Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska

In this newscast: Juneau ranks #8 in “micropolitan arts vibrant” communities; Trump signs order rolling back Obama administration restrictions on Arctic oil leases; U.S. military drills set to take to the skies over Alaska and May Day protests expected nationwide.

The Juneau-Douglas City Museum is off the chopping block — for now. The City and Borough of Juneau had been considering shuttering the local history museum in an effort to help close a $1.9 million shortfall.

Mayor Ken Koelsch moved to remove the museum from the list of possible cuts after more than a dozen people spoke against the cuts.

“We had very compelling testimony in written and in oral form on this,” Koelsch said, “and I think it would allow the Assembly and the public to focus on the remainder of the cuts.”

The motion passed 8-1.

Deputy Mayor Jerry Nankervis, who cast the dissenting vote, argued that removing the museum from the list of possible cuts was “premature.”

Fans of the museum were visibly relieved. The possibility of losing the 41-year-old institution had raised questions over the fate of its unique collection.

Still facing closure is the Mt. Jumbo Gym in Douglas, Eagle Valley Center in Amalga Meadows and the Jensen-Olson Arboretum. The Juneau Assembly is slated to pass its final budget on June 5.

Facing a nearly $2 million revenue shortfall, the City and Borough of Juneau will have to make some difficult decisions.

The Juneau-Douglas City Museum is included on a list of proposed cuts, but what would happen to the tens of thousands of items in its collection?

The city museum has about 85,000 items in its collection. Here’s one that’s special to Joel Probst, chairman of the Friends of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum.

“I’m not gonna lie, it might not be appropriate, but the the Eagle Brewing Company bottle that’s in here with the original Eagle Brewing Co. logo,” Probst said, gesturing to the 111-year-old exhibit. “This blue label logo it’s one of my favorites. I think it’s pretty neat for something that’s truly Juneau, Alaska, from that time period.”

It is truly Juneau; the beer bottle and its ornate label are from the beginning of the 1900s when beer was brewed for the saloons serving thirsty miners.

Cranking the cam of the museum’s miniature stamp mill replica, the sound of metal on metal echoes throughout the museum. The kids love this one.

“That sound here in Juneau that would have been going on for many, many years constantly,” Probst said over the din.

The camshaft is a replica of the hundreds of heavy steel stamps that crushed the ore from the mines — a sound that once echoed across the Gastineau Channel 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“It was one of those things that you were so used to that rhythm. It reverberated through everything,” Probst said.

The city museum costs about $300,000 annually to operate. A report from the city manager’s office noted that closing the museum would save more than quarter-million dollars in the first year.

The museum received low ranks in a budget survey about 90 people completed to identify possible cuts.

“There will certainly be pushback on the list of possible reductions,” City Manager Rorie Watt said earlier this month, “but what we’ve given the Assembly is choice.”

But what’s not spelled out in any detail is what would become of the museum’s collection much of which came from the community.

“It’s very touching to see a family who has gone through the loss of a family member — a patriarch, matriarch in Juneau — bring us something that’s very precious,” Museum Director Jane Lindsey said. “We take that very seriously.”

It’s not the only museum in town: there’s the Alaska State Museum in downtown Juneau. Might it have interest in the collection? Could it take it over if the city zeroed out funding?

“The short answer to that is no — we don’t, we wouldn’t,” said Scott Carrlee, the state museum’s curator. The state museum is operating with a skeleton crew having already lost 30 percent of its staff. “Right now with the financial situation that the state finds itself in, we just don’t have the resources or the capacity to take over a collection of that size.”

Cuts will have to happen or taxes will rise. Even those who love the museum understand that.

“Services are going to be affected whether it’s the museum or something else,” Probst said. “We’re not the only thing that’s on the table right now — it’s citywide services.”

Deep cuts, dig deeper into savings, raise taxes and fees, or a combination thereof, are the stark choices the Juneau Assembly is grappling between now and June 5.

Until then the city is accepting public comment as it weighs its priorities.

Many in the Juneau community responded to the destruction of the Twin Lakes playground by opening their wallets and donating online. Now the City and Borough of Juneau is directing donations to the Juneau Community Foundation.

