Mayor Mark Begich comments
2007 AEDC Investor Lunch
Noon; Jan. 31, 2007; Egan Center

Thanks, Sophie Minich, for that introduction and for your service to this organization and our community.

It’s always an honor to join Anchorage’s business leaders at this forum to discuss one of our favorite topics – our city’s economic development progress.

It’s especially exciting this year as we unveil a new Anchorage brand. If it’s met with thunderous applause, the city was honored to have been a vital partner in its development. If it’s received like “Say Waa” down in Washington, I don’t know what AEDC and ACVB were thinking.

I spent much of last week in Washington, D.C., at the National Mayor’s Conference where I had the opportunity to boast about our city.

Seattle Mayor Nickels and I hosted a reception for our fellow mayors and members of Congress. We arranged for donated Alaska seafood and they provided Washington state wine. They do a lot of receptions in Washington, but I’ve never seen shrimp move so fast - gone in 30 minutes flat. The reception – and especially the Alaska seafood – was a great hit. I did note that nary a scallop was left over, but they shipped back three cases of wine.

My fellow mayors were envious to learn that Anchorage just wrapped up its 18th consecutive year of economic growth. We enjoyed 2,600 new jobs last year, which again exceeded the number originally predicted. Projections are that steady, predictable growth will continue for at least the next couple of years.

Bob asked me to give an update on the various economic development initiatives underway. There are so many I’ll try to be quick.

If you haven’t been by the new civic and convention center construction project, it’s worth a visit. Three sky cranes are lifting the structural steel in place and decking is already being welded into place seven stories up.

By the time the Dena’ina Center opens in the fall of 2008, they’ll pour enough concrete to lay a sidewalk between here and Wasilla. Erect as much steel as is in 1,900 Ford F-150 pick-ups.

The timing on this project has been impeccable. When we went to sell the bonds to finance the center, we benefited from a national trend that actually meant lower interest rates than we were originally projecting.

And you may have seen in last week’s paper that a record number of over a million visitors to Anchorage last year helped us achieve record hotel bed tax revenues of more than 19 million-dollars. The convention center finance plan was based on a 1 percent bed tax growth – instead, we realized 7.3 percent last year.

What this means is that the new civic and convention center continues to be on-course, on-time and moving full speed ahead.

Still on the convention front, Anchorage hosted what many have said was one of the most successful Alaska Federation of Native conventions ever last October. Thanks to many of you in this room for helping underwrite the convention, for participating in cultural awareness workshops and for volunteering to greet delegates.

That hospitality, along with a concerted effort to recognize the enormous contributions of Alaska Native people to our community and state, is helping change the chemistry in Anchorage.

For first time in its history, the World Eskimo Indian Olympics chose Anchorage over Fairbanks for its event this summer. Numerous others are coming too:
• The National Congress of American Indians;
• International Whaling Commission;
• Alaska Village Initiatives;
• Native Youth Olympics.

Anchorage also has welcomed a huge growth in investment by Native corporations and non-profits – new headquarter buildings by CIRI, Chugach, ASRC, Koniag, Aleutian-Pribilofs, many more.

Here in downtown, numerous other exciting projects are under way:

Construction is underway on the 100 million-dollar expansion of the museum, with completion scheduled in about three years.

You’ll suffer through – I mean, get to experience – construction of a pedestrian-friendly E Street corridor, a more inviting Town Square, heated sidewalks connecting our major amenities, a more viable 4th Avenue Theater.

We’ve also received an enthusiastic response to our proposal to create a wireless downtown, where residents and visitors alike can have immediate wireless access to the Internet.

Anchorage already is one of America’s most computer-literate cities, so we think it makes good business sense to take the next giant step toward a wireless city. An evaluation team has just narrowed the six bidders to three finalists and we hope to select one by the end of February.

If all goes right, Anchorage could be wireless by this summer, just in time to send your out-of-town house guests to Town Square to surf the web.

Downtown isn’t the only part of Anchorage enjoying a revival. From Ship Creek to Mountain View to Girdwood, we’re working with private sector developers to renovate or build new housing, office and retail space.

After sitting stagnant for more than 20 years, a scenic bluff on Government Hill soon will give way to 93 new townhouse and single family homes. Utilities are scheduled to go in this spring, with homes built and sold next year.

Mountain View is being transformed by Glenn Square and other improvements. I know the prospect of Bed, Bath and Beyond has excited the women in my office even more than Valentine’s Day.
 
Last year, the 375 million-dollar Port Expansion Project got underway with the creation of 21 acres of new land. This year the project will create an additional 24 acres and the first public-use barge berths in Upper Cook Inlet. These improvements will provide much-needed staging areas for military deployments and expansion opportunities for the port’s existing commercial carriers.

All this economic development keeps up the pressure on city services. We’re continuing to relieve congestion on Anchorage streets by investing in road improvements. Last year saw more than 45 different road improvement projects.

Next month, we expect the Assembly to approve about 35 million-dollars of road bonds for this April’s ballot. Major projects include Strawberry, 9th Avenue, E Street and East Fireweed and LaTouche.

We just delivered to the Legislature our annual wish list which focuses on public safety and public facility and road improvements.

Anchorage has done exceedingly well by the Legislature in recent years, with hundreds of millions of dollars in high priority projects funded.

Another area where we want their continued help is with lowering property taxes. Last year, the Legislature provided Anchorage 22 million-dollars in community assistance. We’re counting on another like-amount this year. The governor already has included it in her budget.

We’re using the entire amount to lower Anchorage property taxes. Even with assessments up this year an average of 13 percent, property taxes for most will go down.

Anchorage has a lot going for it. Certainly our community is richer and more diverse because of our strong partnership with our military neighbors.

I know each of us salute the dedication and service of the 9,000 active-duty servicemen and women and 14,000 family members who call Anchorage home.

I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities and optimism of Anchorage. Thank you for working together as we reshape our city for the 21st century.

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