Commentary: Solid Waste fees increase and ideas to save money
By John Gallup
Commentary Contributor
I read with interest the article in the TN concerning the increase in dump fees. A few of those contributing are misinformed concerning the fees, and the obvious Girdwood-style workarounds that can reduce trips to the transfer station.
First, for decades the services provided to Girdwood have been underwritten by Anchorage ratepayers. The income collected paid only a small fraction of the total cost of operating the Girdwood station.
I suspect that even with the current increase in fees Girdwood still doesn’t operate in the black, so the subsidy continues. I’d welcome being proven wrong on this, but I’m pretty sure I’m right.
Second, in a connected community we should be able to consolidate loads easily. The rates state “bag or can,” and a 30 gallon trash can will hold 3 kitchen sized bags of trash, and $10 will buy you 3 full cans, or 9 bags.
I built years ago a bear-proof garbage shed behind my garage which holds 3-30 gallon cans, (right now we only use two.). It has survived a couple of ursine assaults basically undamaged.
Read the entire commentary at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/commentary-solid-waste-fees-increase-and-ideas-to-save-money
TNews plans Election Candidate Forum
The Turnagain News Board of Directors is planning an Election Candidates Forum for March 21 at the Girdwood Community Room. Volunteers are needed from 6 to 9 p.m. to support the event with duties such as setup and tear down. Please email event organizer Grace Pleasants at grace.pleasants@gmail.com if you can provide support for partial or the complete event.
Noncommercial Shrimp Season Reduced, Commercial Season Closed for 2026
By Allison Sayer
TNews Staffwriter
On February 26, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) announced the noncommercial (sport + subsistence)spot shrimp fishery would be open from May 1 through June 8, and fishers would be limited to two pots. This is over six weeks less than last year, and almost four months shorter than the 2024 season.
The guideline harvest limit (GHL) in the 2026 noncommercial fishery is 29,782 pounds. Managers determine the GHL as a proportion of the estimated population, which has declined each year since 2021. Pot and season limits are then implemented based on the limit.
The 2025 GHL was 54,311 pounds of shrimp, and the season was open May 1 though July 31 with two pots. During 2025, fishers exceeded the GHL, catching 60,234 pounds. The noncommercial fishery catch has exceeded the GHL for seven of the past seventeen seasons, despite managers implementing pot and season limits.
ADF&G commercial and sport fishery staff hosted an online meeting February 12 to discuss shrimp research and take public questions and comments. According to Area Management Biologist Brittany Blain-Roth, about 130 people tuned into the meeting.
One bright spot presented by Fisheries Biologist Alissa Cole was the 2025 shift in commercial and noncommercial season opening days from April 15 to May 1 reduced the percentage of egg-bearing females taken in the harvest- from 36% of the fishery to just 5%. Presumably, the later date gave most females time to release their eggs before being harvested.
Cole shared population estimates come from an annual survey that has been performed in October throughout Prince William Sound since 1992.
Read the entire story at the link below
Commentary: Safety In The Backcountry Yields Lessons For Current State of Affairs
By Brian Kramp
Commentary Contributor
“S**t is f****d,” Zach said while we were skinning up the cat road in search of some soft snow.
There was no question in my mind what he was referring to (the state of our politics).
Staring down at my ski tips, a realization struck me. I’d been making an implicit assumption that someone, at some point, would step in and save the day. Surely our institutions would self-correct. Our country is strong and stable.
Right?
Now I know better. No one is coming to save our democracy.
In the backcountry, we check the forecast before heading out. We constantly look for new information, communicate objectives with our partners, and turn around when conditions aren’t right. It requires humility and a willingness to adjust course.
Dysfunctional momentum is a real danger. And just like in the backcountry, we need to be ready to rescue ourselves.
My period of grief and apathy has run its course. I’m ready to participate.
What does that look like, for me?
I’ve realized that telling my wife she’s wrong never makes me a winner. Instead, we try to share our individual experiences, make an honest effort to understand each other, and agree to move forward together.
That’s also how our country can, and should work.
If our democracy is going to survive, it will be because enough of us choose curiosity, engagement, and compromise over anger or resignation. Enough of us talk to our neighbors instead of consuming ragebait.
