Creating a Community of Choice

Daniel George, president of the Mountain View Community Council in Anchorage, Alaska, emphasizes the importance of consulting with local residents, "A lot of people who live here have never been asked what they would like to see here. Mountain View is largely a rental community. Many of the properties are rental properties where the owners don’t live on it. You see a lot of multi-unit apartments … oftentimes people don’t go to renters and say, ‘hey, what would you like to see on the property?’ But the community council gets to be that voice."

George moved into the Mountain View neighborhood in 2009 and he bought a house there. George says, "I fell in love with this neighborhood, and decided to move here."

"As someone that invests here and lives here, some people don’t have a high opinion of Mountain View," explained George, "and it’s certainly had its share of social ills and crime. But things are changing. ... Anyone that’s driven through Mountain View can see that it’s changed a great deal. People are looking to buy homes here now. First time homebuyers are coming in. We’re working to make it a community of choice, the first choice."