Talk:Anchorage, Alaska

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To-do list for Anchorage, Alaska:

 edit - history - watch - refresh
  • the main History section on Anchorage can be moved to a seperate article
Main article: History of Anchorage, Alaska
and expand it along with pictures of Anchorage in the early days and today
    • improve History section on main article, kinda like Seattle's History section on it's main article with Founding, Major events, and Economic history

For help, go to Seattle or Ann Arbor to check out their articles or History sections. Seattle, Washington and Ann Arbor, Michigan are Featured articles, and we can do the same on Anchorage, Alaska's article as well. Also check out the article on History of Alaska, it is also a Featured article.

  • expand Government section (the section can be renamed Government and politics)
  • the section on Museums is in list form and can be improved by converting them into sentence format (prose)

Sports section

Other sections of main article

  • write articles for red links:
    • Lake Spenard
    • General_Communications,_Inc.
    • Alaska Center for the Performing Arts
    • International Ice Carving Competition
    • Anchorage Concert Association
    • Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum
    • Anchorage Fire Department Museum
    • Russian Orthodox Museum
    • Wolf Song of Alaska
    • Alaska Museum of Natural History
    • Heritage Library Museum
    • Alaska Regional Hospital
    • Alaska Native Medical Center

We need the help of the Wikipedia community on improving this article.

Wondering how to edit this U.S. Borough Entry?
The Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. counties standards might help.

Contents

[edit] Moved History section to the top

I moved the History' section to the top before Geography and Climate section.

I looked back at a lot of major U.S. city articles on how they have their articles and there History section is always at the top before (just above) their Geography and Climate section. JeffreyAllen1975 03:36, 29 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] The Citys Real Nickname?

I found the citys real nickname. Its official nickname is "The City of Lights and Flowers" (Anchorage Community Profile). I've read “Air Crossroads of the World” and "The City of Lights and Flowers" out of the 2003 and 2005 official Anchorage Visitors Guide (Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau), but not "The End of the World". When was this nickname set and by what person or group?---JeffreyAllen1975 04:21, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

Uh, no. Anchorage doesn't have a nickname, it's currently coming up with one. (See here: http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/anchorage/story/7659802p-7571417c.html) It's sort of been swapped around over the years. "City of Lights" is something the city promotes in the winter to get folks to light their houses and yards up, it's not official. I've never heard it as "lights and flowers," and that's one among many names.--Silja 05:11, 13 September 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Put on a few new images

This article needs several more images around Anchorage, like a closer view of downtown Anchorage, the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, and more. It is sad that Anchorage is Alaska's largest city and one of United States major cities and it only has two images on its city article. JeffreyAllen1975 00:21, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

Anchorage still needs a image of the City Flag and City Seal, see below in Contents. JeffreyAllen1975 06:41, 26 November 2005 (UTC)

How's this?--Lordkinbote 00:19, 27 November 2005 (UTC)
You've done a good job on that!--JeffreyAllen1975 01:06, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "Alaskan Qualities"

I know this is a nitpick, but the tone of the following sentence seemed wrong for Wikipedia: "Anchoragites exemplify many of the qualities to be found among Alaskans generally...". It strikes me as too much of a judgement, even if flattering. How about, "Anchoragites exemplify many of the qualities Alaskans often boast...". tgeller 19:15, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

I agree. Not only is the sentence prejudicial; it's so nebulous as to be meaningless. Kirchherr 19:49, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Larry Sanger

I see no reason not to mention Larry Sanger on the Anchorage, Alaska page. Anthony DiPierro 21:54, 19 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I don't think that it's something the town is at all famous for. moink 22:31, 19 Mar 2004 (UTC)
I never said it was something the town was famous for. Anthony DiPierro

[edit] Demographics and Geography

Do we really need these long and boring sections? Maybe move them to a subpage? The page could be much better if we'd stick to an encyclopedic format. Anthony DiPierro 22:42, 19 Mar 2004 (UTC)


[edit] Protected

I have protected the page due to a constant revert war. Resolve any differences in the talk page and I'll remove the protection. Dori | Talk 18:55, Mar 20, 2004 (UTC)

