Full Transcript for From Powder Turns to Public Projects

then, if they go beyond that, that requires a a lot of extra work and it doesn't generate a lot of extra revenue because most of the folks going are like you and me. They have passes. Speaker 5: 04:41 Yeah. Yeah. And especially with the staffing thing because they have a lot of out of state folks coming in to work for the winter and a lot of them leave towards the end of the March time to go back to their perspective of homes or towns or countries wherever they may be coming from to work here for the winter. So that's kind of part of their contract. They roll out of here towards the March. Speaker 5: 05:00 So then it's just mainly local workers up at Ewell Crest for the remainder of the winter. Right. Speaker 3: 05:05 And it's it takes a certain base number of people to spin all those, you know, spin the lifts Mhmm. Even without black bear running. So well, we'll just see. But I guess the the the next but the first best thing is let's just hope we get some snow and we can get some regular season skiing in up there. Speaker 5: 05:19 Yeah. I hope so too. Speaker 3: 05:20 Indeed. So, did you watch the Super Bowl? Speaker 5: 05:24 I did not. I'm actually not a huge football person. And I know it's weird. Like, I know usually folks are like I go, gotta watch Super Bowl. Even if you don't watch regular season football, usually folks tune in just to watch Super Bowl, but I'm not one of those folks. Speaker 3: 05:36 No. I confess. Neither am I. So but I was interested to hear that the Eagles won. It sounds Speaker 5: 05:40 like it Speaker 3: 05:40 was a real reversal from the last time those two teams played. Mhmm. And I'm sure many people were watching. I know, people told me that they went to who would who made the mistake or had were forced to go to Costco on Saturday afternoon and said it was epically busy. Speaker 5: 05:53 Oh, I've been. Speaker 3: 05:54 Just, like, off the charts, like nothing they had ever seen. Mhmm. So, well, but hopefully, that's, everyone had a nice, nice time watching the game yesterday. I know a lot of people, it's really important for it. Speaker 6: 06:03 It's big Speaker 3: 06:03 big big social time. Speaker 5: 06:05 I think with the Chiefs, since they're such a big standing team, the Eagles definitely had something to prove against the Chiefs this year because, obviously, they've been in the limelight. They've been winning games. They've been like, oh, we're the NFL team of the season. So Eagles definitely had something to prove and show off against the Chiefs, I believe. So that's why they probably went went a little harder against the Super Bowl this year against the Chiefs. Speaker 5: 06:27 So I'm yeah. I think it was a good game from what I've saw and heard. Speaker 6: 06:30 And Speaker 3: 06:31 Yeah. I mean, I I even though I'm not super into it, I was just curious to know where it was. So I checked in from time to time on a on my phone just to see and then, of course, hear what the final result was.

But, that, that has come and gone and football is on the back shelf, for a while. And, now we have other things to look forward to and enjoy as spring comes in. Speaker 3: 06:50 Well, the other thing about, this this cold weather though is, Oak Lake is frozen. Twin Lakes right out the window here at the Juno Media Center. Nice and frozen. Lots of people ice skating lately. Speaker 5: 07:01 I walked over to the Minh Hall Lake. I kinda did the marine trail over there. Mhmm. I kinda walked out to the lake. There's a fair amount of people walking on the Minh Hall Lake yesterday, just kinda going out to the glacier, walking back, and it seemed pretty sturdy. Speaker 5: 07:14 And even my dog went out a fair amount of ways. I didn't dare to go out on the ice, but Ariel went and jumped ahead and was zooming around and seemed pretty solid out there. Speaker 3: 07:23 Well, it's it's a deeper lake, of course, than Auk Lake or Twin Lakes, certainly. And so it takes longer for that deep water to freeze up. Mhmm. But, yeah. Just gotta be careful. Speaker 3: 07:32 And so good. Yeah. And it just really is beautiful, of course. All the snow up, in the mountains, and we could sure use some more down here at sea level, though. Speaker 5: 07:38 Oh, yeah. What about the halftime show? A lot of stuff is, like, I've been seeing all over social media with Kendrick Lamar and how much of a blowout that halftime show was, especially as far as the dissing and just the performance overall. I think I was seeing seeing clips and people were, like, going to a Super Bowl just to see Kendrick Lamar for the halftime show. Speaker 3: 07:58 Well, that is I mean, and obviously, you know, for for many years, the halftime show and the ads are sort of standalone events as important as the game itself. Speaker 7: 08:06 Mhmm. Speaker 3: 08:07 I did not watch the halftime show either, but I imagine I could go back and find lots and lots of recordings of it on YouTube. Yeah. Yeah. But it sounds like, it sounds like it was a festive day and, kind of a really hard fought game. And, I wonder, you know, I know I know I know people who are partisans for both teams. Speaker 3: 08:26 So not everyone can be happy, but that's the way football works. That's the way all sports contest works. Someone wins, someone loses, life goes on. Mhmm. Well, great. Speaker 3: 08:35 Well, this is problem corner. So if you have a problem you'd like to talk about, give us a ring at 586-1800. Anything you're in the market to buy or sell, we will do our best to try to help you with that, because that is one of the services that has always been provided on this program. I'm gonna be looking at having some more, guests from the local arts community on in the coming weeks. And maybe some of our elected officials. Speaker 3: 08:59 You know, I didn't wanna get anyone who was newly elected to the assembly, too soon after last fall's election. Mhmm. But now they're up and running. They've had many meetings under their belt. The budget process is getting underway in earnest. Speaker 3: 09:11 So I'm gonna see if I can maybe get Neil Snyder or, one of the other assembly members to come on and kinda talk about some of the things that are happening on the assembly because there's a lot going on. You know, but they recently, took public testimony on some of the mitigation efforts that are being looked at and are