business would know who to call and that teenager could be provided with a safe haven. What a great program.
Speaker 2:So if we can get some more information out that, if you are a business that you think your business would be a great location for that, you can probably reach out to the Zach Gordon Youth Center as they are trying to expand that program. And I think it's great knowing that they have that level of security, the whole community, the business community is looking out for our teens. What a great idea. So I want to give the folks over at Zach Gordon, they just do such a good job taking care of our vulnerable teens in the community and our teens in general in the community. This one helps the vulnerable teens or the ones that need help.
Speaker 2:There you go. Alright. Well, hey, that is gonna do it for Problem Corner for me this week. Every day we've had a conversation and an update about phones. They do know that it's one of the highest priorities of especially for Problem Corner.
Speaker 2:This is a call in show, and it just hasn't been the same, since I haven't been able to take your phone calls on here. So we will get an update on that. This person wants to know what's going on with Vanderbilt Drive. They didn't wanna look up any website. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't wanna Google anything either. A t shaped roundabout or a high speed round I don't know. It's some kind of traffic mechanism that somebody at DOT thought was a good idea. The only way that I could see that area, that Vanderbilt Intersection being a roundabout or being a anything less than a controlled light intersection is that if it is connected to the bridge going across the channel, that would make sense. And so I'm kinda hoping that's what they're doing is setting this up to say, hey, let's see how this traffic works because this is where we wanna put the bridge.
Speaker 2:I do not have confirmation on that, but that seems to be, the common sense thought on it, but you know how I feel about common sense and government, they don't go together. So a high speed roundabout is the worst answer I have. Right? I could probably look up better answers. Alright.
Speaker 2:Well, that's gonna do it for the show today. You should really consider running for public office. Two incumbents have stepped down, and I wanna say they had a valley and downtown seat. And so regardless of where you're at, a seat will be open and you could run for public office. One of the rules, nuanced rules that I heard is that you run the first time to run, you run the second time to win.
Speaker 2:And so keep that in mind if you thought maybe I wanna do it in the future. Getting the first run-in never hurt. Sometimes people even take two runs. Alright. My little jab for the day.
Speaker 2:Alright. That's gonna do it for us here on Prom Corner. I want to thank everybody for listening in and the three people that sent texts. Thank you for those texts. Send me an email while you're thinking of it between now and tomorrow or now and Monday.
Speaker 2:We jump back on the show. Kinayr@kinyradio.com. You can always send that text. They'll still be reading text even when the phones start working. 586-1800.
Speaker 2:It's the last one. This person says it makes it difficult that Vanderbilt detour makes it difficult, and I had to switch words what they used, makes it difficult for people who work on Hospital Drive. Yes. I have heard that makes it a little tricky to get out of Hospital Drive. So alright.
Speaker 2:That's gonna do it for the show. Thanks for listening in, and Nana will be here tomorrow. And remember on Problem Corner, there are no such thing as problems, just solutions we've yet to discover. Have a great rest of the day. I'm Wade.
Speaker 2:I'm out of
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining us on Problem Corner, Alaska's longest running radio show. Keep the conversation going and stay connected to the issues that matter most to Juneau and Southeast Alaska. Missed part of today's show? Subscribe to the podcast at kinyradio.com. Problem Corner is powered by Alaska Laundry and Dry Cleaning.