When this page gets unprotected, would someone mind changing the link Chinook winds to Chinook wind. DJ Clayworth 17:52, 22 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Ack! I did this when the page was protected! My first act as an admin was to edit a protected page! I feel really awful but I didn't notice it was protected, not used to being able to do this. I hope everyone sees that I meant no harm. moink 18:27, 22 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Somebody revert that edit and de-sysop her immediately! (just kidding) Even though technically it was against the guidelines, the change is so unobjectionable that acting on the request promptly may be better than waiting and forgetting about it. --Michael Snow 19:07, 22 Mar 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Census information

Moved to Talk:Anchorage, Alaska/Census debate for reading convenience. — Jéioosh 11:52, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] I added the City of Anchorage Population by year

I added the population history by year under demographics. — User:JeffreyAllen1975 04:12, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Independent city?

Is Anchorage's supposed independent city status any different from the status of municipalities in the various other census areas of Alaska that are not in boroughs? That is to say, some parts of Alaska are divided into boroughs, while others are not. Anchorage appears to be in the part that is not. There are other municipalities that are in a similar situation. The US Census Bureau divides up those parts of Alaska which are not in boroughs into census areas. Because Anchorage is so large, it gets its own, while the other cities just become part of whatever census area is drawn up around them. But in terms of their relationship to the government of Alaska, is, say, Nome actually any different from Anchorage? john k 05:41, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Sort of. The state of Alaska is formally divided into sections called boroughs, with unboroughfied areas considered to be census area. These areas may elect state senators and representatives but have no areal government; or there may be separate senate and representative electoral districts which are not coterminous with the census area. There are also incorporated cities within boroughs which have internal governments, and in any borough one must serve as the borough seat. (Alaska also has incorporated villages, which are smaller than cities and have less government and services.) An example of the census area is the Wrangell-Petersburg Census Area, Alaska which covers two incorporated cities. These cities are of nearly equal size and neither wishes to lose its equal status to the other for one of them to become a borough seat of government, so they stay separate but grouped in a census area. (Note that Wrangell and Ketchikan, Alaska together form a senate district, not including Petersburg. Yes, this is insanely confusing, a hallmark of Alaskan politics which is our primary indoor sport. Wrangell and Petersburg have a strong rivalry, btw.) If you see Juneau, Alaska or Sitka, Alaska you will find that they are a single borough with a municipality whose boundaries happen to be coterminous with the borough's.
Anchorage is apart from all of this, a special case. Its municipality is on an equal status with the other boroughs, and no borough exists to encompass the municipality. This was done because previously Anchorage had both a borough and several cities (Spenard, Indian, Portage), with the City of Anchorage holding only the area of downtown Anchorage and the former extending to the rest of the Anchorage area. These two levels of government competed with each other, and since the city had basically grown to swallow most of the separate city-areas a decision was made to bring the two groups together. The entire thing was called a municipality so that it would reflect the fact that it is a city government, not a rural borough government with a particular city seat. This made Anchorage the only municipality in the state without a surrounding borough, as well as the second largest (in area) city and the largest municipality in the US. Other boroughs in the state compete with the governments of incorporated cities, but not to the extent that the conflict has encouraged people to do away with the borough as Anchorage has done. In the case of places like Juneau and Sitka the borough and city governments have AFAIK simply been declared to be identical, which solves a lot of problems. The difference between them and Anchorage is that Anchorage changed its name to a municipality, the others simply keep the name borough and city. Further details of government differences are fairly low level and immaterial from an encyclopedic perspective. Does that make sense?
I should note that Spenard still occasionally claims independent status as a city, although this is legally and politically not true, and is mostly done as a joke or for political posturing. The US Postal Service will however accept mail sent to Spenard, Alaska, even without zip code. The Spenard Community Council also sometimes refers to Spenard as The City of Spenard unofficially. It's one of a few parts of Anchorage that maintain a separate sense of identity, others are Girdwood, Indian, Bird Creek, Eagle River, Muldoon, and so forth. All of those used to be separate communities in the borough. They also elect their own state senators and representatives. — Ts'éiyoosh 00:22, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Link suggestions

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[edit] sister city?

i've seen on many pages for cities that anchorage is a sister city. last of which is perth australia

If you see them, feel free to add them. I don't think anyone has looked into Anchorage's sister cities on Wikipedia. — Jéioosh 06:48, 18 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] sister city - it's the right answer on all six

I just wanted to let everybody know that i got the right answers on the sister city names by looking off the Anchorage Municipality's main web site. There are six sister city names on that web site, if you just look back at it. — User:JeffreyAllen1975 00:36, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] A closer view photo of downtown Anchorage could be added on!

