• Age as of Oct. 3, 2023

    39

  • Family (immediate/those you live with)

    Supanika Ordóñez, James B Ackerman, Timothy M Ackerman

  • Occupation

    Analyst/Programmer IV (State of Alaska)

  • Previous relevant experience or community involvement

    Juneau Board of Education (2018-2021), ASEA/AFSCME Local 52 Juneau Chapter Executive Board (5 years)

  • Highest level of education

    B.S. Engineering (Computer Systems)

  • Do you support ballot proposition 1?

    Yes

  • What's your favorite spot in Juneau?

    Tie between Chilkat Cove, Cerealsy Milky and Alaska Fudge Co

  • What makes you a good candidate for the Juneau Assembly?

    I think there’s a couple things that really make me stand out from the other candidates. For one, I think the most obvious is that out of the entire field of candidates running in this race, I’m the only one who’s held elected office before. I served three years on the school board from 2018 to 2021, and that gives me experience in not only knowing what it’s like, in being responsive and knowing the practicalities of what I can do, but it also puts me in a position where I have crafted a budget before, where I have had to decide on my own priorities and vote as a group and make these decisions together and work collectively with people. Another thing that really stands out is my approach in really talking to the people. I started my campaign in May, and since then I’ve knocked on almost 1,400 doors.

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

    My thoughts are that they went about, procedurally, the wrong way. The pre-appropriated money, and they put it on the ballot after it was rejected without even considering what other options were available. I think there should have at least been some consideration. But that’s an issue that came out early when I was out knocking doors – people had a lot of objections to it. So I went and toured the current city hall. I have pictures of bags hanging from the roof to contain leaks, I have carpet that is in disrepair and it can’t be repaired because there would need to be asbestos remediation, which would have both financial and workflow consequences to the city. And also there’s the added issue that we’re renting four buildings right now. So I think it actually would pencil out more for the taxpayers of Juneau  to build a new city hall.

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

    I think what we need to do is we need to diversify our tourism industry. We have capacity in the off season to bring more independent travelers here, to bring more cultural tourism to Juneau and attract people for those reasons. When it comes to limiting cruise ships, this year we have five cruise ships at a time, next year we have five cruise ships a day. I think what might be a popular idea is to have one day a month, like a first Friday, where it’s more of a locals’ day, where locals can come and they can interact with the vendors downtown. We don’t have sufficient infrastructure here for the tourists that are coming here. I think we can also better manage when we send people to places like the glacier. Maybe there’s some sort of agreement we can come to to limit the times so that people who live here year round also get a chance to enjoy the beauty around us.

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

    I would like to see some zoning changes to encourage more high-density housing and mixed use housing. I would like to see more affordable housing and middle-income housing brought to Juneau. I think that would be a boost to our economy – bring more professionals here, doctors, nurses, mental health professionals and other services that we need here in Juneau. I think one key to making houses affordable in the long-term is energy efficiency, having heat pumps and EV charger stations something that comes standard, so that it’s easy for people to save money. I have an electric vehicle myself. I pay $20 a month to drive that vehicle. With the price of gas, I think that could be a big cost savings for people.

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  • 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?

    One idea I think would be to separate these hazard maps. It’s nearly impossible to get insurance for landslide hazards. And also reading the documentation from Tetra Tech, they don’t even have confidence enough in their own hazard maps – they have a little disclaimer in Appendix C that basically reads, ‘We didn’t have the resources to conduct a full study on landslides.’ I think what the best course of action would be would be to actually consider the avalanche maps and the landslide hazard maps separately. I think the Assembly needs to act quickly. I was knocking on yet another person’s door who lives in that area, and he was telling me he’s been trying to sell his place for six months, but he can’t because the banks who are lending people money and the insurance companies, they’re looking at those, even though what we have online isn’t the official adopted maps. We haven’t updated the maps since 1987. But the companies are still looking at those maps and they’re being very conservative, and it’s being very difficult for people like him who want to sell their home and downsize and move into something that’s a little more suitable.

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

    What I’m running on, and what I believe are my top three priorities are supporting public education, reducing homelessness and helping to grow our economy and diversify our tourism industry. To do at least a couple of those goals, there are I think two major issues that we need to focus on. If we want to bring professionals here into town to help people who are unhoused when they’re in a stable housing situation, they’re ready to ask for help, they need to have somebody to go to, and we don’t have enough mental health or addiction treatment professionals. If we want to attract those kinds of people here to Juneau, I think it’s important that these young professionals see opportunities. They see a housing market where they can afford to live and they have affordable child care.

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