Read the entire commentary at the link below:
A Community Collaboration – Gratitude Tree Donation Wall Mosaic for New Little Bears Playhouse
By Allison Sayer
TNews Staffwriter
On February 19, Girdwood, Inc announced local artists Tommy O’Malley and Thalia Wilkinson will create a donor wall mosaic for the new Little Bears Playhouse lobby. The facility is scheduled to open this fall. Locals have seen Wilkinson and O’Malley’s mosaic work in Girdwood’s public spaces including on concrete culvert planters and Town Square Park.
According to a press release issued by Girdwood, Inc, “The design will feature a large tree made of stained glass with branches reaching out eight feet on either side of the trunk. Connected to the tree will be over a hundred leaves in dozens of shades of green glass. Names of donors will be etched into the trunk, branches, and leaves.”
Girdwood, Inc also shared much of the glass used in the project was donated by the late Jim Kaiser’s estate and thanked Kali Bennett for the gift. Kaiser created countlesscommunity stained-glass projects throughout Alaska, including making art with past Little Bears students. He also donated financially towards the new building before he passed away.
The artists have given a deadline of February 28 for a finalized donor list so they can go forward with crafting the tree’s components.
Read the entire story at the link below:
Seven thousand pounds of marine debris removed from Whittier Harbor
By Chase Berenson
TNews. Staffwriter
Dive Alaska coordinated with multiple organizations to plan the 2026 Whittier Harbor Cleanup Day on Saturday, February 7th. This was the fourth annual event, and it brought out SCUBA divers and freedivers to scour the seabed of the Whittier Harbor and remove trash and marine debris.
This year was the largest event yet, with 158 volunteers participating. The weather was cooperative by Whittier standards, as the temperature was in upper 30s with rain. This was an improvement over previous years, where once the temperatures dropped below zero degrees and in another year the wind was whipping so strongly that it impeded cleanup efforts. At the event’s introduction, JD Stimson of Dive Alaska summed it by saying, “The wind isn’t blistering and the temperature isn’t frigid. If you did this before, you know this is a blessing.”
During a three-hour window, SCUBA divers and freedivers took to the water of Whittier Harbor to recover whatever they could find. Divers collected marine debris from the harbor floor and brought it up the boat ramp or the harbor docks, where volunteers above the water picked it up and hauled the waste to a sorting area near the boat ramp.
Read the entire story at the link below:
Commentary: How did property assessments affect Girdwoodians?
By Brice Wilbanks
Commentary Contributor
Forty miles from City Hall, Girdwood property owners opened their 2026 assessments to find increases nearly double to those of their Anchorage neighbors. Assessed annually by the Municipality of Anchorage, the green-colored postcard describes what the Municipality assesses property owners’ land and building value to determine the basis of their annual tax bill.
This year, similar to last, property owners were shocked and dismayed. The median Girdwood property owner saw an increase of 8.2%, more than double the increase for Anchorage-bowl property owners, according to data from the municipality’s property appraisal division. While slightly smaller than 2024-2025, the increases continue to compound, squeezing property owners across the valley and inflating rents
Driving this variation is a major rework of the assessment methodology utilized by the municipality’s property appraisal division. Key changes included: removing the multiplier of building construction quality, utilizing publicly available sales data, and reducing the number of “market areas” from 400 to fewer than 20. Municipal Assessor Jack Gadamus, with the assistance of outside consultants, describes these reforms as “corrective in nature.”
Market Areas are abstractly defined by the Anchorage appraisal office as:
Not “Neighborhoods” in the traditional sense, but geographic areas where Cost-to-Comparable Sales “AV Ratios” are statistically aligned
This significant methodology shift, triggered a reduction from 400+ market areas to fewer than 20, forced evaluations to compete against each other based on sales data and proximity. This led to varying evaluations between properties within geographically constrained and isolated communities.
To understand how this major rework of assessment methodology affected Girdwoodians, let’s take a closer look at the data.
Read the entire commentary at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/commentary-how-did-property-assessments-affect-girdwoodians
Girdwood Property Taxes Soar Under Recent Muni Assessment
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
Many Girdwood residents are fuming over a sharp rise in property values set by the Municipality of Anchorage that show up annually on light green postcards in mailboxes.
Homes in the Girdwood valley saw hikes in tax assessments that, on average, are nearly double those of the Anchorage bowl.
Amanda Tuttle, owner of Coast Pizza, said her tax evaluation went up "136 percent in two years" on her home in Old Girdwood.
"This is why you have killed our local economy," Tuttle said during a Girdwood Board of Supervisors meeting last Monday.
Zac Johnson, who represents Girdwood and South Anchorage on the Anchorage Assembly, said the Municipality receives no benefit from tax rate assessments that have climbed as high as 30% in his district.
