Lakeidra Chavis, KTOO

More than 70 people crowded into the assembly chambers Monday evening in support of an equal rights ordinance. The Juneau Assembly adopted the ordinance in an 8-1 vote.

The ordinance, which takes effect in 30 days, protects against discrimination based on gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation.

Freda Westman spoke in support of the ordinance on behalf of the Alaska Native Sisterhood.

“It takes all of us working together (to) do what is right, to have equal protection,” she said. “If not all of us are protected, then none of us are protected, and it’s important that it’s passed.”

The Rev. Phil Campbell from the Northern Light United Church also expressed his support.

“It was Theodore Parker and later Martin Luther King Jr. who said that the arc of the universe is long but that it bends toward justice,” Campbell said. “I humbly submit that by the passage of the equal rights ordinance that you will facilitate more bending toward justice and equality for all people.”

Community members wearing large buttons with the word “Yes” over the pride flag filled the room, but the ordinance wasn’t without critics.

Assemblyman Jerry Nankervis voted against the 15-page ordinance. He said he didn’t disagree with the intent, but said there are problems with its execution. He said some aspects dealing with accessibility could increase a landlord’s costs. Some facilities may be forced to rent to, he suggested, Satanic groups. He also said offhand remarks could make people liable for aiding or abetting discrimination.

“My concern with supporting this and the way it’s written, and as lengthy as it is–would be that I would fall into the sand trap that I always talk about, which is the ends justifying the means, and I just can’t do it (with) the way it’s structured right now,” he said.

Tom Williams was one of two community members who spoke in opposition to the ordinance.

“The premise of this ordinance is that only those in the protected classes need to be insulated from unlawful behavior when in fact,” Williams said, “abuses can occur on both sides of the transaction.”

The ordinance doesn’t create a city agency or group that will monitor discrimination. Instead, it allows community members to take legal action if they feel they’ve experienced discrimination.

Anchorage is the only other Alaska city that has these protections for its private citizens.

About 2,300 people have visited William Shakespeare’s First Folio inside of the State Library, Archives and Museum building.

Librarian Freya Anderson said that’s just people who have been inside the room to see the nearly 400-year-old book of the bard’s plays; it doesn’t include those who attended the lectures or more than 30 play readings hosted by Theatre in the Rough.

“And it’s really cool because it’s been a mixture, too.  You have people who are just passionate about Shakespeare, and they come and spend a long time in the room,” Anderson said.

The First Folio brought the world a printed copy of some of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, like Macbeth. The copy in the library is one of six that belong to the Folger Shakespeare Library traveling around the country and some territories. It’s been 400 years since the playwright’s death.

Anderson is a proud Shakespeare geek, and said that the visit inspired her to re-read all of the Shakespeare’s plays. She’s currently on The Tempest.

“Personally just the chance to be in the same room with it and share the love of Shakespeare, the love of history with people who care coming in, has just been a blast,” she said.

The First Folio’s public viewing in Juneau ends at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Correction: An earlier version of this story overstated the number of First Folio copies the Folger Shakespeare Library is touring and why the library is touring them. The library has six copies, not eight, and it’s for Shakespeare’s 400-year death anniversary, not his birthday.

At Monday’s Juneau Assembly meeting, members are slated to make their final vote on an equal rights ordinance.

The ordinance would create protections against discrimination for people in Juneau based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in housing, employment and public accommodations.

Gender identity is how a person identifies with their biological sex, and gender expression is how they express their identity externally—through clothing or hairstyles.

The Southeast Alaska Gay and Lesbian Alliance, or SEAGLA, plans to rally in support of the ordinance across the street before heading into the meeting.

Other items on the agenda address a proposed ordinance regarding the Renninger subdivision, allowing the city manager to negotiate the sale of two of the subdivisions lots to the Alaska Housing Development Corp. Another ordinance on the agenda would provide funds for construction on the Aurora Small Boat Harbor.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in Assembly Chambers at City Hall and is broadcast live on KTOO-FM.

The U.S. Forest Service plans to expand parking, extend a trail and improve an outhouse near the West Glacier trailhead.

The Alaska Department of Transportation recently awarded the Forest Service the $294,000 grant to pay for the improvements.