are going to happen, are actually currently underway, for the Mendenhall River flooding, including those Hesco barriers. Not everyone likes those, but there's a local improvement district that has has come in is coming into being to help pay for that. So that's one issue that people may be interested in, but I believe we have a call. Speaker 5: 09:43 We do have a call. Let's get them on the show. Speaker 3: 09:45 Hello. You are on problem corner. What can we do for you today? Speaker 8: 09:49 Good morning. Speaker 3: 09:50 Good morning. Speaker 8: 09:52 I'd like to share, Lois Wilson service today, Fourth And Gold at 02:00. Bring a dish, and thank you for your program. Speaker 3: 10:06 Alright. So that's a service for Lois Wilson, and that's at Fourth And Gold at 2PM. And thanks for the call. If you knew Lois Wilson, you may want to attend that. 2PM, again, at Fourth And Gold, and the caller asked that you maybe bring a dish to share with others who will be there celebrating Lois as well. Speaker 3: 10:21 So appreciate that call. And, yeah. We're here here, waiting for for other calls at 586-1800. It is problem corner. Legislative session is, underway. Speaker 3: 10:32 And, on the news, before we came on the air, there was an interview with senator Kiel. He was actually our speaker at the Juno Chamber of Commerce luncheon last week. Speaker 5: 10:41 Okay. Speaker 3: 10:42 And, he was, you know, he's been doing this for a while now. Before he became a senator, he was a staffer for the late senator Dennis Egan, who, of course, used to be the host of this show. Yeah. So he knows what's going on in the capital pretty well. He serves on the senate finance committee now, and he was able to share with us some some good information about the budget, the challenges that we're facing, you know, oil and the current price is not gonna make us richer than richer than creases. Speaker 3: 11:07 I guess, is how the the ancient Greek proverb saying goes. No. But but it's gonna be a lean year, is is is the phrase one hears in the capital, lean year. And so, that means that there won't be a lot of stuff in the capital budget, which is the budget that is, to you usually is what what is considered that, which is spent on capital items, construction projects. I think he said about a hundred and 50,000,000 in state money to match about $850,000,000 in federal money. Speaker 5: 11:32 Oh, well. Speaker 3: 11:33 Yeah. But is there still are, a lot of, federal grants, especially for things like highways, that are really important. Now, obviously, with some of the

uncertainty coming out of our nation's capital about federal funding, just in the last item on the news before we came on the air, Justin, it was a story about a judge putting in a not just a temporary injunction, but a final order of halting the rescission or the freezing of federal grant funding that had come out from the Trump administration a couple of weeks ago. And Alaska certainly needs those federal dollars. 1 of the projects that, the city and borough of Juneau has been successful in getting federal grant money for is the North Douglas Crossing. Speaker 3: 12:08 And that's a big Chamber of Commerce priority. Speaker 5: 12:10 Mhmm. Speaker 3: 12:10 And so there's been lots of, debate about what the best location for that would be, and that is a debate that continues. I personally, you know, I mean, the Mendenhall, refuge, State Game Preserve is is a lovely place a piece of land, but it's probably also the most logical place for a crossing to go through because it is very shallow. You know, it it it it's not gonna be deep even even at the highest tide, and that'll make it technologically easier to and less expensive to build a crossing there. It'd be nice to build a big bridge, you know, over from the Mendenhall Peninsula, but then it's obviously much deeper out there in Fritz Cove and much more difficult to put to to put up a crossing in. Speaker 5: 12:48 Yeah. I can't even think about the all the logistics go in just to build a road across that across Gaston right there on the flats there to even think about, like, the whole environmental surveys they need to have to happen if put those roads in. And, yeah, it's definitely a process. How far out do you think that, like, the planning is still going out for that North Douglas crossing? Speaker 3: 13:09 Well, there's a Pell study going on and then there needs to be a NEPA study. And NEPA is the National Environmental Policy Act. That's the more rigorous of the two. Mhmm. But those are things that are mandated in federal law before a project like this can take place. Speaker 3: 13:24 And it's many years away still. But, and and and so one of the grants that the city got recently is called a RAISE grant, and I can't remember what that acronym stands for. But that was, tens of millions of dollars that, has helped with the current planning process that's underway and the scoping and looking at the various potential locations. One of the locations is actually, right near where we are here. And it would be but I mean, this is so close to the existing Douglas Bridge, it really wouldn't do a whole lot to improve traffic flows and make it easy to get from the valley in North Douglas. Speaker 3: 14:01 Yeah. The farther one goes from the existing bridge up the channel, the more helpful that's going to be. There, of course, you know, are valid concerns that it can't be too close to the runways at the airport, but I think that's been taken into account. So, you know, when people look at the Vanderbilt, Hill Road, there, you know, would would turn off. That that seems to be a point at which it makes a lot of sense. Speaker 3: 14:24 Sunny Point is also discussed, of course, as well. That goes through a residential neighborhood there, so that's a little bit, more challenging. But the important thing is the process is underway and public comment has been received at meetings and the engineers are looking at all the different options and costing, you know, scoping out what each of the various options would cost. So, it's just something we as a community need to be mindful of, because, you know, we did have a a boat strike the the Douglas Bridge A Couple Years ago. Nothing horrible happened, but that would be a true catastrophe if that if that, bridge were to be damaged and not be usable Yeah. Speaker 3: 14:55 For any length of time. Speaker 