Jeff Jones

What makes you a good candidate for the Juneau Assembly?

I would say my experiences within the local unions that I’ve had with negotiations, being on the e board – essentially we make all the decisions for the union, we pay all the bills, we’re responsible for the building and all that good stuff – and just being a longtime resident of Juneau. I complain about how the city spends their money, so if I don’t want to get involved, I’ve got to stop complaining. So I’m here, I’m getting involved. But I think my union background really helps with the issues we’re having. I think my skills there will definitely benefit.

The city is asking voters to fund a new city hall through a $27 million bond. What are your thoughts?

Absolutely not. The company I work for, we do maintenance for the school district. We know what kind of shape the school district and the hospital are in. We need to focus in other directions. The schools are in shambles, and they need to be fixed before we build a new city hall. Do we need a new city hall? Maybe. But I don’t think now is the time. I think we need to focus on other things.

Do you think the city should limit cruise ship tourism? Why or why not? If so, how?

That’s a tricky one, because that’s some of our biggest revenue in the summertime, and I’d really hate to tell any of my friends or residents of Juneau that you can’t conduct your business because we’re cutting down the number of people that come into town – we’re going to limit your income. I don’t think that’s fair on them. 

Another problem I do have is the number of shops downtown that are not locally-owned. The Huna Totem project is a great deal because it’s only going to allow Alaska residents to be in the shops and the shops have to be open year-round. It makes a big difference. I hate going downtown in the wintertime and seeing all the closed up shops, knowing that all the money that came into Juneau left town with them.

What do you intend to do about Juneau’s housing crisis?

The city’s going to have to release some land. We need to get a developer in that can build some smaller, starter homes – 1,100 or 1,200 square foot homes. We don’t need the Taj Mahals, but we need some small, lower priced – I won’t say lower income because that’s not fair – but I think lower priced homes. There are other ways we can do it, but it’s not an overnight fix. It’s definitely a long process. We can start to increase our mill rate a little bit – I know it’s set at a cap of 12 – but if you increase it a little bit and start lowering property values so the city doesn’t lose tax revenue but we stabilize our property values. I think they’re a little out of hand, but that’s just my opinion.

City-hired experts produced hazard maps for avalanches and landslides — how should the city balance responsible development with the needs of community members already living here?

That’s kind of a touchy subject. I know there’s been a lot of people talking about the whole avalanche control. It’s a necessary evil, unfortunately, because people of Thane need to make it to town, they need to make it to work and they need to go home at night. As far as being able to develop that land, I don’t think there’s anything that can be done to be able to develop it in any useful fashion. Having avalanche control in town is very important.

What do you think is the most important issue facing Juneau right now?

Obviously property taxes. Everybody I talk to, their first thing is “what can you do about property taxes?” That goes back to responsible spending within the city. How are we spending our money? Having a little transparency there to where the people know what we’re spending money on. Granted, I know it’s out online, but nobody wants to go dig for it, they want to have it laid out in front of them. So we definitely need to curb our spending, figure out what our priorities are and focus in that direction. Property values are out of hand, so we need to get that in check. I know it’s expensive to live here, it’s a beautiful place, it’s safe for the most part, but we sure pay a premium for it.