Am I the only person who thinks that somewhere in Anchorage, former mayor Dave Bronson is sitting home wondering how this happened. His last year in office, when he was running for re-election, Anchorage got enough snow to end water shortages the world over. And because of the… let’s call it, the lackluster response to that snowmageddon… he did not have a winning path to a second term.
Yes, yes. I know. There were many other issues that kept him from winning but let’s be real, those snow berms that made pulling out of side streets such an exciting challenge didn’t help. Especially when you consider that by the time we were voting, everyone was pretty much referring to them as “bronsons”.
Then here comes Suzanne LaFrance. She wins. And then she has what has to be the smallest snowfall in Anchorage in ages during her first winter as mayor. Not only don’t we get dumped with enough snow to collapse roofs, but we get enough warm weather and rain to wipe out most of the ice. Welcome to a snow free and almost ice-free winter in Anchorage.
If this isn’t burning Bronson’s butt, it should be. Because this is just wrong. I mean, I was a LaFrance supporter from the get-go based on a lot of other issues with the Bronson administration, most of them about his horrendous treatment of our amazing public library. But the contrast between what he faced last winter and what Suzanne faces this winter is almost too funny.
So, know this, former Mayor Bronson. While we don’t want you back as mayor, and we will for a long time refer to snow berms as bronsons, we do recognize how unfair this winter is to you. We send our sympathies. You never had a chance.