The Forest Service’s Ed Grossman, who manages recreation programs in Juneau, said the potential cost for the project could change, depending on contractors’ bids.

“It includes some additional parking, it includes about a four-tenths of a mile trail that’ll parallel the existing road and bike path,” he said.

The grant will help the final phase in a decade-long project to the fix the trail area.

“The road used to be dirt, and heavily potholed,” Grossman said, “and the parking was just pretty much willy-nilly, so all of that was improved in former phases.”

Over the past few years, numerous people have gotten lost on the trail—most recently Saturday, KINY reported Monday.

While the project will include signage, modifications won’t go beyond the trailhead, Grossman said.

“So there isn’t any additional work being done in this phase beyond the trailhead,” he said, “where it seems like more people are getting lost than they should.”

Construction could start as soon as this fall.

The Juneau Assembly will have two contested municipal elections this fall. Monday evening was the last chance to file for candidacy for a seat on the assembly.

Three people are vying for the Assembly District 1 seat. William Quayle Jr. and Arnold Liebelt are challenging incumbent Mary Becker.

Becker has served as deputy mayor and briefly filled in as mayor after Greg Fisk died last fall. She’s seeking her third term.

Douglas resident Arnold Liebelt worked for the state for more than two decades before moving on last fall. In his candidate letter, he said during his last four years, he worked as a senior policy analyst in the Governor’s Office. He applied for a vacant assembly seat earlier this year now held by Jamie Bursell.

Bursell is not running.

William Quayle Jr. is an unlicensed pedicab driver.

Area-wide Assemblywoman Kate Troll will run against Norton Gregory. Gregory and Troll sit on the Juneau Affordable Housing Commission.

Beth Weldon, a retired firefighter, is uncontested in the District 2 assembly race.

The Juneau Assembly has oversight over local services, including law enforcement, parks and pools, the hospital and schools, among others.

The Juneau School Board has four candidates for two seats: Kevin Allen, Dan DeBartolo, Jason Hart and Steve Whitney.

The municipal election is Oct. 4.

Gov. Walker’s budget vetoes earlier this summer have trickled down to local governments, including Juneau. The city and school district are now facing a nearly $5 million deficit for the budget year that began in July, and officials are looking for solutions.

Bob Bartholomew, finance director for City and Borough of Juneau, was preparing Thursday afternoon for the Juneau Assembly’s Finance Committee meeting that would take place later in the evening.

“The meeting tonight for the finance committee is to basically address the deficit that we now have,” he said. “In the schedule you can see it’s about $4.9 million.”

Most of the burden is on the city.

Ideally, the city would pull from its savings, as a one-time fix, Bartholomew said. The city has about $16 million in its reserves.

It’s important to keep the deficit in context, he said.

“Our total budget is $330 million, our general government budget is roughly a $100 million,” he said. “So while $5 million is large, it’s manageable.”

The city passed its budget before the governor’s vetoes, so it couldn’t fully anticipate the cuts. The biggest worry is that the state’s continued budget problems will affect the city for years to come, Bartholomew said.

“If it’s $5 million every year for a number of years, then it’s a much bigger issue and that’s the part where we’re not certain of but we have to prepare that it could be at that level. But I don’t expect it to be that large for a number of years, I think it’s going to be smaller than that.”

The decisions won’t be made immediately, city manager Rorie Watt said, adding that officials want to look at all possible solutions.

“We have savings to weather this storm, and we want to use them the best we can, as we re-calibrate what we do as a local government,” Watt said. “And we don’t need to make a decision this week or this month.”

But the school district’s $500,000 deficit may be harder to tackle.

The school lost funding from the state’s per pupil formula funding and school transportation.

The district told the city last week that it would be able to cover it. But now, school officials say they’d prefer to cover only half.

At the finance committee meeting, Superintendent Mark Miller said while it could pull from its reserve, it would wipe out the district’s savings.

“The flexibility for us to absorb any emergencies that come up using general fund dollars, goes away,” Miller said.

While it can look to the assembly for help, the city has already maxed out what it can give the district under state law.

The finance committee plans to discuss possible solutions at its next meeting, on Sept. 7.