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The Airport Dike Trail is one of Juneau’s most accessible trails. Flat and well maintained, it’s great trail for runners, strollers and dog walkers.
With dogs come dog waste, and some community members decided to address the bags of poop littering the trail.
Courtney Wendel and her playful black-and-white mixed-breed dog, Kiska live nearby and walk almost every day on the trail.
But for a long time, there was something bothering Wendel.
“For a lot of people, when we walk the whole trail … there was often coffee cups, or juice boxes, or Kleenex, and of course, people tend to be lazy, and so they don’t pick up after their dogs, so there tended to be a lot more dog poo further out the trail.”
Yup. Dog poo. All along the path.
The problem wasn’t only the bags littering the trail, airport operations superintendent Scott Rinkenberger said.
“Nine times of 10, or for the most part they would forget about their little plastic bag and they would just walk by it, and so we would have all these little dog bags of dog excrement along the trail,” he said. “Some people would even tie them to the airport perimeter fence as a reminder and forget about it.”
Rinkenberger said it was up to airport staff to clean it up.
There was already one dumpster at the start of the trail, but after talking to dog walkers — including Wendel — he decided to add a second dumpster halfway out the trail in May.
For a while, the new trash bin had a poster on it with a picture of Wendel’s dog that said “Kiska’s Dumpster.”
Wendel said some dog walkers thought it was specifically for Kiska, so the poster’s gone now.
The dike trail is officially the airport’s Emergency Vehicle Access Road.
But Rinkenberger recognized it also is part of the community.
“It makes for a really nice trail so we understand that it’s got two purposes. We like to make it really user-friendly for our hikers and our dog walkers and families and school trips and so forth and people wanting to come out here to the wetlands to view the wildlife and the waterfowl, and also have the ability to keep it clean.”
Rinkenberger said the airport pays $162.72 monthly rent for the dumpster.
The time it saves having airport staff clean the trail makes the price worth it, he said.
Wendel has already seen the difference since May.
“I personally have noticed that since the second dumpster, the trail further out is a lot cleaner,” she said. “I haven’t noticed nearly as much trash, if any trash really, further out the trail, which is really nice. I also notice that people tend to be picking up after their dogs more, because they know that they only have to carry it half way.”
She added that in a place where the weather can make it difficult to get outside, it’s important to take care of the trails that are accessible to everyone.
“Literally everyone can use this trail. … When it’s rainy and gross, who wants to go walk on a trail that’s covered in dog poo and has trash everywhere? That’s not inviting. That’s not taking care of something that really is for the enjoyment of everyone.
Kiska runs out ahead of us to chase after a ball. She has the whole trail ahead of her, and no — or at least fewer — poop bags to dodge.
Juneau’s population continues to grow older: seniors were only 6 percent of the population in 1980, and they are now more than a quarter the population.
Housing is short for older residents. A new apartment complex that opened in September has added nearly a third more independent living units to Juneau’s capacity.
Sitting near the mouth of the Mendenhall River, Trillium Landing is a new apartment complex — including a gym, common area and solar panels on the roof — for people 55 and older.
The 49-unit building has a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. Some are rented at market value.
Trillium gets a federal tax break for renting many of them as affordable housing.
Barbara Oudekerk moved in at the end of September. She said Trillium’s affordability was a major selling point.
“It was so hard to find a place to rent, and a place that would fit my budget … and being a Social Security person you can’t afford a big nice place, but this is just more than I could imagine.”
The 78-year-old moved to Juneau from Haines a year ago to be closer to family after her husband passed away.
She couldn’t find housing at first.
“I waited a whole year for this to come open, and it’s more than I could ever imagine. When I walked in and got to see it for the first time, all clean, and perfect,” she said. “There’s not a thing I would change. … I can’t be more grateful.”
Rain Coast Data director Meilani Schijvens said this isn’t surprising
“The interesting thing about Juneau is if you go back and you look at the 1890 census, the number one thing they talk about there is the lack of housing in this community,” Schijvens said. “You can kind of go and read any document talking about the community of Juneau from the 1890s to now, and housing has always been an issue.”
Schijvens adds that with 50- and 60-year-olds creating the largest age demographic in Juneau, housing that accommodates an aging population is going to become more important.
The apartment complex is only for older people who live independently.
Trillium manager Paula Lindsay has had to turn away people looking for assisted living.
Senior Citizen Support Services is planning to build an assisted living facility near Trillium Landing. They hope to have it completed in early 2019.
Once open, it will be Juneau’s first private assisted living facility.
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