OPINION: Bill Popp is recapturing our vision for Anchorage

The April 2, 2024, Anchorage mayoral election will be decided by Anchorage voters, not bloggers or political parties. Other than the office of the governor, no other election in Alaska impacts such a collective of municipal and tribal government citizens, private businesses and public service delivery interests. And in 2024, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Let’s face it: Recent years have been difficult for our city. We have struggled to turn the corner on our partisan divides, agree on solutions to homelessness and the basic delivery of public services, overcome municipal leadership challenges and address the critically low staffing of our public service agencies.

Do we overstate our situation? We don’t think so. It seems each week brings fresh news of a municipal leadership crisis, deteriorating management of our homeless population, businesses closing, and outmigration of our workforce and families. This is not the Anchorage we came to nearly 50 years ago. Anchorage is not now the energetic, youthful, and growing town our city founders worked so hard to pass along to us.

At times, this has resulted in Anchorage, the signature city of our “North to the Future” state, looking more like an economic backwater bleeding youth, jobs and business — in short, like a town with a very uncertain future.

Now there is hope. Bill Popp’s entry into the Anchorage mayor’s race gives what so many of us have been waiting for: a reasonable choice who puts politics aside and truly reflects our community’s values and goals. In the 1960s, the military brought his parents to Alaska. Popp is a graduate of East Anchorage High School, married for 44 years to his wife, Nicole, who is a Service High graduate. Together they have two children and two grandchildren.

As a longtime business owner and entrepreneur, Popp understands what it means to provide services and make payroll. As one who has served Alaskans for a long time, he possesses a rare balance of perspective, advocating for a line below which we do not allow our people to live and labor and for a high standard of living in which we are free to reach for the stars, to compete with all our strength.

For the past 16 years, with prescience and clarity, Popp’s steady hand on the tiller of the Anchorage Economic Development Corp. has inspired our community on a path forward with sound economic forecast data and a strong vision of what Anchorage can become when we invest in our future, do not impair the vigor of our businesses and pursue good economic policies.

Bill and Nicole Popp’s employment with Safeway took them to the Kenai Peninsula a few years after high school. There they raised their children, owned and operated two music and bookstores, and volunteered in numerous community efforts to improve civic life.

Popp served six years on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly, including one year as president, and refined his capacity to solve complex public policy challenges while avoiding strong currents that pull towards the shoals of populist impulses and resentment politics. Popp’s keen intellect, statesmanship, and nonpartisan attitude resulted in two successive Kenai Peninsula Borough mayors, Dale Bagley (R) and John Williams (D), appointing him as special assistant to the mayor (2002-2007) on oil, gas and mining policy, as well as special projects.

This experience provided Popp with the understanding that much of the work of the mayor is done not by statutory power, but by goodwill and conciliation with the Assembly, administrative staff and the public they serve and that the daily responsibilities of the mayor are largely administrative. Competency is paramount and mandatory. Anchorage is now beset by problems that underscore this point.

Popp’s professional and volunteer service to the Anchorage community has been immense and shows he possesses the mettle, understanding, and compassion of authentic leadership. His campaign platform shows his concern goes far beyond economic development and responsible budgets, extending to the vulnerable on the margins of our community, the homeless, and victims of crime and cultural division. This is the leadership we need today.

Popp has a vision for the future of Anchorage. He is a people-focused, business-minded political centrist who has long advocated for our future. He reminds us Anchorage is a great treasure, not a lost cause, and brings with him the buoyancy and hope we need to recapture our vision of an Anchorage that is truly for all of us.

On April 2, 2024, please join us in voting for Bill Popp for mayor of Anchorage.

Larry and Barbara Cash have lived almost 50 years in Anchorage, where they founded successful architecture and interior design businesses. Married for 44 years, they have raised their children here and are fiercely committed to a prosperous future for our city.

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