News article: What’s new in Mountain View
Reinventing the Crack & Gun district
By Shawna Murray
Shawna Murray is a resident of Mountain View who wanted to find out about new developments coming to her community.
Mountain View is the most diverse neighborhood in Anchorage. It’s got the street life and the dynamism that makes you feel like you are living in a city with people in it (instead of carbon beings strapped into metallic armor). But it also has problems. Mountain View is one of the most violent areas in Anchorage. Just last week I witnessed a drive by shooting, and I often hear gun shots at night.
The most important new projects in Mountain View are the Arts and Cultural District and the work being done by the Cook Inlet Housing Authority.
Overview of the Arts and Cultural District
Artist Quarters
According to the President of Mt. View Community Council, Thom Blackbird, artist’s quarters will probably be set up on Taylor Street, where a trailer supply company used to be. The quarters would consist of an apartment building where artists would reside upstairs, work studios would be in the back, and retail in the front of the building.
Main Street
The goals of “Main Street” are to (1) help the economy grow by employing people from the neighborhood and (2) have “existing businesses help draw new businesses to Mt. View,” according to Kerry Hawkins, vice president of Mountain View Community Council. Main Street will encompass N. Bunn St. to Taylor Rd. Both sides of the road will be included in the development. Red Apple, Hamburger House, Noble’s Diner, John’s R.V., Hispanic Cultural Center will all be involved.
Performing Arts Center/ Convention Center
Hawkins says, “Alaska Theatre of Youth would like a home and would like to be here in Mountain View. Meetings could also be held at the center. Recently, according to Hawkins, the Laotians wanted to hold a meeting at the Mountain View Community Center. There was a conflict in the schedule. He thinks problems like this could be alleviated with a Performing Arts/Convention Center.
Comments from the Community
Out of the four people I interviewed, none of them knew about the Main Street Project, Artist’s Quarters, or the Performing Arts Center Vision. In response to Mountain View being an Arts and Cultural district - “This is a Crack and Gun District,” according to Trinity Sherman, who was helping with a yard sale on Mumford Street. The eight month pregnant young woman continued, “This is a low income, poverty area. There’s not much to look at. It would be good to take kids to see [the artist’s quarters]. I think the neighborhood needs more stuff like that.”
Bretto Bernadotti mentioned, “I probably wouldn’t go” to the artist’s quarters. “Mountain View’s problems don’t have to do with art. They have to do with people and crime,” said the North Bunn Street resident. He added that he does like the cultural diversity in Mountain View. “It’s like Gumbo. Everybody is here.”
A North Hoyt Street native beadwork artist said that the artist’s quarters are “a good deal. There are a lot of low income people in Mountain View and a lot of low income artists.”
Overview of the Cook Inlet Housing Association Project
Demolition, Rebuilding, Rehabilitation
“What we are trying to do is create affordable, quality housing,” said Cook Inlet Housing Association spokesperson, Amy Jennings In the “worst of the worse cases” according to Jennings, “CIHA has been tearing down apartments and houses. She mentioned that some of the cases were multi-family dwellings that had been placed on single-family lots. They then have rebuilt single-family houses on the land, decreasing density in Mountain View. Last year, Cook Inlet Housing Authority rehabilitated four 4-Plex buildings. This included stripping the buildings down to their framework and building them up again. This year, they are planning on rehabilitating four more 4-Plexes.
Is this Gentrification?
Gentrification sometimes happens when a deteriorated area in the city is remodeled and poor people are displaced. The intentions might be good, but the effects can be harmful. Jennings denied that there is a gentrification problem. She said that all of the housing that is built and rehabilitated is for low income families. She also said rehabilitation is “making the neighborhoods safer and more livable for everybody.”
Comments from the Community
Although some people knew there was construction happening, only one of the people I interviewed knew who was behind it. Brad Bratcher’s single-family ranch home, built in 1947, was one of the homes that was demolished. CIHA gave him $140,000 for his property. Standing in front of a backhoe and the rubble, Mr. Bratcher spoke about Cook Inlet Housing Association. “They are quite generous. They let me live here [after they bought the house] rent-free for 90 days, just paying the utility cost.” According to Bratcher, CIHA will be constructing a duplex and single-family home on this property. Bratcher bought the six bedroom two story house next door to the demolished property with the money from the sale.
Two of the people interviewed mentioned that white people seemed to be excluded from moving into the CIHA new housing. Bratcher, who’s white, believes that CIHA is helping the people with the lowest incomes who need help the most, regardless of race.