What makes Juneau Juneau?

Telephone Hill. (City and Borough of Juneau pohoto)

By Page Bridges

What makes Juneau different from other places? We're unique in many ways, but mostly it's our appearance. We have special colors and houses and special streets with treasures awaiting anyone in the mood to explore. But now our unique aesthetic beauty and history are endangered.

I've been here since 1987, when Juneau was a visual paradise. Now, the only piece of paradise left in our downtown commercial core is Telephone Hill. Why does it make sense to destroy it? There is no buyer for the land and the cost for the destruction is through the roof, but the city plans to raze it anyway. I've hardly met a single person who wants to see that happen. Juneau is so depressing in the fall and winter anyway, why would we make it more depressing? My friends who either work in the State Office Building or live up on Gastineau Avenue are upset that they will have to see the destruction. It would leave a horrific black hole there for years.

On our Facebook page, Telephone Hill Juneau, someone suggested some questions to ask the Assembly:

Why the proposed destruction? What is the point? Why the rush toward demolition? Why spend millions to simply destroy?

Ken Burch said I could quote his truly scary reply:

"It's probably because Telephone Hill reminds somebody in power in Juneau too much of the eccentric, somewhat counterculture 1970's past, as opposed to the obediently bland, generic and suburban face the would-be economic elite want to impose all over the place. I wouldn't put it past them to try to eventually demolish all the older houses on Starr Hill and in the flats, the areas where people don't necessarily see short-term profit as the only thing that matters."

He may be right. Telephone Hill may be just the first domino.

The Alaska Historical Commission in Anchorage told me, "This is not what we wanted for these houses." I said the Juneau Historic Resources Advisory Committee had been pretty quiet. She told me to call a city planner. He said the committee meets only four times a year now and has seven members as opposed to nine. HRAC had monthly meetings about Telephone Hill. The room was always packed. They were adamant about protecting Telephone Hill as a registered historic district. They were mapping other historic areas to protect them. I had also gone to meetings in the past, and without a doubt, historic preservation of Juneau was their mission.

But now, they have been downgraded. It looks like historic preservation is no longer be a priority for the Assembly. But it is for many of us citizens. Without our historic houses, Juneau would lose what makes Juneau Juneau. What a terrible, immoral mistake it would be to destroy Telephone Hill and other historic treasures our pioneers built that we love.

• Page Bridges is a Juneau resident.