The Twin Lakes playground, also known as castle park and Project Playground, was a grassroots community effort that the city says accumulated about 17,000 volunteer hours.

“We were there two weekends in a row in the sideways rain,” Suzanne Dutson said. “Shoveling the shredded tires for the flooring, pitching screwdrivers everywhere and hammering nails and just doing whatever we needed to do to try and help build the playground because it was such a wonderful opportunity for us to do that.”

Monday’s suspected arson led her to create an account on GoFundMe to help rebuild. It spread on Facebook forums and raised $4,625 in less than a day.

Now she’s shutting the page down.

“I’ve been contacted by people saying, ‘You know, we’re losing a lot of this money from fees. Let’s do something else,'” she said.

She’d read the fine print: GoFundMe takes nearly 8 percent. That adds up quickly.

“You know, a woman gave $5 and so that’s $0.40. It doesn’t sound like a lot but I have a business who donated $2,000 and, you know, 8 percent of that … $160 of that is going to GoFundMe,” Dutson said. “We can definitely do better.”

There is an alternative: The City and Borough of Juneau is steering donations toward the Juneau Community Foundation.

“What we offer is a nonprofit receiving the funds,” said Executive Director Amy Skilbred. “Any donations to the Juneau Community Foundation would be tax deductible.”

Dutson said she now plans to transfer the funds she’s raised to the Juneau Community Foundation.

“The GoFundMe was a nice foundation but it’s time to move it forward — to something that will preserve the money and the intent for the money,” she said.

It’s too soon to tell how much it will cost to rebuild and the city is talking to its insurance firm in Seattle.

“We have coverage,” Deputy City Manager Mila Cosgrove said. “We expect some level of reimbursement to cover at least design, cleanup, possible materials, etc. We’re looking to see from them what the actual amount of coverage is.”

The city is holding a meeting at 5 p.m. May 2 at Centennial Hall to discuss how to move forward.

“Let’s pause. Let’s grieve,” said Catherine Pusich, one of the playground’s original grassroots organizers. “Let’s work with the city to find out what we need to do as a community to come together to get our playground back.

Juneau Police arrested two 13-year-olds they say admit to starting the fire.

Shredded tires used as soft flooring on the playground is what caused the billowing black smoke that was shared so widely on social media.

Editors’ Note: The Juneau Community Foundation has provided grants to 360 North for Gavel Alaska and maintains the KTOO Legacy Foundation fund.

The City and Borough of Juneau has come to the aid of the Juneau Housing First Project with another $1.2 million.

Housing First is designed to serve Juneau’s most vulnerable residents, many of them homeless. But grants and other fundraising have been leaner than projected for the 32-unit complex and clinic under construction.

Housing First was originally slated to open in May. But when the project lost Front Street Community Health Center as its partner to run the onsite clinic, that pushed things back. Now a new partner’s been found: the Juneau Alliance for Mental Health, Inc.

“You know we’re just responding to the needs of the community, the program,” Doug Harris of JAMHI said. “And we’ve been fully invested in the Housing First project since its initial planning stages.”

The Juneau Assembly unanimously approved the increased funding without discussion Monday evening.

“We’re really excited to start moving people in,” Housing First’s Project Manager Mariya Lovishchuk said. “This feels like a huge, huge step.”

The Housing First complex is now slated to open in July and gives preference to what case workers identify as the community’s most vulnerable residents.

A former federal marine lab that’s up for grabs on Auke Bay could be formally split between the City and Borough of Juneau and the University of Alaska Southeast.

The deal hasn’t been signed. But City Manager Rorie Watt told the Assembly Monday they are very close.

“We’ve come up with an agreement to share the parcel by subdividing it along a line that allows the university to obtain the lab building and sufficient land, and Docks and Harbors to obtain the remainder of the parcel,” Watt said.

Docks and Harbors wants to expand Statter Harbor. The university wants to use the former NOAA marine lab for its campus. The compromise would require subdividing the 4-acre property and building a new driveway for the university.

The federal government is willing to give the property away. But Watt said the city’s costs for subdividing the land and closing the deal could be a quarter million dollars. That would require planning commission approval and formal agreement from the Assembly at a later date.