One or two more photos of the Anchorage area could be added to the Anchorage photo line on it's articles. The articles keep getting better each time. I would like to say, keep up the good work because i am a Wikipedla fan on here too. — User:JeffreyAllen1975 01:02, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] A portal has been added

A photo of the Balto Statue in downtown Anchorage had been added. — User:JeffreyAllen1975 20:39, 23 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Unexplained changes to latitude and longitude

User:JeffreyAllen1975, a.k.a. User:Jeff, you changed the location of Anchorage from N61º13"06,W149º53"57' to N61º11"30 W149º45"43'. I checked the new coordinates against the National Geodetic Survey Datasheets website, and found that there is no survey point identified as being in Anchorage that is within 2 miles of the new coordinates. However, 26 of the 38 survey points identified as being in Anchorage are within 2 miles of the old coordinates, the closest one being the TV station KENI mast, just 0.1 miles away at N61º13"06,W149º53"41'. I understand that you want to make the Wikipedia better, Jeff, and so do I. I'm guessing you made these changes based on a map, and that they are well-intentioned. If you feel your source is better than the NGS Datasheets, then please help us out by documenting it, and then we can have a discussion in the Talk pages and achieve consensus before making the change to the Wikipedia proper. Thanks for helping to make Wikipedai better!
--GraemeMcRaetalk 04:45, 22 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Thank You for telling me because you are right on that one because;

Downtown Anchorage does happen to lie on the N61'13"06,W149'53"41' and we get it all right this time around." Thank you for the request " done a good job on that. — User:JeffreyAllen1975 07:10, 22 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Anchorage City Seal and City Flag needed

Anchorage still needs a city Seal and city Flag added. — User:JeffreyAllen1975 02:42, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

:Well, you could steal the small seal logo from [1]. Or you could write the mayor at mayor@ci.anchorage.ak.us. I think a secretary answers that email, but still it'd start the ball rolling. — Jéioosh 05:38, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

:Well, I tried to upload the image, but I don't know how to work the Upload file, and I know that someone out there knows how to work it. JeffreyAllen1975 06:00, 25 November 2005 (UTC)

I just uploaded an image of the flag, which bears the seal, if that helps.--Lordkinbote 00:10, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] King Career Center?

I'm not sure King Career Center really belongs under "Colleges and Universities," because it is part of the ASD and provides services only to high school students. Stellertony the Bookcrosser 08:00, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Unexplained removing of the Notable neighborhood communities list?

User:Stellertony, You removed the list of Notable neighborhood communities on the article. That list of communities are the Anchorage neighborhood communities. I understand that that you want to make the Wikipedia better, and so do I. I'm guessing you made these changes based on a map. If you feel you think that are no neighborhood communities, as a part of Anchorage, then look on Mappoint, because they are on there as a part of the Anchorage Municipality. If you feel your source is better, then please help us out by documenting it, and then we can have a discussion in the Talk pages and achieve consensus before making the change to the Wikipedia proper. Thanks for helping to make Wikipedia better!
---JeffreyAllen1975 talk 21:23, 15 November 2005 (UTC)


(Put Notable neighborhood communities back on there)

[edit] Put Notable neighborhood communities back on there

I put the Anchorage Neighborhood Communities on a separate article sheet. Look at the bottom of the Geography section for it. User:JeffreyAllen1975 21:26, 16 November 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Notable communities & neighborhods question.