5: 14:58 It would be crazy to think, like, if that gas venturing was deep enough, like, they have one of those, like, like, extending bridges, like, in big cities where it, like, folds up. Speaker 3: 15:06 Oh, right. Yeah. Drawbridge. Yeah. Drawbridge. Speaker 3: 15:07 Yeah. Speaker 5: 15:07 Drawbridge and having that kind of set up downtown. But, obviously, we're we don't have the depth to even need to have that right there at the bridge. But I always thought it was cool in Tacoma where they had one of those bridges and always had to wait there if you got stuck there in traffic. Speaker 3: 15:22 Yeah. Draw bridges are are, of course, have been around for centuries, and they are, one technological way to, you know, put a bridge in some place, but not interfere with the maritime traffic. We don't really have that much in the channel because it's so shallow of a draft. But that's certainly one option. And again, you know, all the options need to be looked at, the the relative cost compared side by side, and then, decision made about how to go forward. Speaker 3: 15:46 And I'm confident that's gonna continue happening, and then we at the chamber really, really support that work. And, we're grateful, for the support of our congressional delegation and getting federal funds to help us do it. And, obviously, not just to plan it, but to get the federal funds to help us build the thing will be really huge. So Okay. Yeah. Speaker 3: 16:04 I'm actually gonna be going back to Washington again early in March, mostly for some arts advocacy. But whenever I'm there and I have a chance to see senator Murkowski and senator Sullivan and congressman Begich, always like to thank them for their support for the capital city, for the flood mitigation. You know, that's another very expensive thing that would be difficult for us to manage as a community without ins assistance from our federal government. And then also projects like North Douglas Crossing. They've all they're all aware of the need, and I think they've been really supportive of that as well. Speaker 5: 16:30 Oh, good. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 3: 16:33 So,

problem corner? Speaker 5: 16:34 We have a couple minutes before we had to take a break, actually. So Speaker 3: 16:38 Excellent. Well, if you have something you'd like to announce, an event, someone's birthday you'd like to mention, or anniversary, we're happy to help with all those things. You can give us a call at 586-1800. And what's the, email again, Justin? Speaker 5: 16:50 All you gotta do is go to k I n y radio dot com. Just click on that menu button right there at the top left of the screen, whether it's mobile, on desktop, it's still gonna be on the left. Just three bars, like, blue little bars for the menu button. Go to contact us. It could be anything. Speaker 5: 17:05 You could submit it for birthdays, problem corner, a community event, whatever you wanna get out on the air. I'll get it all here, whether it's directed for problem corner or not. So, yeah, just swing on over to our website and you fill out that form. It'll get sent right to me. Speaker 3: 17:19 Excellent. Well, that's another way to communicate with us here at, problem corner this Monday morning. It's about half past the hour. And, maybe you wanna call and let us know your favorite thing about the Super Bowl that happened yesterday. Or, if you know anymore about, how we're gonna make it snow. Speaker 3: 17:36 If you've got the secret for getting some snow, we we skiers would appreciate you sharing that with us. Speaker 5: 17:42 We gotta do our snow dances, whatever it may look like. As long as you're thinking snow while you're dancing, that's a snow dance. Speaker 3: 17:47 It's really amazing the variation. You know, these last two years, we sure sir certainly have not had a problem having enough snow. Speaker 5: 17:53 Mhmm. Well, last year was kinda similar to this year where it was very minimal snowfall and, like, we at least had enough snow to for the start of the season last year that the Upper Mountain was open. Like, in December and Christmas break time, you're at at least able to ski on the Upper Mountain. But this year, it was, like, not even happening. We do have a call real quick. Speaker 5: 18:11 We'll take the call and we'll take a quick commercial break. Speaker 3: 18:13 Excellent. Hello, and welcome to problem corner. Hello, or can you hear us? Speaker 7: 18:22 Yeah. Hey. The, secret to getting snow is if you have a truck with a plow on it or a ATV with a plow on it, take it off. There you go. Speaker 3: 18:34 So I guess if I put the shovels away, that I have out around the doors to my house and just pretend like I'm not gonna need them, that should help as well? Speaker 7: 18:41 Yeah. Yeah. Put it all away. Speaker 3: 18:42 Alright. Just just like not carrying an umbrella. If you bring an umbrella, it won't rain. If you don't, it will. Speaker 7: 18:48 Yeah. My my least favorite, thing about the Super Bowl yesterday was the halftime show. Speaker 3: 18:54 Oh, really? What did you not like about it? Speaker 7: 18:56 Oh, man. You know, they're getting horrible. Bring back, like, I don't know. Speaker 5: 19:02 We should have Creepy Speaker 7: 19:03 Packer or Yeah. Or somebody. Speaker 3: 19:05 Alright. Well, duly noted. Speaker 7: 19:07 Today's music is is Speaker 9: 19:08 I don't know. Speaker 3: 19:09 Alright. Well, so then I don't I don't need to feel obligated to go and find a YouTube and watch the halftime show? Speaker 7: 19:16 Yeah. Definitely. You you didn't miss anything. Speaker 3: 19:18 Alright. Well, I appreciate that. I've got a busy day, so you just freed up some time for me. I appreciate the insight, and we appreciate the call. Thank you very much. Speaker 7: 19:25 Yeah. Hey. Who who were you pulling for? Speaker 3: 19:27 I'm not a big football fan, but I guess I thought the Eagles were an underdog. So I thought it'd be interesting if they won, and lo and behold, they won. So Speaker 5: 19:33 Well, on Tuesday, when we had, Eric Forrest and Kenny Gross here, I we're trying to get folks who was rooting for who, and we had more Eagles fans on that day on Tuesday. So, yeah, there's definitely a few more folks rooting for the Eagles here in town. Speaker 7: 19:48 I think most of the nation was going for Philly. Speaker 5: 19:51 Yep. I think so too. Speaker 7: 19:53 Including myself. Speaker 3: 