At the Assembly’s recent budget hearings, person after person stood up to testify in defense of the pools, the field house, the programs that make Juneau the kind of place people stay. I don’t fault them for that and understand why those programs are so important. But not one of those speakers mentioned the flood.

In 2026, voters in Juneau will decide three Assembly seats and two state House seats. That may sound routine, but it shouldn’t be. These races will determine how seriously we confront flood risk, job creation, housing costs and the overall affordability of life in our capital city.

As an investor, one of the hardest decisions is not choosing what to buy but deciding when to walk away. That becomes even harder when an investment is underwater — when the numbers no longer support the original thesis, the timeline has slipped and the cost continues to grow. At that point, the challenge is no longer analytical. It is emotional.