- 1985

The biggest development of the year was the implosion of Juneau’s overheated economy, which slumped, fueled in part by a plunge in oil prices and declining state revenue, leading in turn to government belt-tightening and employee layoffs. The unprecedented boom of the last few years suddenly collapsed as the city found itself over-built, with too many businesses, too much retail space, too many hotel rooms, and too many houses and condominiums. Business closures escalated, including stalwarts like Foss Marine Lines barge shippers and bulk grocery Mark N’ Pak, as community spending declined. Housing permits plunged by over two thirds, with several hundred units on the market at year’s end and prices plummeting by tens of thousands of dollars. The tourism sector of the economy did, however, project some optimism as a record 140,000 visitors arrived this season.

Fiscal conservatism was reflected in the October election as voters turned down bond issues for a new downtown library, a new park in the valley, and extending Marine Park (damage from the 1984 Thanksgiving storm was repaired, however). Bonds for school improvements and a $9 million expansion project for the hospital were approved. The city also completed several large capital improvements approved earlier, including completion of a $5.5 million waterfront parking garage, which had faced lengthy legal challenges from local activist Betty Breck. After failing to win election for mayor, Breck, subsequently dropped her lawsuits against the Assembly, mayor, city, and the governor and retired from public view.

In other construction news, the city completed its first phase of a $48-million water system to extend municipal water connections to Lemon Creek and Mendenhall Valley residents. It also expanded the municipal airport in a $48 million project opened early in the year, adding 40,000-square feet of new area to the terminal. The city, however, did run into problems in trying to subsidize the opening of a new trailer court, after two private ones had closed. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had become more stringent in its review of permitting projects, and its objections to various projects in environmentally sensitive areas forestalled the trailer court, a large waterfront hotel development, a major Gold Creek project, and a group home for handicapped adults.

Other developments had varied success in their progress. The state had planned to construct a new capitol building on its property on Telephone hill but the economic downturn forestalled that idea. The state did build a parking garage on the hill, but residents there were able to stop demolition of an apartment building on a portion of the lot. UAJ moved ahead to provide student housing and completed a new $8.4 million project to provide housing units for 200 students, the largest construction project on the Auke Lake campus to date. Enrollment was up and the units were 80 percent full after opening. A proposal by the Forest Service to build a road in Berners Bay to open up an area for logging ran up against an environmental coalition lawsuit to halt it. A federal court injunction put the proposal on hold until the service would file an environmental impact statement.

Communications provider Alascom unveiled its new $2.3 million video conference system January 8 to connect Juneau with Anchorage and Fairbanks with special conference rooms equipped with voice-activated automated television cameras, a step Governor Sheffield and other participants heartly endorsed. The teleconference was promoted as a cost-effective system to provide better statewide communication in the wake of capital move arguments.

Violent crime continued to appear in the headlines with manslaughter conviction brought against a drunken driver, who had killed two pedestrians July 24 along a valley roadside; a first-degree murder conviction in October from a March shooting murder; and.a second-degree murder charge resulting from a stabbing murder November 1, with the accused perpetrator awaiting trial early next year. The state’s largest ever embezzlement case began in August when two former executives of a Sealaska subsidiary and their accomplices, were indicted by a federal grand jury of 24 counts of bribery and fraud in a swindle case against the Native corporation. One person was convicted of mail fraud, while four others were awaiting trial.

The UAJ Whales won their first victory January 4 in their first season. The JD high school Nordic cross-country ski team was resurrected in January as a varsity sport after a 10-year hiatus. Previously, Dave Michael, who had gotten his start as a Crimson Bear skier, had become the only Olympic competitor Juneau had ever produced, but the new group was starting again from scratch.

Community supporters of world peace put on an end-of-the year program designed to share mutual support with an audience in Moscow as a kick-off for the 1986 United Nations International Year of Peace. The celebration event held at noon December 31 in the state office building atrium featured a 50-strong mostly children’s choir singing peace songs in English and Russian along with performances by several Alaska Native groups and Russian dancers from Sitka, and taped contributions of other groups around Alaska. Sponsored in part by Alaska Performing Artists for Peace, KTOO-TV and KTOO-FM, Alascom, and other corporate sponsors and local residents, the event was to be transmitted to Moscow via a “space link” and like-minded Muscovite groups were to reciprocate with their performances through the link. Everything went off as scheduled in Juneau, but the connection was canceled at the last minute on the Soviet end – no reason given. The show went on in Juneau, however, to an exuberant and appreciative audience.

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