19:54 Alright. Well, then you you're having a good day. Speaker 7: 19:57 Alright. You guys have a good day. Alright. Speaker 3: 19:58 Thanks for the call. Appreciate it. Yes. So it's a little bit, more than half past the hour here on problem quarter. We're gonna hear from some of our sponsors and we'll be back. Speaker 3: 20:06 And feel free to give us a call when we are back on the air. Speaker 5: 20:08 Alright. We'll be back with more problem corner on KINY. Speaker 10: 20:16 As KINY celebrates the month of love, we invite you to fill our inbox with pops of love. Send us a love letter about someone you care about, a romantic connection, a family member, or a dear friend. Speaker 11: 20:28 Share a selection of letters on air. Speaker 12: 20:30 During Valentine's week, one love letter will be randomly chosen per day, and we'll present flowers to the one you love. Go to kinyradio.com and share Speaker 13: 20:40 the love. Juno Urgent and Family Care has been serving our community for over thirty years. Our team of experienced medical professionals are here to provide the health services you need. With on-site lab, you can get same day x rays and same day testing for STI screening, strep, flu, COVID, blood sugar levels, and more. All available seven days a week. Speaker 13: 21:02 Junior Urgent Urgent Family Care takes pride in caring for you and your loved ones. Call today or visit us online at JunoUrgentCare.com. Juno Urgent Family Care, the clinic with heart. 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some amazing new items, including a delicious dessert lineup. Whether you're in the mood for an old favorite or eager to try something new, La Salce has you covered. Open seven days a week, they make it easy to satisfy your cravings. Visit them today at the Nugget Mall. Speaker 14: 21:36 Call ahead for pickup orders quick, convenient, and delicious. Treat yourself at LaSalsa Mexican food. Speaker 15: 21:43 This February, share the love and strengthen our community with Reach Incorporated. We're committed to empowering individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, making a positive impact right here at home. Join us to be part of the change and see how together, we can build a brighter future. Visit reachak.org and help us continue our impactful work. With Reach Incorporated, you're not just watching change, you're creating it. Speaker 15: 22:07 Join us and make a difference today. Speaker 4: 22:14 You're listening to problem corner on KINY, bringing neighbors together for generations. From the days of Dennis Egan to today, we're proud to continue the tradition of lively debates, community insights, and local connections here on KINY. Speaker 3: 22:32 Alright. Thirty five minutes after the hour this Monday, February, and I'm Ben Brown here with Justin Miller, and you're listening to problem corner. And I think we have a caller. We do. Let's see Speaker 6: 22:43 him on Speaker 5: 22:43 the show. Speaker 3: 22:44 Very good. Hello. You are on Problem Corner. What can we do for you today? Hello? Speaker 3: 22:53 I hear Hello? Hello? Yes. Hey. You're on problem corner. Speaker 3: 22:55 What can we do for you, sir? Speaker 8: 22:57 Yeah. Hey. Please. If anybody see Dorothy Williams, this is Gilbert's dealer. If Dorothy, if he if he he might see her around, give me a call. Speaker 8: 23:08 (907) 419-2312. Speaker 3: 23:13 Alright. That's Dorothy Williams, and your number is 419-2312. And your name was Trevor? Speaker 6: 23:19 Gilbert. Speaker 3: 23:20 Trevor Gilbert. Alright. Very good. Dorothy Williams. I hope Speaker 8: 23:23 you have it. Speaker 3: 23:24 Yep. Thanks for the Speaker 6: 23:25 call, and we'll day, Mike. Speaker 3: 23:26 You have a good day too. We'll announce that a couple more times. But, again, Dorothy Williams, Trevor Gilbert would like to talk with you, and his number is (907) 419-2312. So, beautiful day out there today. Not too many people. Speaker 3: 23:41 Well, yeah, I see one person skating over there on, Twin Lakes on that nice fairly solid ice, and, we have another caller on the air. Hello. You are on problem corner. Speaker 16: 23:52 Hi. I don't know if you're aware of it, but some of your commercials are coming through really garbled. The first one you ran on this last break was totally garbled. Speaker 5: 24:04 Yeah. And I I fixed that. So one of our equipment likes to mess with our commercials every now and then, so we just gotta change the setting on it, and it gets it right back to normal. So, yeah, we're we are working on making sure that it doesn't slip all the time and gets it all jumbled and distorted like that. But we are Yeah. Speaker 3: 24:22 So And and and as Speaker 16: 24:24 you probably know with problem corner, there's there's also issues with the phone calls. Speaker 3: 24:29 Well, yeah. Sometimes people you're you're coming through loud and clear, because you don't have your radio on in the background. Too often, people do leave their radio or whatever whatever other device they're listening on, within, earshot of the microphone, and then we get feedback. So, people need to remember to not have a listening device where the signal that we're broadcasting is on when they're talking to us or we will get that feedback. So appreciate also you letting us know that it sounded garbled to Justin and me here in the studio and you're confirming what we heard. Speaker 3: 24:58 So thank you for that. Speaker 16: 25:00 Yeah. But, you know, I think it goes beyond the feedback because right now, I've got a on my and I have a huge echo, and, I have another phone, a GCI phone that I called in, and I just can't make connections on that phone with with your number. I can I don't have a problem with other numbers, but I have a problem with your number? Speaker 3: 25:22 Very interesting. Well, I do hear a little humming in the background too. Well, Justin is making a note of that, and we'll share that with some of the technical folks here at the station. And we'll see if we can get that cleared up because we wanna be audible, and we don't wanna have feedback or any garbled sounds. We want things to be clear. Speaker 3: 25:37 So I appreciate the, the notice, and we'll take a look into that and see if there's an equipment fix that we can work out on our end. Speaker 16: 25:45 Okay. Well, have a good day. Speaker 3: 25:47 Thank you. Speaker 6: 25:47 You have Speaker 3: 25:47 