Johnson said changes in property appraisals were made to conform to state standards, and, actually, the Municipality loses money for its budget due to the way funding for the Anchorage School District is calculated.
"There's no political motivation to all this. Increasing valuations don't actually increase the amount of revenue the Municipality gets. That's determined by the tax cap, so it doesn't do anything to bolster the Municipal budget," Johnson said at the GBOS meeting. "If anything it actually harms us a little bit because it increases our required contribution to the state for [Anchorage School District] funding."
Municipal officials have justified increases based on changes in methods for evaluating property values, such as evaluating values based on a "market area" approach and consolidating market zones from about 400 zones to less than 20.
"The grand result of all of this is that the average increase in valuation for the entire Municipality is around 4 percent," Johnson said, "which seems to roughly track with what we'd expect given the state of the housing market."
"But there were some exceptional cases where people saw their valuations increase by 20-30 percent, which is certainly understandable why people would be concerned about that," he said. He added that assessing home values is an "imperfect process" given, particularly, that Alaska is a "nondisclosure" state and can only acquire limited data.
Nevertheless, land being prepared for home building in a new, highly-contested development called "Holtan Hills" did not see a similar increase, according to an analysis by Brice Wilbanks, who serves as co-chair of Girdwood's Land Use Committee and is running for a GBOS seat.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/girdwood-property-taxes-soar-under-recent-muni-assessment
Protest photos from Saturday, Jan. 31.
A photo essay from the protest on Jan 31 in Girdwood captured by Emma Kramer.
Girdwood Fire and Rescue holds Recruitment Meeting
By Chief Michelle Weston
Girdwood Fire Department and Rescue
Girdwood Fire Rescue is holding a spring firefighter recruitment meeting Wednesday, Feb 4th, 7pm-9pm. Come at 7pm to learn about how to serve as one of Girdwood's firefighters!
Improvements planned for Bird Creek Campground
By Chase Berenson
TNews Staffwriter
Chugach State Park is looking to invest in improvements to the Bird Creek Campground, the only campground located on the waterfront of the north shore of Turnagain Arm. Chugach State Park is one of the four largest state parks in the United States, and it stretches from the Anchorage Bowl on the west side deep into the Chugach Mountains on the east side. Much of the park’s southern border is the Turnagain Arm. The park has multiple campgrounds, including the Bird Creek Campground. Bird Creek Campground is known for its views of Turnagain Arm with its bore tides and beluga whales. It is primarily located on the south side of the Seward Highway, but it also includes an overflow camping area on the north side of the Highway.
The campground improvements project has two key focus points, one which will be more visible to campground users and one which will improve campground operations. Campers will see new signage throughout the campground which will update aging and outdating signage in the park. However, the larger project work will be happening in a less visible context.
Campground users are typically familiar with the concept of a campground host who helps operate and manage the campground. In Alaska State Park campgrounds, the campground host is a volunteer role for someone who will typically stay the entire summer season at the campground. At Bird Creek, the campground host’s job duties include tasks such as interacting with campers, ensuring campers are following campground rules, performing janitorial services, and performing minor maintenance such as grass mowing. Campground hosts are important volunteer roles to ensure that campgrounds are functioning correctly.
Chugach State Park has struggled in the past to fill Bird Creek Campground’s campground host role, and one cause is that there are no sites in the campground that feature the full combination of water, sewer, and power hook-ups for the volunteer’s RV. The campground host role is particularly important for Bird Creek Campground, due to its proximity to the population center of the Anchorage Bowl and the campground’s high usage on holiday weekends and at prime fishing times on Bird Creek. The current campground host location is in the campground’s overflow area on the north side of the highway because that is the only part of the campground with any utility service.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/improvements-planned-for-bird-creek-campground
Food Pantry Met Increased Need in 2025 — Local Help Was Key
By Allison Sayer
TNews Staffwriter
The Girdwood Food Pantry could have had a tough year in 2025. According to figures provided by director Terry Sherwood, the Food Pantry has seen the highest demand for food since 2020.
Meanwhile, deliveries of non-perishable foods from the Federal Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which normally provides about one quarter of Girdwood Food Pantry food, have been “short.” Shelves at the Food Bank of Alaska Anchorage location, where Girdwood Food Pantry volunteers have often collected food, have been “empty.”