JeffreyAllen1975: Unless there is some information available about these neighborhoods, how is this list useful to anyone? --McStyles 20:57, 22 September 2006 (UTC)


[edit] added Insurgent49 to media list

Insurgent49 (or "i49"), based in Anchorage, is Alaska's top source of progressive news and opinion. 10,000 copies of this newspaper are distributed every month throughout the Anchorage area and Fairbanks. Its website, www.insurgent49.com, is updated weekly.

[edit] History of Anchorage, Alaska

I made-out the article on History of Anchorage, Alaska. JeffreyAllen1975 02:14, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Suggested modifications to the Anchorage history Secion.

Russia was well-established in North America by the 1800s. True but irrelevant to Anchorage, which essentially has no trace of Russian influence, having been founded in 1915. Should be deleted.

In 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward brokered a deal to purchase Alaska from debt-ridden Russia for $7.2 million, about two cents an acre.

True to a point, but belongs in an Alaskan History article as it long predates the founding of Anchorage. In fact, the Russians sold Alaska because it was indefensible if the a war broke out with the UK, which was feared on a number of occasions following the Crimean War. Should be deleted.


Alaska's value was not appreciated by the American press at that time, calling it "Seward's folly", "Seward's icebox", and "Walrussia". This statement is false. Most of the American papers and public supported the purchase. There were some noted exceptions that used those appelations, but the value of the purchase was instantly obvious to anyone who looked as the income from the lease of the Pribilof Islands fur seal operation alone paid the entire purchase price of Alaska back to the Federal government within a decade of 1867! Unfortunately I'm at work and don't have any cites handy, but I did my senior project as a history major under Dr. Stephen Haycox at University of Alaska Anchorage on the fur seal operation and purchase and the numbers are obvious. It is irrelevant in any case, and Should be deleted.

Otherwise seems fine.

Shawn Cromett

[edit] Added Discussion of Wildlife

I added a small discussion of Anchorage wildlife, citing the recent urban brown bear study and BBC film crew's interest in the matter. I don't have reliable figures on how many moose or bear are in Anchorage, as everyone has a different number. So I left off any attempt to make a calculation. It also depends on what you include in your definition of Anchorage, since the Muni includes a great deal of true wilderness

[edit] This article reads like a tourist advertisement.

Ignoring the blatant lack of citations in nearly every paragraph, this article is marred by poetic adjectives and biased descriptions which are unencyclopedic and devoid of sources. This is a mere sample of numerous sentences which read like a tourist brochure --

"baskets of bright gold triploid marigold drenched with trailing sapphire lobelia."

"The city of Anchorage blooms with vibrant color during the late spring and summer."

"particularly attractive to nature lovers to say nothing of the attractions available just a short distance outside the city"

"Anchorageites exemplify many of the qualities [...] found among Alaskans [...]: independence, friendliness, practical-mindedness"

"gives Anchorage a relatively casual, relaxed atmosphere compared to some other American cities"

"Anchorage has an abundance of nightlife"

Again, those are just a few examples.

Now, I am not contending that any of this information is untrue; however, the lack of citations and the flowery, laudatory wording needs to be amended.

--Flask 22:26, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Balto or no?

If the statue of the dog is mistaken for the dog Balto and is in fact just an anonymous dog, why is the image named "statue_of_balto"? 71.116.241.123 00:32, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

Because nobody’s bothered to rename it? — Jéioosh 09:52, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A few questions

I was looking at a topo map of the area, & it appears that Anchorage is running of room to grow, since it is surronded by the Chugach State Park. Also, why is there no settlement across the Knik Arm from Anchorage, or no bridge across the Knik Arm? I also noticed that the ave income for women is much higher than men ($63k to $41K). Is that the biggest gap in men to women's income of any US city?

