Thomas Stewart Building Capitol Annex

Today is the official dedication of the Thomas B. Stewart Office Building - the annex to the State Capitol that opened this session.

 Above is the entrance to the building on 4th Avenue.  Below, from 4th Avenue, is the Steward Building to the right and the Capitol to the left connected by the bridge or passage way.  I don't think a name has been agreed on in actual usage yet.

Here's the passage way, looking from the Capitol to the new annex.  The door at the end goes into the staff/public lounge.  This is a very comfortable room which is used by people visiting the Capitol - citizens, lobbyists, bloggers - as well as staff.  The staff have full kitchen that requires a key to get into. 

This is Fairbanks News Miner reporter Chris Eshleman taking advantage of the free wifi in the lounge to get a story in. 

The House Clerk's Office is also at the end of the bridge - on the right.

The problem with buildings on hills, is that you can have more than one ground level floor - one in front and one in the back, and maybe even another on the side.  This has caused some problems because the elevator is programmed for 1-4.  Another part of the floor numbering is related to matching the 2nd floor of the new building to the 2nd floor of the Capitol because the bridge connects there.  I've heard from different sources that originally, the 2nd floor in the Capitol was (and still is) called the 1st floor because it was the federal building and had a post office in it.  The federal rules required post offices be on the first floor.  And technically, there is a door to the street on the side, half way up the hill.  So, the fifth floor of the Capitol is the 6th floor.  The bottom floor is the ground floor. 

In addition to the lounge, which I've used a lot, I spend a fair amount of time at committee hearings in the Beltz Committee Room.

The quickest way to get from the lounge to the Beltz

The quickest way to get from the lounge to the Beltz Committee room is this stairwell, which, as you can see, was not finished when the session started.  It's been blocked for much of the time, but now has linoleum. 

And below are my favorite art pieces in the building.  These are in the lounge. 

Sheep Creek Trail - Skunk Cabbage, Big Trees, New Leaves

We drove down to the end of Thane Road today.  It's maybe ten or twelve miles.  The road north goes 40 miles.  And you can drive a bit on Douglas Island.  And that's it.  The rest is by boat or air.  Sheep Creek Trail goes up from the road.  I'm pretty sure the picture is of skunk cabbage.  I'm not used to seeing it at this stage.  But here's a description from The Nature Institute website by Craig Holdrege:

It's March, the ground is still frozen, and frost comes nearly every night. The days are rapidly getting longer, but the spring equinox is still ahead. Walking through the woods, you see the grey and brown tree trunks, a coloring mirrored in the ground litter of leaves from the previous year. There is no green. Not only the temperature but the whole mood of the woods is cool.

Then you walk down to the edge of a meandering stream or, in my case, to a wooded wetland. Here, too, the ground is frozen, and patches of ice spread between groups of bushes and small trees (mainly red maples and alders) that dominate the wetland. In this still, quiescent world, little centers of emerging life are visible, the first sign of early spring. What I see are the four-to-six-inch-high, hood-like leaves that enclose the flowers of skunk cabbage. . .

Both color and shape are striking. Some leaves are completely deep wine-red or maroon, while in others this background coloring is mottled with patches or stripes of yellow or yellow green.

It's after the equinox and the frost is gone already, but otherwise the description was on the mark.

 

Then back into the car, along the water into town.

An abandoned pier.

Juneau Pro-Wolf Rally 2 - The Video

Here's video of the rally I covered yesterday.

Water Birds at Rain Forest Trail Beach

We took advantage, finally, of having a car for the weekend and drove, after the wolf rally, to the Rain Forest trail on Douglas Island.  I have to say I was a little let down.  The well groomed trail made it feel way too civilized.  I understand how nice this is compared to walking on mud - especially after I slipped on the slimy beach rocks.  I could feel all the plants pushing up against the soil, but for now, only a few green tips had begun to emerge.  When all that lush green fills in, I'm sure it won't feel so empty.  I'm not sure why I haven't felt that way on the Perseverance Trail.

The trees are incredibly straight.  I can imagine sailors coveting these trees for masts.

But things do happen.

Then we got down to the beach.  Rocky, but much smaller rocks than last Sunday.  But very slippery.  There was a large flock of surf scoters busily eating.  Through the binoculars we watched them dive and then gulp down the little fish they'd gotten into to their big yellow beaks.  

We also saw some harlequin ducks (one of my favorites) swimming nearby the scoters, and I think both some common and red breasted mergansers.   

Decoupling the Capitol - Legislative Staff Spoofs Bosses

It was a big night at Centennial Hall with the big ballroom full for Decoupling the Capitol.  It was a fun night with everyone casual and playful - at least at the beginning.  Since I'm trying to get my readers as close to the truth as possible, I'd say the skits were a lot like my non-flash photos in the dark room - a few are sharp, but most were not quite on target.  But there was a lot of enthusiasm and enough liquor that most people enjoyed themselves anyway.  The Saturday Night Life crew don't have to worry about losing their jobs though.  But then they don't spend their workdays making the legislature work before they perform.  

We were in line behind Rep. Mike Doogan and the woman who lets him live with her

Around the table clockwise from front right:  Reps. Guttenberg, Seaton, Buch, Crawford, and Petersen.

Rep Gara (left)

Rep. Gardner and her husband.

Rep. Tuck (right)

I would have cropped these, but then you'd see how bad the focus is.

Rep. Dahlstrom (in red)

Rep. Thomas (left) and Al Adams

Rep. Johnson pointing to the camera.

Senator Hollis French taking a picture of his wife (I'm assuming in red) and Rep. Kerttula.

Staffer Ted in his formal wear.

Rep. Lynn just can't stay still enough to not blur.

Staffer Mike and his Intern Daughter.  

[Update 6:oopm: Pictures of what was performed on stage, posters on the tables, and content on the video screen have been pulled at the request of AK Skitters.]

27,000 (NYE*) at Pro Wolf Rally at Capitol in Juneau

About 100 people showed up at a pro-wolf rally to protest the State  policy of killing predators to increase the moose and caribou population for human hunters. That may not seem like a lot, but using *NYE  (New York Equivalency) a measure I created to give Outsiders a sense of proportion for understanding Alaskan crowds, 100 people in Juneau, with a population of 30,000, is about the same as 27,000 people showing up for a demonstration in New York City.

Speakers decried the selection of  Corey Rossi the new head of the Division of Wildlife Conservation.  One speaker said he'd been involved with the Board of Game for over 30 years and there'd been many highly qualified Directors, some even with PhD's in relared fields.  But Rossi, he said, without even a bachelor's degree was totally unqualified.  Sen. Hollis French mentioned a member of the Board of Game as citing the Book of Genesis as the basis for for his wildlife management decisions.

Here are some pictures of the rally that began about two hours ago.  I'll post video later today.

John Toppenberg of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance.

Some of the speakers included Joel Bennett, Greg Brown, Andrea Doll, Alex Simon, John Toppenberg, Vic Van Ballenberghe, Rep. Beth Kerttula, and Sen. Hollis French.  Video later.

Update Monday March 29: Video now available here.