Juneau Assembly candidate profile: Nathaniel ‘Nano’ Brooks, District 2 challenger

Juneau Assembly District 2 candidate Nathaniel "Nano" Brooks on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

Nathaniel "Nano" Brooks: Juneau Assembly District 2 candidate

Age: 31

Occupation: Laundry/entrepreneur

The following questions and responses have been lightly edited for clarity.

Q: What is the single most important issue of this election?

"I'd say it's probably flood mitigation. When you have something that impacts the health, safety and well-being of community members — your whole livelihoods, their well-being physically, mentally, emotionally — that's something that shows there's still a lot that needs to be done. A lot of people are feeling unserved through the whole process. There has been efforts taken to direct a lot of funds and attention towards that, but I think that there could be a lot more done still."

Q: What has the Assembly done well and not done well with flood mitigation during the past year?

"Just working with all parties involved. It's always about teamwork when it comes to these things. But that also has a drawback, too, because it's like, ‘OK, we have to go through everything that the Army Corps sets as the guideline and things like that, and they have an idea of how to proceed forward.’ But the timelines associated with that are unrealistic to address the issue. And I think there should be a supplemental front taken on it where they're actively and continuously dredging out the lake to increase the capacity, or to remove the silt that gets introduced from each one of those outbursts because the capacity could have already been halved from these events."

Q: What knowledge do you have that such dredging can take place safely and legally, without adverse impacts, and that it will achieve the results you state?

"Right now the big thing is people don't know how much silt is being reintroduced into the lake after each one of these outbursts, so the capacity could already be halved at each one of those times. But also if there is any kind of critical environmental biosystems going on in those areas, each one of those giant silt deposits or outbursts could completely destroy what was already there, so just dredging to keep on pace with what's being reintroduced would be a two-part addressing the issue as far as increasing the capacity, but also protecting whatever kind of ecosystems are already thriving at those kind of levels."

Q: On the three ballot propositions: You favor a lower property tax cap and exempting food/utilities from sales tax, and oppose a seasonal sales tax. Describe Juneau’s economy in five years if that occurs vs. the economy under your opponent’s preferences (oppose property tax cap; favor sales tax exemption and seasonal sales tax).

"There is a misnomer going around that doing these types of exemptions would hamper the city's ability to finance operations and other things like that. The initiative doesn't exclude voter-approved bonds, so if the community agrees to it, there can be larger levies. It doesn't mean that everything has to be (within a nine-mill property tax cap). It just means what's levied off of the property taxes is kept at nine unless the voters approve something else. And I don't see it necessarily stopping progress in the community. What I see happening is that it's going to make it to where when the Assembly goes to ask the people for something it's going to have to be a refined plan. Everything's going to have to be itemized. They're going to have to know exactly the schedules, the equipment, the types of things that they're going to do, because it's not going to be able to be like, ‘Oh, we just need to get another bond to keep things at a 5%.’ It's going to be like, ‘Hey, we want this bond to address the specific issue. And these are all the exact details that are going to happen from it.’ And that's what I'm trying to offer."

Q: Your official candidate statement refers repeatedly to the "status quo" and "we can’t keep blindly defaulting" to that. Your opponent says people in Juneau generally — although not entirely — favor the services, programs and policies being offered by the municipal government. What are you seeking to change?

"There's a consensus that I form from talking to so many people in the community and people that I hadn't talked to in any of the previous campaigns, and it's the obligation that I feel is from the people directly. I've had enough people reach out to me saying that they want something beyond what they've been getting."

Q: What specifically are they complaining about?

"Not being heard properly, not having funds go to things that address their immediate issues. At the Douglas candidate forum, there was lots of people that were upset on the Douglas Advisory Committee, saying that they did six years of work just to have the Assembly toss it out, and charge through with their plan and stuff…You can look back at any type of development project that the city has taken on recently, and it's resulted in massive losses and no affordable housing being built. Those are all part of status quo operations that haven't been working for the community."

"And then just the level of transparency. City Hall is a prime example. When they're trying to get that through the first time the justification for it was that it had $14 million in deferred maintenance. But then, when I got a breakdown from the city on what that deferred maintenance was, $7 million was for major tenant improvements. So that's not a deferred maintenance cost and it's a half-truth that made people think that the problem was way worse than it was, and they rejected using those funds to do those types of things. And now we're in a position where we get the two floors of the (Michael J. Burns Building) and they want to spend $7.5 million on major tenant improvements…those aren't things that impact the health and safety of the community, the affordability of the community, or housing."

Q: Your opponent says while he disagrees with most Assembly members on some issues, working cooperatively with them ensures his position is heard and can influence decisions made. If you consider him part of the status quo, what approach are you suggesting?

