OPINION: Anchorage’s next mayor should chart a pro-business course

After three years of the Dave Bronson administration, we need to assert a basic fact: Anchorage’s mayor needs to be pro-business. The next mayor needs to be able to focus on pulling us out of the economic stagnation that has been harming our city for years. We believe Suzanne LaFrance, who has more than two decades of private sector experience and a proven record in local government, is the best person to lead Anchorage to economic recovery. Our business community and mayor should work together as we look toward a new administration.

There have been many proposed paths to success for Anchorage over the years. Initiatives like the Roadmap to a Vital and Safe Anchorage (RVSA) are evidence that businesses, nonprofits and community leaders are primed and motivated to get to work on the issues that the current administration has failed to address. We embrace the broader business community’s prioritization of economic development that focuses on business vitality, talent, quality of place, and infrastructure. Our local government must be a partner in these efforts, and here’s how it can be.

Talent is a key factor for our success as a community. Anchorage has been suffering from out-migration for years, with the greatest losses among working-age adults. This hollowing-out of the workforce has profound negative effects, including persistent labor shortages affecting just about every sector of our economy. To grow, Anchorage must be a great place for young people and young families to live, work, and play. The next mayor will need to prioritize investment in schools, parks, trails, libraries, arts and culture, and other amenities that families expect. Other cities across America are investing in these quality-of-life amenities to attract and retain talent and we cannot fall any further behind. LaFrance has a long record of supporting investments like these in her role on the Assembly and as a leader in business. With a family of school-age kids in South Anchorage, she has faced these issues personally, and is deeply invested in schools and other institutions that are so important for our economic growth.

Our business community has identified “quality of place” as a key strategy for economic growth. The next mayor must play a critical role in increasing the supply of housing, accelerating downtown revitalization and infill development, leveraging Anchorage’s recreational assets, and reducing the number of unhoused people experiencing homelessness. Again, LaFrance has a proven record of championing these initiatives in the Assembly, and has championed permitting reform to support infill development, redevelopment and expansion of our housing supply.

Many of our economic development opportunities relate to our infrastructure. The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is now the third-busiest cargo hub in the world, and the continued development of this hub with integration into maritime shipping is a major economic opportunity for our city and state. We will need to continue rebuilding the Port of Alaska to prevent catastrophic disruption of food and all other business and consumer goods in the event of a major earthquake, and LaFrance has been a champion of the Port for a long time. Our business leaders also champion strengthening Anchorage’s walking and bicycling infrastructure and using our transportation infrastructure to support local business. These are important reforms for revitalizing Downtown and Midtown, as well as commercial corridors throughout the city.

Before serving in local government, LaFrance worked in the telecommunications industry for more than two decades. This was a period of transformation in her industry. We need a transformative vision for Anchorage and a focus on pro-business policy and economic growth. That’s who LaFrance is — her record of pro-business policy is proven through years of service and collaboration, and we look forward to working with her on a new era of growth and prosperity for Anchorage as we grow our businesses.

Max Kubitz, Carl Johnson, Dan Volland, Kate Consenstein and Barbara Norton are small business owners in Anchorage.

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