a great day as well, and thanks again for the call. Speaker 16: 25:49 Right. Bye. Speaker 3: 25:52 So, problem corner. We have we have problems on problem corners sometimes. Speaker 5: 25:58 Tech tech issues always makes life interesting and fun. But we are in the process of revamping a lot of stuff here. So I'm very looking forward to our future equipment changes and all that stuff. Speaker 3: 26:10 And what's the timeline for that? Speaker 5: 26:12 Hopefully, by mid March, we should have stuff pretty dialed in and working pretty strong and seamless. So, yeah, we're still kinda working out the kinks, but it's still business as usual. Speaker 3: 26:24 Alright. Well, we'll look forward to that. Yes. Some of this is some legacy equipment, but we're doing the best we can. And, we do have another call here on the air on problem corner. Speaker 3: 26:32 Hello? You're on the air. Can you hear us? Speaker 16: 26:40 Hello? Speaker 3: 26:41 Hello. Hello. Yeah. I can hear you now, and, how are you doing this Monday? Speaker 8: 26:46 Hello? Speaker 3:

26:47 Hello. Can hello. I we can hear you. Can you hear us? Speaker 16: 26:50 I can barely hear you, but I'm in search of a 65 inch TV box. Speaker 5: 26:59 Just the box? Speaker 16: 27:00 Box for a TV. Speaker 3: 27:02 Okay. Speaker 16: 27:03 And I'm at $5,584 40. You need to do something with your phone. Speaker 3: 27:09 Alright. Yeah. You are not the first caller to tell us that we've got an issue going on. So, she is interested in just a box, a TV box for a 65 inch TV, and she can be reached at 508440. So if you, recently bought a TV in a 65 inch box and you wanna get rid of that box, she would love to take that off your hands again at 508440. Speaker 3: 27:33 Big boxes like that, they're difficult to keep around sometime because they're so big and they get recycled. But sometimes people just throw them in the attic and they still have them, so that'd be great if someone could help her out. The other calls we have had today, there was someone who wanted to make people aware of Lois Wilson's celebration, and that's gonna be at Fourth And Gold at 2PM. And the caller suggested that you bring a dish if you're planning to attend that. And then, Trevor Gilbert called looking for Dorothy Williams and said, Dorothy, give Trevor a call at (907) 419-2312. Speaker 3: 28:03 So some of the other calls we've had today here on problem corner. You know, Justin, when we don't have a caller on the air, it's it's super clear and crisp Yeah. On the microphone, and the headphones, I mean. So, something's going on with the with the incoming call line, and that's something we're gonna wanna look at. But I that's great to know that there's some technical fixes in the offing. Speaker 5: 28:19 Yeah. And that's one thing that's on my list of and our list as well of getting our phone system just dialed in here. And we actually had an engineer come in on Friday and worked on some of that hiss. The hiss was a lot worse on the phone than it is now. So I'm I'm glad about that. Speaker 5: 28:35 So we are tightening up our phone system for sure. Gold medal basketball, that's been a big topic as well. Speaker 3: 28:43 Yes. People wanted to know brackets. And last week, we looked online, but they weren't there yet. Speaker 5: 28:47 And they are now on the website. So I wanted to make that announcement that if you do go to the Juneau Lions Club gold medal basketball tournament's website, you can see the current brackets for 2025. And those games are projected to be starting March 23 through the twenty ninth. Speaker 3: 29:02 Excellent. So that's coming up pretty soon. That'll be bringing a big influx of people here in into town. Speaker 5: 29:06 Yeah. Speaker 3: 29:07 Lots of excitement, a very, very popular event, and really kind of a, a convergence of people from all over Southeast Alaska here in the capital city to celebrate, basketball, village basketball, and, just bring people together. Speaker 5: 29:20 And I think it's really cool that they the gold medal

basketball exists because a lot of, like, adult leagues, like, there's not a whole lot of chances for competition against other towns, other cities. So it's really cool that we have the gold medal basketball for all these adults that are still kicking in the basketball game and still be able to show off their skill in a huge setting like gold medal basketball. Speaker 3: 29:42 That's great. Wonderful. So, yeah. Go to and what's the website again? Speaker 5: 29:46 It is goldmedalbasketball.org. Speaker 3: 29:50 Okay. Gojugoldmedalmedal goldmedalbasketball.org, and you can check out those brackets. And then you'll know exactly if you've got a specific, team from a community outside of June that you wanna see play. You can figure out when that is and make sure that you don't miss that. Speaker 5: 30:02 And it's cool that we actually have some Juno teams in gold medal this year. Last year, we didn't I don't think we had a Juno team in the mix. So this year, we do have a Juno a couple of Juno guy teams mixed in there for the the master bracket. Speaker 3: 30:15 Excellent. Speaker 5: 30:15 Or the open bracket, actually. The master brackets, the older jet older folks kinda teams and Speaker 3: 30:22 whatnot. Adult adult teams. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Speaker 3: 30:24 Very interesting. And just such an interesting opportunity, not just for high school students to play, which we're so used to, but to have people from all different, ages and ability and skill levels playing. Yeah. Basketball is not an easy thing to play. I would hurt myself if I tried. Speaker 5: 30:39 Oh, I grew up playing basketball through Floyd Dryden. I played in the JD team. So junior varsity for till sophomore year. So, yeah, basketball was part of my life for a very long time. Speaker 3: 30:50 I used to love watching basketball when I was at Palmer High School. Never never played. I ran cross country, but, I I would love going to the games. It's just such a such a, you know, community, cohesiveness thing. And, you know, when you know everyone on the team, and then, you know, Wasilla was our biggest rival. Speaker 3: 31:07 It was a smaller and simpler place back in the Mat Su Valley then. But, yeah, I I would barely I would rarely miss a game. And there'd always be something fun to go do afterwards. Speaker 5: 31:14 So, Speaker 3: 31:14 yeah, it's a big part