Rural Alaska is facing a public Safety Crisis,
but Governor Dunleavy isn’t providing law enforcement or the judicial system the resources they need to keep our communities safe.
‘Dire’ Law Enforcement Crisis in Rural Alaska Prompts Emergency Declaration, New Federal Funding
“The announcement follows an investigation by the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica, which found that one in three communities in Alaska, about 70 altogether and nearly all of them Alaska Native, had no local law enforcement at some point this year. Many are in regions with the highest rates of poverty, sexual assault and suicide in the United States.”
-ProPublica
Judge: case of slain Mountain Village woman shows how Alaska’s justice system is failing
“‘The record in this case should reflect that, as a result of the policy and budget choices made by the legislative and executive branches the people of Alaska must tolerate long delays in the prosecution of the type of crimes charged in this case – crimes against women, crimes fueled by substance abuse, crimes against law enforcement officers, crimes against rural Alaskans,’” the judge wrote.
-Alaska Public Media
Despite having 1 in 3 communities without law enforcement, and backlog in our judicial system, the Governor vetoed:
$3 million from Village Public Safety Officers;
$400,000 from Public Defenders, who already have nearly double the recommended caseload;
$533,000 for a prosecutor and assistant in Utqiagvik;
About $750,000, (Their entire budget), from the Alaska Legal Services Corporation, which is the only organization that provides free legal help to Alaskans in civil lawsuits who can’t afford it.
Do you think we need to do more for vulnerable communities in Alaska?
Portugal. The Man performs at our rally this summer where thousands of Alaskans gathered to protest the governor’s vetoes and urge the legislature to vote to override them. Lead singer, John Gourley, wears a qaspeq depicting the faces of missing and murdered indigenous women in Alaska.
Photo used under Creative Commons license courtesy The Alaska Landmine.
Rural Alaska is Facing a Housing Crisis,
and Governor Dunleavy is making it worse.
Homeless services in Alaska face uncertain future as state cuts back
“In the United States, about 3 percent of houses are overcrowded using the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s definition, but in parts of Alaska, rates can be as high as 50 percent.
For those living in 700-square-foot houses with 15 other people, it’s hard to sleep and harder to stay healthy.
‘In a severely overcrowded home, like 20 people in a house, people have to sleep in shifts because there are not enough surfaces,’ Kolerok said of people living in the Bering Straits, on Alaska’s northwest coast.”
-NBC News
Cold Climate Housing Research looks for way forward amid cuts
“‘I think it’s a time in our state where we need to make some decisions about our future and one of the things that will define our future is the quality of housing, both the cost of building it and the cost of living in it,’ Hébert said, ‘and in a harsh climate like Alaska this is something that we have to not disregard.’”
-Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
A decision by the governor, and legislators’ inaction, may spike the cost of electricity in rural Alaska
“‘It’s a slap in the face to rural Alaska,’ said Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham. ‘It’s a slap in the face to the legacy of all the powerful Alaska Native leaders who have roamed the halls of the Legislature and who put blood, sweat and tears into putting a program together that would help make electricity more affordable in a state that is poured in millions of dollars into projects around the state.’”
-Anchorage Daily News
Do you support safe, affordable housing in rural Alaska?
Thousands of Alaskans gather at our rally to protest the governor’s devastating vetoes this summer. Photo used under Creative Commons license courtesy The Alaska Landmine