Opinion

AMATS -- the Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions -- is unquestionably the most byzantine of all Alaska bureaucracies. The influential panel of five -- two state officials, the mayor and two Assembly members -- controls the millions of dollars in transportation aid the feds send Anchorage every year. Exactly how AMATS makes its decisions is often a mystery, as Mayor Mark Begich learned the hard way this week.

He got AMATS approval to shift unused funds into planning work for the Coastal Trail. As part of the deal, he pledged to raise the required matching money from private sources. It was an example of the creative leadership Begich promised when he ran for mayor. AMATS passed a resolution endorsing the move.

There was only one catch. Before the resolution passed, the state had already made other plans for the unused funds. Nobody bothered to tell Mayor Begich before the meeting, though. AMATS passed the Coastal Trail funding resolution anyway, in hopes the state's move could be reversed. The state argued against the change, saying the project can't get money because the private matching funds are not in hand. The state convinced the feds on this point, but nobody bothered to tell the city. End of Mayor Begich's innovative idea, at least for now.

The Murkowski administration has made clear that it has virtually no interest in trails, period. The Coastal Trail is so bitterly opposed by a small number of influential NIMBYs that it would be unlikely to make a list of Murkowski-approved trails anyway. So maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that it worked to block the mayor's effort to switch money over to the Coastal Trail. Even though the state has only two of five AMATS votes, it files the formal paperwork, so it can pull maneuvers like this one.

The Coastal Trail deserves a better fate. It would be a spectacular addition to Anchorage's network of trails. The north half of the trail is one of the city's best-loved features, and the southern extension would be just as popular. But for now, the project is stuck in limbo, as the money to compile the environmental impact statement has run out.

The mayor can and should make another run for Coastal Trail money in the regular AMATS process. Perhaps he can line up the private money beforehand. That would overcome the objection stated this time. But that's no guarantee the mayor's idea will fly. Machinations at the mysterious panel have a way of sidetracking the best-laid plans.

As long as a governor hostile to trails controls two seats on AMATS and files the federal paperwork, Mayor Begich faces an uphill fight to make progress on the Coastal Trail.

BOTTOM LINE: Mayor Begich got outmaneuvered at AMATS, but he should try again to fund Coastal Trail work.