of, high school life, I think, in Alaska. Speaker 5: 31:16 Oh, yeah. We do have to take a break here in a minute, and we'll come back. But, you know, what's been what's what is what are some issues or things that you've been noticing going on here in town, like, as far as stuff that maybe we could tackle as a community? Speaker 3: 31:33 Well, I mean, you know, once the, a couple years ago when they changed the landfill hours, I was really concerned there was gonna be a lot more, you know, car abandoned cars and things like that. But I think, town's actually looking pretty clean, Speaker 5: 31:46 you know. Speaker 3: 31:47 We haven't had a lot of snow, which usually hides a lot of debris and stuff in the winter. But we haven't had a lot of snow. And I just was kinda noticing the other day, things don't look too messy out there. Now, when the snow that is there does melt, we're gonna need to have a cleanup day in the spring, but that will happen. And, so I think that's a real positive development. Speaker 3: 32:04 A couple weeks ago, we had Russell Dick and Susan Bell from, Hunitado Corporation on talking about Auk Landing. I'm really excited about that project. Because I think it's got a real good chance of diffusing some of the visitor traffic downtown and making it a little easier for those of us who live here year round to go and be downtown at the the apex of visitor season. Speaker 5: 32:23 Yeah. Parking is always fun during the summertime downtown. That's for sure. Speaker 3: 32:27 One thing that, we've actually been talking about at the chamber, I you know, one of our members, had contacted me just to let us know, and then we discussed it at our government affairs committee meeting a little bit the other day in our board meeting last week. Downtown Internet service during visitor season. You know, the Wi Fi is just gets so overtaxed because there's so many passengers Speaker 6: 32:47 and Speaker 3: 32:48 crew on those ships. So the city is is actually in the process of they put out a bid and they've actually selected a vendor who is not a local vendor, I understand, which is why I heard from one of our members. But apart from that bidding process, there are some concerns that this new wireless internet service could could interfere with existing service downtown. Speaker 5: 33:07 Okay. Speaker 3: 33:08 And, we don't want the problem to be made any worse. So I just, I I I think people should know that the city, city manager's office is on it. They're working with the CBJ ID department, and they're working to try to make sure that whatever is deployed to hopefully make everyone have better wireless during the summer doesn't work in reverse and make it harder. Yeah. And and they're gonna do some testing before we get into heavy cruise ship season. Speaker 3: 33:32 And so, if there is a problem, they're gonna have a chance to fix it before there's five ships in. Speaker 5: 33:36 Okay. Cool. Speaker 3: 33:37 And so, there hasn't been a lot of publicity about that, but it's something I got contacted by one of our chamber members about, and I was able to talk to the city IT director. And, so I think that's that's coming together. And, that will be nice because, I mean, it really is noticeable, especially if you're downtown. Mhmm. Speaker 5: 33:51 And, Speaker 3: 33:51 you know, you open your laptop up or you get your phone out and you just wanna check your bank balance or Speaker 5: 33:57 And it takes ten minutes. Five minutes Speaker 3: 33:59 to put it up. It can take a really long time just to send an email or whatever. And, you know, then

if you you're in a hurry, you're like, oh, no. But I have to send this email right now. It can be quite frustrating. Speaker 3: 34:07 Yeah. So that's a problem that has been looked at. It's been diagnosed, and I think a solution is on the way. So that's one good thing I think we can share with listeners. Speaker 5: 34:14 Awesome. Speaker 3: 34:14 If other people have other things that they see as community problems or community solutions, we'd love to hear from you here at 586-1800. But it's about time for another break. Speaker 5: 34:23 Yeah. We'll take a quick break here on problem corner on KINY. Speaker 4: 34:26 Very good. Local owned and operated, KINY. The news you need. The music you love. Speaker 17: 34:33 ABC News. I'm Michelle Franzen. Legal cases against the Trump administration stacking up on efforts to dismantle government agencies and cut federal staffing. In Boston today, a US District Judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of a federal buyout offer by president Trump's government of efficiency office in or an order he says that will remain in effect until the judge is a ruling. ABC's Mary Alice Park says only congress can appropriate funds for any buyout offer, and funding is set to run out. Speaker 18: 35:02 The federal government right now is only funded through March. We are, careening towards a government shutdown if congress doesn't pass another government funding package. And so that could be a big part of this case too. The judge might say, look, you can't make these offers to federal employees in good faith because we could be facing a government shutdown already. Speaker 17: 35:18 President Trump ordering the mint to stop production of the 1¢ coin to stop, he says, it costs more to make the penny. A new round of storms on the move from the South to the Northeast and bringing a wintry mix and heavy rain. This is ABC News. Speaker 10: 35:32 DBI is more than your local insurance agency. We're part of your community. We're your neighbors and friends. The insurance agents at DBI understand insurance personally because we do insure our homes, cars, and boats. We too are a small business. Speaker 10: 35:46 We understand the stream of rising insurance costs as families and as a business. So when you call your local DBI agent, know that we're right there with you. Your local DBI insurance agents work for you. Call us today at (907) 225-9841. Speaker 4: 36:05 Now back to problem corner, where our community meets to talk, trade, and share. Speaker 3: 36:13 Yes. Indeed. Problem corner about twelve minutes before the hour. I'm Ben Brown. Today is Monday, February, and I'm here with Justin Miller in the Gold Belt Studio here at Juno Media Center near sunny and frosty and icy twin lakes here in your capital city. Speaker 3: 36:28 And, just kinda having a relaxing post Super Bowl day here on the air, Justin. Not not too much, not too much, activity so far. But as we've had some good calls, I'm gonna reiterate some of the

