Following their decision to change the 50-year-old Anchorage seal, the Assembly took a second vote to rename the iconic Hotel Captain Cook, located in downtown Anchorage.

“Today represents a new dawn here in Anchorage,” Assembly Chair Christopher Constant told reporters after the vote. “Anchorage residents know that decolonizing our downtown spaces is the most important task of city government. How can we combat crime, plow roads, or solve homelessness in the shadow of this towering orange obelisk of colonial oppression?”

Prior to the vote, the Assembly created a survey for Anchorage residents asking them about the renaming. 98% of respondents voted to keep the existing name of the historic hotel, with some voicing confusion about the Assembly’s authority to rename a private business. But Constant was not dissuaded.

“When we throw out the results that we don’t agree with,” he explained, “100% of the remaining results agree that the old name had to go.”

“Today is a new dawn,” Constant added.

Assembly member Yarrow Silvers praised the decision but said it was only the beginning. “This is great work we’ve done — such great work — but much is left. Next will be to rename Cook Inlet itself, then the Cook Inlet Historical Society, and the Cook Inlet Soccer Club. Then there’s also Metro Cooks, in midtown. It’s everywhere! Why, just yesterday I was watching TV and came across the Cooking Channel. It made me uncomfortable, if I’m being honest with you,” Silvers told the Landmine. “And my discomfort is more important than your history.”

Assembly Member Daniel Volland told the Landmine that they still had not picked out a new name for the hotel, but that many options were on the table. He said that the Assembly had borrowed a Dena’ina dictionary and would likely pick a few words at random. “The meaning of the words doesn’t matter,” said Volland, “what matters is decentering colonial narratives. Even the word ‘Captain,’ it implies hierarchy. Very western. It centers oppression and fills me with guilt. It all has to go.”

The day after the vote, Assembly members gathered to begin painting an indigenous motif on the exterior of the hotel formerly known as the Captain Cook. Municipal crews rushed to erect scaffolding as confused hotel guests walked in and out of the building. However, before the painting could begin a group of intoxicated vagrants began harassing Assembly members, who fled through the hotel before hastily retreating toward City Hall.

“We’ll be back!” yelled Constant, “Today is a new dawn!”