OPINION: Assembly was right to postpone port naming decision

The ADN editorial board totally mischaracterized the Anchorage Assembly’s discussion about renaming Anchorage’s port after Don Young.

First, they characterized the issue as a “political slam dunk.” They inflated the value of the unanimous (three votes) recommendation of a committee, ignoring that this committee was formed for the sole purpose of considering this idea. The naming was apparently originally recommended by one person, the president of an Eklutna group, and was approved by both of Alaska’s U.S. senators and Rep. Mary Peltola. So that’s seven people who said, “Yes, do this now” — hardly a public consensus. The Assembly’s role was not political at all, and the Assembly members serve as nonpartisans. The Assembly ultimately voted to postpone a final decision because of the need to get more diverse public input and to follow the precedent of the process for naming sites after people.

The Assembly did not vote against Don Young. The ADN editorial board took great umbrage at comments from Assembly member Karen Bronga. They quoted her as commenting that Young was a bully and disrespectful toward women, and that she was not sure that we should name a port for him just because he brought a lot of money to Alaska. The editorial did not even try to pretend that Bronga’s comments about Young’s reputation for being overly brusque with many people, including young school children, were not factually true. They did not discuss what criteria there should be to qualify using the name of a person to name a site, apparently because to them, no one should ever question whether we should immediately rush to rename the port for Don Young now.

Does the ADN editorial board think that we should automatically name a public site after everyone who brings a lot of money to Alaska, ignoring any other facts? The committee that ADN referred to did not consider any other possible names for the port, nor any other sites to be named for Young. There hasn’t been an opportunity for diverse public opinion to discuss and evaluate all options.

As I recall, there was significant, robust debate about the proposal to rename East High to Bettye Davis East High. One could easily argue that the naming of a local high school after a local lady who lived in Anchorage, served on the local school board, and represented Anchorage in the state Legislature, should have been a “political slam dunk”. But instead, there was lots of public input and robust discussion, which is healthy. The truth is, famous people who are now deceased are not perfect. A person can be a cantankerous curmudgeon and still do lots of wonderful things for Alaska.

Not every deceased person who did great things for Alaska is going to have a public site named for them after they die. That doesn’t mean these people are not worthy of honor or admiration by many people. The real issues are who will make the decision, what are the best criteria for deciding for whom sites should be named, and what sites are to be renamed.

The Assembly was right to postpone this issue temporarily so that we can have more diverse public input and follow a precedent for naming sites. Let’s not trade public process, transparency, and honesty to rush into renaming the port immediately. It is fine as the Port of Alaska now and there are many possible options to proceed, including (but not limited to): leaving the name Port of Alaska, naming it Don Young Port, naming it Rick Mystrom Port, Tom Fink Port, and so on.

We used to create stories about famous public people once they died and pretend they were perfect — recall the often-repeated story about George Washington admitting to his dad that he cut down the cherry tree. I’m not against naming the port for Don Young unless public input shows people would rather leave it as Port of Alaska, or name it after a local person. But let’s not criticize a current Assembly person who was elected as a nonpartisan as a “political lightweight” just because she acknowledged that Young was not perfect and maybe naming the port after him at this time is not our best option.

Joanne Kell is a retired insurance adjuster. She lives in Anchorage.

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