folks who called in just to make sure their messages are heard. Caller earlier wanted people to know about the celebration of life for Lois Wilson, a service for her at Fourth And Gold at 2PM today. If you'd like to go and celebrate Lois, please bring a dish to share with others in attendance. Speaker 3: 36:55 Trevor Gilbert called, would like to speak with Dorothy Williams, and Trevor gave his number, (907) 419-2312. And finally, we had a woman call who's looking for a 65 inch TV box, not the TV, just the box one came in. If you've got a box like that you'd like to get rid of, she would be happy to take it off your hands. She's at 907508440. And we have another caller here on problem corner this Monday morning. Speaker 5: 37:22 Hello. You're live on problem corner. Speaker 16: 37:25 Good morning. Speaker 3: 37:25 Good morning. How are you doing today? Speaker 16: 37:27 Good. Good. See, I noticed that the name of your studio has changed. How did that come about? Speaker 3: 37:34 That's correct. And, Justin, I'm gonna let you field that question. Speaker 5: 37:38 We yeah. We just switched things up and gave the studio a chance for someone else to sponsor it. And so, yeah, we got Gold Belt Tram sponsoring KRNY. Speaker 3: 37:50 I think we did. But, yeah, the answer is, we had we just had a change in the business that was interested in investing in our operations here, and that new investor is Gold Belt Tram, which is, of course, part of Gold Belt Corporation, which is the urban village corporation under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act for Alaska's capital city. And Gold Belt has been, you know, a great part of the community for many years, and the tram is one of our most popular visitor attractions. It's also very popular with locals. Mhmm. Speaker 3: 38:15 And so that's the story behind Gold Belt, Studio. And we maybe have the same caller back on the air, but we've got somebody on the air. Speaker 7: 38:21 Alright. Hello? You're Speaker 5: 38:25 live on Problem Corner. Speaker 9: 38:27 Oh, hi. Good morning. Thank you. I'm going to speak two issues relative to financing for the city of Juneau that I'm concerned about. In recent posting by, they had stated the funding shortfalls for Capital City Fire Rescue relative to staffing and expenses and negotiations for raises. Speaker 9: 38:51 I'm gonna just throw out there a suggestion relative to separating fire from EMS as fire response is typically 30% response and EMS is more of the 70% EMS as far as the fire department is concerned. And my suggestion to research would be for staff to research would be the privatization of the, ambulance service and run that as a paramedic level skill set and in the privatization have that located near Bartlett Regional Hospital or based out of there and understand that Guardian Air Flight has her own ambulance also. That's one issue to kind of rein in some of the excessive spending and shortfalls relative to the city. The next issue that I am concerned about is the radio project, the bond issue, which is way exorbitant. I got a copy of the finance from finance relative to the spreadsheet. Speaker 9: 40:00 I thought that the transparency of the radio project was not transparent and that it could have been more for the voters and information if a spreadsheet was provided posted on the CBJ website to state exactly what the line item expenditures would be. And then looking at it, I had a copy of the from finance, the radio project. Very top line says ALMR, which is Alaska LAN Mobile Radio, which is a state project trunking. And within all the line items that I I could see, the City of San Francisco did a recent upgrade for just for Muni, the transportation system and it was 50 some million dollars City of June, it was nowhere near the size of San Francisco and the complexity of the system in San Francisco was fairly complex. So that said, we're nudging towards 20 some million half of that City of San Francisco project. Speaker 9: 40:58 The other concern I have on ALMR, that's a state should be a state obligation, not a City of Juneau taxpayer obligation. And that said again, one of the line items from a previous city manager that was, prompting that the communication systems get encrypted, it's not I didn't even see a line item on the spreadsheet that I had a copy of encryption being enabled and or at least digital communication allowing that to happen. So there's a lot involved with it. I don't think that the staff had really, again, had transparency rather than the project nor the technical expertise to and for providing that further information to the community to have a fair chance of really understanding everybody wants to jump on board on public safety. But the point in that is there's they could have approached it with a phased approach and spent less money and ended up as the technology evolves further and the needs are more addressed that the first approach of phasing to a second phase and not spending that big chunk of money at the onset while the coppers are thin and shortfalls, etcetera, for different things relative to schools, etcetera. Speaker 9: 42:18 And, I just wanna throw that out there for the community to chew on and think about what is said. Thank you. Speaker 3: 42:24 Thank you very much for the call and very thoughtful observations about a couple of complex things. So, yeah, the caller first was suggesting that, because, you know, Capital City Fire and Rescue does both fire response and emergency medical services response. And the EMS responses do get paid for, you know, when there's an accident and there's a responsible party, insurance gets built, whether it's somebody's auto insurance or someone's health insurance. But there is money coming back in to offset the cost of those emergency medical services that are provided. So in that sense, it might make sense for that to be more co located with the hospital because that's where you're being taken when an