Even with these challenges, an increase in local donations enabled the Food Pantry to serve everyone who came through the door this year. “Girdwood residents have been generous,” said Sherwood, “It’s neighbors helping neighbors.”
In 2025, as of December 16, the Girdwood Food Pantry provided approximately 3370 food services. That figure comprises both one-time visitors and the sum of multiple visits by the same individual. Sherwood estimates 332 unique people from 195 households were served in 2025, as of December 16.
The 2025 figure is a 38% increase from 2024, during which 2442 individual services were provided.
Services include bimonthly deliveries to 28 families in Whittier and non-perishable food boxes for 48 Alyeska Resort employees.
In a phone interview, Sherwood stated that not only were more people seeking food, but there seemed to be more anxiety about whether it would be available. “For the first time ever in Food Pantry history, we’ve had a line at the door before we’ve opened. That’s never happened before. People are starting to worry and get here early.”
Recently, the State of Alaska provided some additional funding to the Food Bank of Alaska. This provided statewide pantrieswith additional non-perishable food. This week, food from the Girdwood School canned goods drive lined pantry shelves. Other local agencies and individuals have held drives, contributed money, and donated food.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/food-pantry-met-increased-need-in-2025-local-help-was-key
GBOS Asks Muni to Deny "Holtan Hills" Permit Barring New Land Use Plan
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
Girdwood officials voted Monday to ask Anchorage planners to, among other conditions, deny a permit for a "Holtan Hills" subdivision until a proper land use plan is drawn up.
The Girdwood Board of Supervisors passed three resolutions recommending changes to developers' application to develop 39 lots in 16 acres of ancient forest behind Girdwood's school. The project would be the first phase of a highly controversial, 60-plus acre housing development.
Included in the GBOS resolutions are a requirement for community housing, for some of the homes to be occupied year-round, and that the Planning and Zoning Commission reject a bid by developers to try to build a private cul-de-sac rather than a public road, as required by city code.
Read the entire story at the link below:
Local Committees Forward Remarks on ‘Holtan Hills’ Permit to GBOS
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
Local committees are recommending the city complete a land use plan before approving a conditional use permit for the first phase of the "Holtan Hills" subdivision.
The motion, passed unanimously on Dec. 1 by Girdwood's Housing and Economic Committee, is one of six measures supported Monday by the Land Use Committee.
Other items passed by GHEC include:
• a requirement for two lots to be deeded to a local non-profit to build community housing,
• that at least three of the lots contain duplexes, that some lots require the owner to live and work in Girdwood,
• and that the road to a cul de sac is a public, rather than private, road.
The LUC also agreed to recommendations by the Trails Committe to require developers pay the cost of moving the historic Iditarod Trail and that the trail is surveyed and recorded on the plat along with 25-foot easements on either side of it.
All these requirements will be taken up by Girdwood's Board of Supervisors Monday.
The GBOS plans to hear other comments, then send a resolution an Anchorage platting board with recommended changes to the conditional use permit for "Holtan Hills".
A land use plan is required by the municipality for large developments. Municipal planners are relying on a nearly 20-year old "Crow Creek Neighborhood Plan" that has been disregarded, or even dismissed, in development plans for "Holtan Hills", the GHEC argues. The plan needs to be updated, the committee agreed.
Read the entire story at the link below:
Application to Develop Phase One of "Holtan Hills" Out for Comment
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
A platting meeting on a contentious "Holtan Hills" subdivision has been set for Jan. 5, a little more than a month away.
The application which describes, for the first time, details surrounding the development plan was sent to Girdwood Board of Supervisors "a half-hour to an hour" before its Nov. 17 meeting, according to GBOS co-chair Mike Edgington.
"I definitely have not had a chance to look at it," Edgington said.
A 30-document has information and detailed maps for a 16-acre cul-de-sac with 39 housing lots. The tract is the first of three phases in a more than 60-acre development planned in hilly old-growth rainforest behind Girdwood's school.
It includes photos of enormous, mostly Anchorage, homes in barren, treeless landscapes to show "style examples" for the area.
A separate application includes a request for a variance to change the allowable length of a cul-de-sac by 70 feet for what the project engineers—The Boutet Company—are calling "Holtan Hills Circle".
The road would be 670 feet and is necessary because "the topography in the upper area of this development is very steep" and contractors couldn't build as many lots as they want, according to Boutet's application.
The variance requests quotes the Girdwood Comprehensive Plan to justify a longer road, stating development should be "compatible with the natural environment" and saying, without the extended road, the developer would have to build a second road.
