Daily Sitka Sentinel

June 4, 2013 Letters to the Editor

Street Closure
Dear Editor: One of the wonderful things about Sitka is all the different people and varying opinions. It says a lot about a community that can agree to disagree. The recent comments to the editor and other comments I have received show how much we all love and care for the home we live in.
    I just wanted to clarify the reasons for the street closure on the dates of June 12, 19, 26 and July 3 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the concerns with that closure. The proposed space will be just two short blocks from the west side of the crosswalk in front of Ben Franklin to Barracks Street in front of Old Harbor Books. Automobiles will still be able to drive around St. Michael’s Church, stop in front of the Lutheran Church and use Maksoutoff Street.
    The reasons for this closure are many:
    Enhanced local experience: with crowded sidewalks along Lincoln Street on busy cruise ship days, getting down the pedestrian walk can be a slower than normal task. By opening up a small section of the street for pedestrians only, we will make it safer and easier for those on foot to get around. Many locals and most of our visitors experience Sitka on foot as pedestrians. In fact, a Health Summit goal this year was to be a walk-friendly community and having a temporary walkway on the days when we have the most foot traffic aligns us with that community- driven goal.
    Enhanced visitor experience: by revitalizing and beautifying downtown we are trying to establish a town that is attractive, enjoyable and unique so that people will not only spend more while they are here but maybe even return as independent travelers. Independent travelers are a key to the economic diversity and stability of our local economy.
    The Sitka Chamber of Commerce will have cards that give travel information to folks so that they know how to “Come back to Sitka.” These cards will be handed out by local volunteers on the proposed four days. In addition, with a pedestrian walkway a visitor can safely stand in front of St. Michael’s to take a picture.
    Enhanced Economic Opportunity: The visitor industry is highly competitive and many of the best places to live and visit have pedestrian walkways. Sitka’s visitor industry is an important piece of our overall economy. The long-term financial stability of this industry is essential to a lot of our neighbors and friends. If we are good hosts and our out-of-town guests have a great experience, they will stay longer, spend more, tell friends and come back. That is good for our private sector when they make sales and our public sector when they collect sales tax. This is money that supports funding essential city services and our local schools.
    Enhanced opportunity for non-profits to advertise themselves: Sitka is home to a world class Fine Arts Camp, Music Festival, Russian Dance Group and more. All of these groups have been contacted and invited to provide live entertainment during the street closures as a way to share our community with visitors. This provides more reason for visitors to return to Sitka as independent travelers and allows a venue for Sitka to advertise itself to its most captivated audience.
    It is our hope and belief that by building relationships in this way that these benefits outweigh the sacrifices of 16 fewer parking spaces and short detours that we will have to endure during these times. The detour is minor and barricades can easily be taken down in case of an emergency.
    We have chosen just four days as a test run this summer and to determine if it is worth considering doing again next year. It is not our intent to permanently close Lincoln Street in the future or to alienate local Sitkans in any way. The civic-minded volunteers who have spent months sacrificing free time to make improvement in our downtown core, have endorsed this test program and think it’s worth giving a try. I do too and I appreciate your openness to making the most out of the opportunities we have. Thank you all.
Cyndy Gibson,
Revitalize Sitka: Creating a
Vibrant Downtown Workgroup


Annual Pansy Sale
Dear Editor: Mt. Edgecumbe Preschool’s annual pansy sale is complete and we are happy to see those bright splashes of color in window boxes and gardens throughout Sitka.
     A huge thanks goes to Penny Brown at Garden Ventures for her generous help with this fundraiser, and to Alaska Marine Lines for their fabulous shipping contribution. We couldn’t do it without them.
    Thanks to our board of directors and preschool parents for finding homes for all those beautiful pansies, and especially to community members for supporting us with their purchases.
    Our annual pansy sale supports our scholarship program and our efforts to provide a rich early learning experience for our Sitka kids. Once again, this community made it a success.
Lori Whitmill, Director,
Mt. Edgecumbe Preschool





By Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins
Alaska State Legislature
What Happened?! (Part I)
Dear Friends and Neighbors:
    What exactly did those yahoos over in Juneau do with your money?!
    I’m writing a couple of newsletters to help make sense of the recently concluded legislative session, and the budget was a big part of it. After all, the Alaska Legislature basically does two things: we write laws and we write the budget. It’s good to know how much money we have and how much we’re spending.
There’s Good News and Bad News
    The good news: The State of Alaska has dubloons aplenty. We’ve stashed $17.1 billion in our rainy-day accounts; we’ve tucked away a tidy $46 billion in the Permanent Fund; and just this year we expect to collect $6 billion in revenue from our publicly owned oil resource.
    These are the profound financial perks of living in what Wally Hickel famously called an “owner state.” If gratitude is a way of life, we should be living it every day.
    The last five years have been particularly kind. These were the glory years of multi-billion dollar surpluses and capital budgets that would inspire insecurity in Santa Claus himself.
    Here’s the bad news: The glory years are gone. Done. And likely never to return. Oil prices are lower; there’s less and less oil in the pipeline; and the State budget continues to grow. This is unwelcome yet inescapable arithmetic.
    The Legislature failed to balance the budget this year (not even close: we ran a $291 million budget deficit), and it’s a foregone conclusion that we’ll write a budget with red ink next year, especially once we have to account for the huge tax cut the Legislature just gave the oil companies.
The Deficit Diet
    Perhaps the best indicator of our brave new financial world is the capital budget. It’s a whisper of what it was. Consider the following:
    Last year’s capital budget was $3.4 billion. This year’s capital budget was $2.3 billion.
    Those numbers mean more knowing how the budget process works: Every year the Governor writes a budget and he gives it to the Legislature. We, the Legislature, add to (and occasionally strike items from) the Governor’s budget to produce a budget that is more or less the final deal.
    Last year, the Governor submitted a $2.3 billion capital budget to the Legislature. The final budget was $3.4 billion. The Legislature added (approximately) $1.1 billion in capital projects.
    This year, the Governor submitted a $1.9 billion capital budget to the Legislature. The final budget was $2.3 billion. The Legislature added (approximately) $0.4 billion in capital projects.
    $1.1 billion to $0.4 billion: that’s nearly a three-fold decrease in legislative appropriations year-over-year. And the $400 million in goodies legislators stuffed into this year’s budget is going to seem lavish in future years. We’re going on a diet. It’s not the South Beach or the Atkins; it’s called deficit spending, and we’re slimming down in a hurry.
Thar Be Treasure!
    So, how much booty did District 34 get in the capital budget?
    $71 million.
    There are 40 legislative districts in Alaska. According to the Alaska Budget Report, District 34 – that’s us! – got the third highest amount of money of the 40 districts in Alaska. There are a lot of things I wish were in there that are not, but all things relative, $71 million is not shabby.
    Now, consider this word of the day: Self-aggrandizement: The act or practice of enhancing or exaggerating one’s own importance, power, or reputation. Legislators talking about money is practically the very definition of self-aggrandizement. And it’s tempting! Tantalizing!
    But the straight and honest truth is the best policy. We got $71 million for a number of reasons: Foremost, Governor Parnell submitted a capital budget to the Legislature that treated rural Southeast very fairly. We should say thanks. Senator Stedman also worked hard on the capital budget, as did I. And we worked with others. I guess you could call this aggrandizing collaboration, and it’s the way things should work.

PAGE 2 Op-Ed:

By Tammye Trevino
    Homeownership. The American Dream. These concepts are an integral part of our Nation’s history. As President Obama said in his May 11 weekly radio address on housing, few things define the cornerstone of the American Dream more than owning a home.
    In June, USDA, its federal partners, members of the housing development community and citizens across the country will celebrate National Homeownership Month. USDA will highlight how the Department’s housing programs help families and communities. Homeownership Month also brings attention importance the importance of housing in the U.S. economy.
    For many rural residents, USDA’s housing programs are their only opportunity to buy a home. USDA Direct and Guaranteed loans have financed individual homes, or in some cases entire subdivisions. Since the start of the Obama Administration, USDA housing programs have provided more than 650,000 rural families with a place to live.
    As we enter June, thousands of graduating high school and college seniors right now are making choices about their career paths and where to live. Sadly, for many of these newly minted graduates, remaining in rural America can be a difficult option.
    Helping to provide decent, affordable housing – in addition to our efforts to revitalize the rural economy and create new jobs – is one critical way USDA is working to reverse population loss in our rural towns and communities. Too often, population loss happens because the next generation sees decreased economic opportunity in rural America. At USDA, we are committed to breaking this cycle. We are working to bring rural Americans home by investing in small businesses, manufacturing and energy in rural America. We are strengthening schools, health care facilities, police and fire protection, and other essential services. We are investing in the things that make communities attractive places to live and work, such as modern electric, water and waste water systems, and the next great utility – high-speed broadband.
    In June, USDA officials will visit rural communities across the nation that have benefitted from our housing programs. They will hear from rural residents who bought their first home with a USDA loan, farmworkers who have safe, decent rental housing financed by USDA, and from non-profit groups that work with contractors who build homes where families do sweat equity projects as part of their downpayment.
    Helping rural residents buy homes is only one way USDA supports housing. The Department also helps homeowners keep their homes after they purchase them. Earlier this year, Secretary Vilsack expanded a pilot demonstration program so rural residents with USDA mortgages can take advantage of today’s historically low interest rates. To date, the program has helped more than 5,500 USDA borrowers refinance their loans. The pilot is under way in 34 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
    This complements President’s Obama’s mortgage refinance program, which has already helped more than 2 million families around the country save an average of $3,000 annually on their mortgages.
    Fortunately, there are signs that the worst of the housing crisis seems to be behind us. Home values are rising. Construction is up. Foreclosures are down.
    The current economic recovery is gaining steam. Yet more work needs to be done. Congress is debating a Food, Farm and Jobs bill that would help rural homeowners in many ways. It would enable USDA to expand markets for agricultural products, create new opportunities for local and regional food systems, and grow the bio-based economy.
    A healthy American economy depends on a prosperous rural America, which supplies much of our nation’s food and water and safeguards our environmental heritage.
    The Obama Administration and USDA are committed to ensuring that America’s rural communities are vibrant and thriving economically. USDA has made an unprecedented commitment to this goal by supporting affordable rural housing.
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    Tammye Trevino is Administrator of USDA’s Housing and Community Facilities Programs. She will be in Sitka on June 8 in observance of USDA’s National Homeownership Month and “StrikeForce” initiative. The meeting will be 11 a.m. June 8 at the Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi.