The ongoing sad and expensive tale of the taj mahawker.




 This is a little ongoing "timeline" of reported news on the taj mahawker along with my comments.  If we had truly transparent legislators we may have known more as it happened, but with the deal having been made without public input, this is what we get. 
      Most all of us except the legislative council knew, even without a $30,000 independent study, that the taj mahawker fiasco was a mistake. Letting Hawker negotiate the no-bid lease and choose the most expensive option of the three presented without any over site or even knowing what they were enabling was a bonehead mistake. Are they so dysfunctional or naive that they can't make any decisions after all the negative public input, cost analysis and general good economic sense? 
      All that's left for them to do is to vote not to fund the LIO which invalidates the lease (a clausal cop out if you will that is part of the 10 year lease) or let the Gottstein lawsuit on the original legality of the lease pan out and move to the Atwood building. 
      The legislators are still looking to spend every cent they can: potential special sessions with a resolution to have them in Anchorage, $150,000 to spend on appealing the courts decision that medicaid expansion was within the Governor's legal right - all the while talking of cutting state money for schools, seniors, veterans etc goes on - but that's another story. They need to take off their "drunken sailor goggles" and do their jobs without any obfuscatory excuses.

The following is a reprint of Heather Flynn's letter to the ADN on May 16th 2016. Ms. Flynn is a three term school board member and served on the Anchorage Assembly for 10 years.
The Legislative Information Office was established in the mid '70s as a program to provide information to the citizens of Alaska about bills filed, committee hearings, votes and scheduling of bills, hearings and votes. The office was inspired by the League of Women Voters to assist the citizens in obtaining accurate information about the legislative process and how individuals and groups could have an impact on the process. Additional credit for the establishment of the LIO goes to Sen. John Rader, a true statesman.

The LIO began in what is now the visitor information log cabin at Fourth Avenue and F Street. No heat — only the fireplace — and one telephone. Two women volunteered, both league members, later paid a small stipend, and only during the legislative session. The office migrated to Sixth and K but still was strictly an information office.

The LIO was never intended to house offices for legislators and their staffs. What little staff legislators had usually consisted of a secretary or a volunteer spouse. Legislators conducted business in Juneau during the session. During the interim, their responsibilities were managed from a desk, a study if one's home had a spare room, or on the kitchen table.

One can argue (and I do) that the business of legislating is more complex today than it was 20 or 30 years ago and legislators need additional resources. However, our constitution provides for a citizen Legislature. Hire staff for expertise, not just because you chair a committee or are in the majority. When space is needed for hearings, meetings with constituents or other legislative business, we have ample space in schools, libraries, museums, conference centers and even public parks. For all other business, use the telephone, fax, computer or even a letter in the mail (all of which are deductible on a legislator's personal income taxes).

The legislators' arrogance and failure to appropriately address the critical fiscal issues facing Alaska has led to the LIO fiasco. Get over your caucus and do your job.
Heather Flynn
Anchorage



JUNEAU — A committee of legislative leaders has voted 13-1 to abandon their newly renovated offices in downtown Anchorage and spend up to $12.5 million to replace it with the Wells Fargo building in Spenard near Minnesota Drive and Benson Boulevard.

 Committee Supports Buying Bank Building


Never in this long, sad chronicle of Anchorage’s LIO self inflicted problems have we seen the reason “Anchorage’s legislators” need such a huge amount of office space. I’m with Sen. Bill and Rep. Chris: the Anchorage district legislators can rent minimal office space in the Atwood building. Even at chair Gary Stevens quote of $1.85 per square foot for space at the Atwood Building it is a no-brainer vs buying an entire building for $12.5 million. There are 23 LIO’s throughout the state for legislators in other than Anchorage districts. Use the money for seniors and schools. I hope Gov Walker vetoes this proposal money too.





JUNEAU -- A new proposal under consideration by the Alaska Legislature would relocate lawmakers’ Anchorage offices from downtown to Spenard.

 Legislators looking at Wells Fargo building

 ADN April 27, 2016


And it just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. Who says the legislature gets to appropriate money for a new building at all.  It would most likely need remodeling whereas the Atwood building, state owned BTW, is perfect. So what if the governors offices are there too. And if the Atwood building needs some work the legislative council knows just the company. No bids needed.

 Council chair Stevens hit the nail on the head with "we mess around here so much and it takes us a long time to make a decision." I hope Walker hangs his veto over any new purchase. This is not the time to whittle away state dollars needlessly. The Anchorage LIO is for Anchorage legislatures and their staff when not in Juneau. All others should be at their own LIOs where they belong.



Who will pay for shady LIO deal? It better not be Alaskans.
Commentary by Sam Combs ADN April 13, 2016


Here is an opinion article that mirrors what I feel is the sentiment of the citizens of Alaska regarding the taj mahawker fiasco.

A judge tosses legislature's Anchorage office lease
ADN Mar 24, 2016

And it’s off to the Atwood building for them. Congrats and thanks to Jim Gottstein and Judge McKay. There is plenty of room for Anchorage’s legislators there. There are 23 LIOs throughout the state. Legislators from other Alaska areas should be in their own offices with their constituents when not in session. Any special sessions should be conducted in the capitol. I hope everyone remembers, at election time, the members of the legislative council who enabled the taj mahawker fiasco with misinformed, duplicitous or just plain bad decisions. Also remember them for the waste of the $30,000 advisory fee because they couldn’t do the rudimentary math to figure out it would have been costlier to stay in the new LIO.



 JUNEAU — The Alaska Legislature would save $7.5 million by moving to the state-owned Atwood Building in Anchorage instead of buying its existing, remodeled office space in the city, according to a new independent report commissioned by lawmakers.



Well, it's out, there is no glimmer of economic plus to staying in the taj mahawker.  Lots of numbers in this report, but It's clear that it would be less expensive to move to the state owned Atwood building. One item is odd: the square foot cost comp. is fairly close, when all the previous studies have shown that the square foot rental cost of the new building is much higher than the market rate. Some of that may be that the new analysis uses the LIO itself as a comparison building. This, a slight of the appraisers hand, is only used when comparing unique real estate like hospitals or jails. Plus, the state owns the Atwood building. In this, the age of the internet, email and online reporting there are no reasons to justify a Rolls Royce place of contact with our legislators' assistants or pick up their handouts on how great a job they are doing in Juneau. 



JUNEAU — Lawmakers on Thursday again delayed a final decision on whether they should stay in their renovated Anchorage offices or decamp to a state-owned building elsewhere downtown — prolonging an already lengthy debate over the expensive lease.



So the legislative council now is willing to pay for some "alleged" independent financial expert to tell them whether or not there is a glimmer of economic plus to staying in the taj mahawker. Are they so dysfunctional that they still need time to make a decision after all the negative public input on their (and hawker's) bonehead move? Give me the $20,000 and I'll advise them what to do. Thanks house co-chair neuman for the grammar lesson and all the legislators who voted for the costliest of the remodeling options presented to them. No matter how many times they say "the economy was different when the decision was made" they should always try to make smart money decisions which this obviously wasn't. And if they aren't savvy enough to see them then they should follow hawker out the door.



Anchorage - The lawmakers have moved out and giant construction cranes have taken over a stretch of downtown as work begins on an expensive redo of the Anchorage legislative building. When it's all done, not only will the Legislature's rent for Anchorage balloon fivefold overnight, but on a square-footage basis, the state will pay more than double the going rate for downtown office space, according to a check of leases and space available on Multiple Listing Service.





This link is for anybody who may need a refresher on the doubts, misunderstanding of the process, mishandling and just plain not paying attention by the legislature, the legislative council and its chairman hawker. 

How an appraiser with the qualifications of "West High graduate" was allowed to justify the final value of the remodeled building by comparing it to itself to meet the 10 year lease requirements.
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