"I've never said that the status quo is bad, per se. I've never said that it's damaging. I don't think that there's any actions that are malicious or negative. Everyone wants to achieve the same goals: providing the best quality of life for everyone in the community, the best services, the most competitive wages, the best childcare, education, healthcare, all that. I think that it should be done by exercising every available option afforded to us in the charter (instead of) leveraging it onto the people in a couple selected industries. The seasonal sales tax, with that they're saying that it will do a shift to tourism and the tourist dollars. But if you look at JEDC reports, the tourists are spending less than the community already because other communities like Ketchikan are offering the same kind of goods at cheaper prices. So if that sales tax goes up to 7% in the summer, they'll spend even less than they are this year. And that shifts it further onto the people."

Q: Goldbelt’s planned private cruise dock may mean 1) two of five ships daily are redirected from downtown to the west Douglas Island port or 2) seven ships arrive in Juneau daily, compared to the current voluntary five-ship limit. Which is preferable and why?

"This is something that also is what I talk about with going against the status quo. The status quo is reactionary. When things go bad, that's when they jump into action and try and mitigate it. I've been told multiple times from multiple Assembly members (and) the mayor all those things like, ‘we have to wait for something to break before we can address it.’ And we should be proactive, preemptive and looking at ways to be symbiotic partnerships with these types of entities. Because regardless of what kind of red tape the city throws up, or any community organizations, they're going to charge ahead. They have resources that can't be matched necessarily. And instead of trying to fight or throw red tape on it we need to be putting our heads together and be like, ‘Hey, let's look at this in a way that's going to work best for the people with having the lowest impact on the residents, while also allowing you guys to operate in in the way that you choose,’ because at the end of the day, it is their land."

Q: If given sole authority, how would you resolve Juneau’s homelessness problem?

"Throwing money at any issue just blindly, never solved anything…A ‘three strikes’ type policy — and it's not like ‘three strikes and throw you in the slammer and give you a charge’ — but three strikes and then a forced evaluation, getting people to talk to one another and stuff, that's how you start addressing drug issues and mental health, and things like that. If we just let people that are hurting and damaged run around, and put themselves in a position to where they can hurt themselves or other people, and that's unchecked, that's not healthy for society at all…As far as housing and things like that, I think it's a lot more practical and could be easier with code revisions to do more sheltering efforts — not necessarily getting a huge facility, but getting a lot of smaller structures, little modular structures. There's even a local guy who makes these geodesic-type domes. He's had a company doing it since the '90s and the only reason you don't see them all over the town is because they don't meet building code. That's something that the Assembly can do to amend the building code…I even thought of like a cool little educational Alaska-type program that would be getting different youth programs together — whether it's Zach Gordon, the schools, any other type of youth activity — and do survival classes. Go around — not super-deep in the middle of the forest, but along the tree line and near areas — and teach them how to forage for certain things, how to build a good shelter and stuff…Map out where each one of the little shelters and structures is built from these classes, and then hand it out to these communities and be like, ‘Hey, if you need somewhere, there's a whole row of these shelters that were built by local students and stuff like that. It's not much, but at least it's a dry place to get out of the rain.'"

Q: Development and lack of housing are constantly discussed issues, but people also tend to get upset about projects in or near their neighborhoods, or that intrude on natural areas. How would you address the situation as an Assembly member?

"It's under the guise of affordable housing and that's what people are upset about. They're not upset that people are there developing. They're upset that they got a zero-interest loan of taxpayer dollars and then (supposed to) produce what they said they're going to produce, which is affordable housing. And anytime the city has gotten involved with a project that is aimed at addressing affordable housing, that almost always hasn't been the case. There are selective instances where it has been, but Pederson Hill (is) losing $100,000 per lot…and now they’re taking money out of that to go do a similar thing at Telephone Hill when they don't even understand the geology of the surface that they're working on. So that (demolition) cost could easily inflate. So it's not necessarily people are upset about projects and development happening. They're upset that it's not being done in an efficient enough way to address the need."

Q: What else do you want Juneau voters to keep in mind when voting?

"It’s just what's setting me aside from what's been going on since what happened on my first campaign (two years ago). I said, ‘We can't try and achieve all these great things at the expense of the people in these couple of industries.’ And over the last two years, it's gone to a level that I couldn't even imagine back then. And the greatest asset of our community is the people, that's what makes the city the best city in the world. And if we keep going down these paths of raise rates, raise utilities, higher assessments, extra taxes, all that, it's going to drive the greatest asset right out of the community. The first two initiatives it is a help for everyone across the board. I know that there's a sentiment going out that if the mill rate cap passes, that's just going to be a benefit to wealthy landowners. That's a little inconsiderate to the rest of the community, because if you look at the demographic of people buying land nowadays, it's young families, it's millennials, it's 30-year-olds trying to get their first home and their first property, and that could be a help to them."

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.