A road that meets the municipal standard of no longer than 600 feet would "create undue hardship" on the developer.
Read the entire story at the link below:
NewsMatch enters 10th cycle at critical moment for community support of nonprofit news
INN’s NewsMatch program enters its tenth cycle tomorrow, Nov. 1, continuing to strengthen the sustainability of nonprofit news by helping outlets grow and diversify their sources of support.
Through NewsMatch, newsrooms leverage support from a network of local and national funders to spark community giving, building a base of donors who sustain fact-based reporting. Over the years, NewsMatch has leveraged $38 million in matching gifts to help drive $362 million in community support.
This year, 20 national and regional funders have pledged over $7.7 million to match donations for a record number of 422 participating organizations. This includes three new funders to date: the Golden Globe Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and Press Forward.
And NewsMatch is more than just a match: Participants gain access to essential training and tools to boost their fundraising capacity long-term. Support includes on-demand fundraising training, free wealth screenings, customizable design assets, templated email pitches, and on-air promotional copy in English and Spanish to reach more audiences.
Read the entire story at the link below:
‘Our Kids and Our Kops’ community policing event held
From Tommy O’Malley
TNews Contributor
The Girdwood Board of Supervisors Public Safety Advisory Committee sponsored a community policing event on October 25th at the Ice Cream Shop.
“Our Kids and Our Kops” was an opportunity for families with children to get to know the officers of our police department. Children who brought their parents were treated to a free ice cream cone. Eighty Moms, Dads, Grandparents and children attended the event.
“Our Kids and Our Kops” was part of Community Helpers Month at Girdwood School. Ms. Brennan’s second graders school work was on display.
Some of the artwork emphasized by the children “Our Police make Girdwood safe: …byfinding people that are lost and helping people”; “by helping people in hard situations”; by giving speeding people tickets and I don’t mean movie tickets”.
Read the entire story at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/our-kids-and-kops-holds-community-policing-event
TURNAGAIN NEWS AGAIN QUALIFIES FOR NEWSMATCH GRANT PROGRAM
By Brooks Chandler
TNews Board of Directors
TNews was approved on Oct. 14 to participate in the 2025 NewsMatch challenge program.
TNews qualified as a NewsMatch “rural partner”. The first three thousand dollars ofIndividual donations made to TNews this November and December will be matched two for one. When total donations exceed $3,000 the NewsMatch “match” will be one for one until the total of individual donations reaches $12,000. .
The NewsMatch challenge program is funded by a coalition of national philanthropists in support of local nonprofit news.
This support has been critical in enabling TNews to build the initial capacity to deliver information to Turnagain Arm communities.
In hopes of expanding this capacity to include paid freelance reporters to supplement volunteer contributors, the TNews board has set a fundraising goal of $15,000 for 2025.
The campaign to meet the NewsMatch challenge will begin Nov. 1.
To contribute, go to https://square.link/u/4aQ9heEj which is our Square account. You may get a message after the donation as your receipt goes to your email address instead to ensure donation receipts are received.
Questions Remain After Girdwood Residents Grapple With ‘Holtan Hills’ Development Team
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
During a two-and-a-half hour long meeting Tuesday night, Girdwoodians pressed a developer on her vision for a so-called "Holtan Hills" subdivision, a sixty-plus acre housing tract planned to be carved from old-growth rainforest behind the community's school.
The meeting, which followed another a month ago, left the community with little doubt that the vision for the forested hills behind the school rests with Anchorage developer Connie Yoshimura.
And, yet, with a current land plan, or "pro forma", still undisclosed, many questions remain.
Still unsettled, for example, is how people who would live in the subdivision would get out should the main entrance, off Hightower Road, be blocked.
Yoshimura said she has $125,000 to pay for an "internal" exit onto Crow Creek Road, but she bears no cost beyond her development.
Crow Creek Road is unmaintained, suffers drainage problems, and has an eroding road bed. Planners estimated it would cost $6 million to upgrade the lower portion of Crow Creek Road to municipal standards.
Read the entire story at the link below:
‘No Kings’ Day Saturday in Girdwood
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
About 70 locals showed up for Girdwood's "No Kings" Saturday to demonstrate against the policies of the current administration.
Girdwoodians, peaceably assembled on the corner of Hightower and Alyeska, raised posters, peace signs and fists joining in demonstrations held across the planet to protest authoritatian rule.
See pictures from the event at the link below:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/no-kings-day-saturday-in-girdwood