There’s no expansion of the city across the Knik Arm from Anchorage because it’s too hard to get there by road from Anchorage. It takes up to an hour just to drive to Wasilla, and from there the Knik–Goose Bay Road isn’t exactly a great thoroughfare. Although a water crossing would be viable during the summer months, it isn’t feasible during the winter when the strong tides push sea ice vigorously through the narrow channel. A bridge across the Knik Arm to Point Mackenzie is supposedly “on the way”, and was the subject of much congressional debate when funding for it was part of a US transportation bill this last session. This was one of the two so-called “Bridge to Nowhere” projects, the other being a bridge (actually two bridges) from Revillagigedo Island (the town) to Gravina Island (the airport) in the city of Ketchikan, Alaska.
There are some political problems with expansion of Anchorage across the Arm. For one, the Municipality of Anchorage has no sales tax, whereas the Matanuska-Susitna Borough on the other side has one as its main source of income. Conversely, the Borough has no property tax, whereas the Municipality has a property tax which is its main source of income. Easy travel from one location to the other would encourage people to own property in the Borough and spend money in the Municipality, depriving both governments of tax income. Another issue is that most of the land immediately accessible on the other side of the Arm from Anchorage is already owned, primarily by prominent local politicians. Any bridge construction would drive prices quite high, lining the pockets of the politicians at the expense of the locals. — Jéioosh 09:52, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
FYI, the Mat-Su Borough has property taxes just the same as Anchorage. —akghetto talk 05:23, 6 September 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Re-Added Venues sub Section

I re-added the venues section as a sub section for the purpose of a link to the new pages for the Egan Center and the new Dena'ina Center. There has been a bit of a revision war on this page but I would like to point out that these city pages are best suited for the reader who is not familiar with the area. Thousands of these people will visit Anchorage as part of a convention or national meeting and information on these facilites should be provided. A large asset of wikipedia is the ability to link between wiki pages, while some info may be provided on another page, it is not redundant to use a small piece of that page as a link between. I wrote this to valide the venues sub section which someone saw fit to delete without explanation, I hope the reason for this section is clear and that it will not be deleted again. I welcome and encourage additions and improvements. --McStyles 22:15, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Copyright infringement?

According to [2] this article contains copyright infringements. 82.135.91.95 08:06, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 36 Crazyfists not the only signed musical act.

36 Crazyfists is listed under "Notable Residents" as Alaska's only signed musical act. What about Jewel? I would change it but I wanted verification that Jewel is in fact another signed musical act hailing from Alaska. Maybe it could be changed to Anchorage's only signed musical act.--Caline 00:09, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

- Neither 36 Crazyfists nor Jewel hail from Alaska anymore. Both acts relocated to other states before signing to labels.

[edit] Grace Christian the only notable private school?

The paragraph about private education appears to be a thinly-veiled advertisement for Grace Christian School: "Grace Christian School, a K-12 grade community Christian school, offers a rigorous college-preparatory program that emphasizes critical thinking, skill building and character development-within a traditional classroom format. Visit their Web Site at: [16] for more information." I suggest that either the description is changed, or more examples of private schools are added.

[edit] Nightlife

The "Nightlife" section appears to be focused too much on highlighting the attributes of certain bars. ("Great service", "big screen TV", etc). Do we really need to list the individual clubs? If we do can we find a way to be more NPOV about it? -Will Beback 20:18, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What Happened?

All I have to say is that this article looked MUCH better and cleaner 3 months ago, when I don't know what happened. Do we really need the list of neighborhoods in Anchorage in the main article? Nicholas.tan 16:25, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] climate number wrong

i live in anchorage and in the summer BeckBoy Ak 03:57, 22 November 2006 (UTC)it rarely if ever gets to 80 degrees. litteraly almost never.

You're right. The range given for highs in the summer is 55 to 80, a range so large that it is meaningless (as an aside, the highs in Houston in December are usually between 22 and 85; for St. Louis in December highs are usually between -5 and 76). I meant to do a partial rewrite of it yesterday but got distracted 3 times! Thanks for reminding us (me). I'll get to it soon. Ufwuct 06:43, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Anchorage bigger in area than Rhode Island and Delaware combined?

That's what the intro says, but the info box puts Anchorage's area at around 1961 sq. mi. while Delaware alone is over 2400 sq. mi. Can someone justify the bigger than both claim before I remove it? - Jeff Worthington 20:36, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

Looks suspect to me, too. -- Shunpiker 18:32, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Fact-checked and updated: Anchorage (1,961 sq. mi.) is larger than Rhode Island (1,545 sq. mi.) but not Delaware (2,489 sq. mi.) -- Shunpiker 22:47, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

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