ambulance responds and picks you up. Speaker 3: 43:04 But I think it's been capital city fire and rescue for a long time. So there's some institutional history there that might make breaking those things up a little more challenging. But certainly, the sort of suggestion that should be looked at, when we're looking at tight budgets and, you know, expanding costs, personnel costs to make sure that we do have adequately staffed fire and EMS services here in the community. The second issue the caller, was referring to is the new radio system. And it's not just for the police. Speaker 3: 43:30 It's for police and fire, all of our first responders. Speaker 5: 43:33 Okay. Speaker 3: 43:33 And so that was on the ballot last, fall. And it passed. And it's a bond issuance of tens of millions of dollars Yeah. To go towards, you know, completely replacing our radio system. Right now, my understanding and so the chief of police came and spoke at a chamber lunch, and I was actually out of town the day that he came and spoke. Speaker 3: 43:51 But this issue has been percolating around for a while. And there's been some criticism that there should have been some more increment incremental repairs made to the existing equipment. So it didn't become so obsolete that now it's at, like, risk of catastrophic failure. And the officers who are using it, might not be able to respond or, you know, communicate in a manner that they need to, whether it's the police to some sort of violence, behavior from someone or some other sort of emergency. But these communication systems really do need to work in the event of an emergency if some of the more traditional things have have ceased working. Speaker 3: 44:28 And one of the anecdotes that we heard last fall in the lead up to the municipal election where the voters approved those bonds was that, you know, sometimes policemen and firemen have to use their mobiles. They just gotta use their own phones, which are not secure. And in in in the situation where there is a a shooter or some sort of violent activity, that can be, but not a very secure way to do something because someone could hear the call. Right. And then they would have advanced notice of what law enforcement was doing to try to respond to keep people safe. Speaker 3: 44:54 So it's a complex issue, but I think the caller is absolutely right that it's a very expensive, investment that the city is poised to make. And I'd not heard anyone ever compare it to, similar communication systems in much larger communities like San Francisco. So that's an interesting metric I don't know anything about. But that's I I guess, the upshot is, learn more about, what the cost of the new emergency response radio system is and see if the ALMAR, the the Alaska Land Mobile Radio network that the state provides, could be, more of, an inexpensive way to meet the need that we have in the community. I don't think anyone wants to not have good communication systems available to our first responders, but expense is something we should always look at. Speaker 5: 45:40 Yeah. And that's a statewide thing, not just a Juneau local thing. Speaker 3: 45:44 Well, the the the the the fix that we in Juno approved bonds for in October is a local thing, but there is a statewide radio network that our system needs to interface with is my understanding. Speaker 5: 45:53 Okay. Speaker 3: 45:54 And so that might be one of the reasons for the cost, and perhaps it's a reason, for a a possible way to maybe reap some savings. I'm do not pretend to be an expert about all that, but I think the caller obviously had done his homework and, had thought about it a lot. So if you're interested in that sort of thing, maybe try to learn a little bit more about that. We've only got a couple minutes left before it's noon this Monday, February. The hour has gone by pretty quickly, but it's been great chatting, Justin. Speaker 3: 46:17 And we do have one more phone call, probably the last we don't have time for. And, it's, problem corner, and you're probably our last call of the day. How are you doing? Speaker 6: 46:27 Hey. Are you on there? Speaker 3: 46:28 You are on the air, sir. Yes. Please go ahead. Speaker 6: 46:30 Okay. I'm sorry. I didn't quite hear that. I got you on speaker. Just a quick question. Speaker 6: 46:35 I myself, I've been listening to prescandered stuff for years. I've noticed well, it's always been like it, but it seems like it's gotten worse on our emergency services with the police department and, medical. There's been a lot of calls with the homeless and glory hole. Is that tearing into the city budget? I appreciate that. Speaker 6: 46:54 Thank you. Have a good day. Speaker 3: 46:55 Thank you for the call, and he wants to know if the increased activity he's heard in the police scanner, specifically at the Glory Hall and some of our homeless warming shelter facilities probably is increasing expenses to the extent that the police and our other, public servants who have to respond to some of those incidents. There's gonna be a cost for that, you know, and we we pay people to work in those jobs. They're important jobs. They require special training. They are risky jobs where the firemen, policemen, and women put themselves at risk. Speaker 3: 47:23 So, it's likely that there probably has been some increased expense of that. That's something you might be able to find out more from if you, write the city government or your assembly members. But always good to keep an eye on costs because money is a finite resource, and we need to make sure we're spending what we have wisely here Yeah. In Juneau's capital city. Well, it is now noon, and so that pretty much wraps up problem corner this Monday, February. Speaker 3: 47:47 I wanna thank everyone who called in, and thank you, Justin, for, being here in the studio with me for the last hour. Speaker 5: 47:52 Yeah. No problem. It's it's always good chatting with you, Ben. Speaker 3: 47:55 Very good. I'll be back next week, and I as I said at the beginning of the show, we'll probably be find be finding someone from the the arts community to bring on, to talk with me about some of the things happening here in Juneau. So stay tuned for that, and you can listen to Problem Corner right here at the same station, for the rest of the week starting at 11:00 tomorrow with Craig Dahl. Speaker 5: 48:12 Alright. We'll see you next time here on KINY's Problem Corner. Speaker 4: 48:17 You've been listening to problem corner, Alaska's longest running radio tradition, presented each weekday by Alaska Laundry and Dry Cleaning. Join us every weekday at 11AM and subscribe to the podcast at kinyradio.com. From