September 27, 2024, Community Happenings

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Category: News

Created on Friday, 27 September 2024 13:16

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Health Care
Access Topic
Of Session
A data and dialogue session on community perceptions of health care access is scheduled 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, at Sitka Public Library.
The public is invited to learn more about early research insights from interviews of 16 adults in Sitka in the fall of 2023 about how they feel the 2019 merger of SEARHC and Sitka Community Hospital has impacted their health care access.
Attendees may ask questions and offer their own thoughts on the research and session. Feedback will help shape the final research findings from the study, making sure voices are heard, a press release said.
The event will feature a series of posters. The public can drop by anytime between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28, to view the series. It will take about 30 minutes to go through the posters. Volunteer facilitators will be on hand.
Snacks will be available.
The session will be led by Priya Gandhi, a doctoral candidate from the Pardee RAND Graduate School in Santa Monica, California. Contact her directly with any questions at pgandhi@pardeerand.edu.
Her dissertation study was independently designed and conducted and was approved by RAND’s Human Subjects Protection Committee.
The views that will be expressed in this session do not necessarily reflect the views of the acquired or existing health systems in Sitka, the library said.

‘Lights On’ Event
For Community
City and Borough of Sitka Parks and Recreation and Youth Advocates of Sitka will hold a tabling and open recreation event 4-7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11, at Blatchley Middle School.
The event is part of Lights On Afterschool, a nationwide rally for afterschool programs.
Activities include free open gym and open skate, STEM activities, arts and crafts, and a raffle for prizes. Participants learn about afterschool opportunities from a variety of organizations in Sitka. Community members are invited. No registration is required.
For information, contact Sitka Parks and Recreation by emailing recreation@cityofsitka.org or by calling 907 747-4031.

Climate Connection: Electric Load Priorities
Last week’s Climate Connection pointed out that we are close to exhausting our hydropower electric generation in a dry year in which insufficient rainfall doesn’t adequately recharge our dams’ “batteries.” Our dry year generation capacity is 127 gigawatt-hours (gwh), and in 2023 we used 125 gwh. When we exceed our hydropower capacity to generate needed electric load, we will use increasingly expensive diesel generation at the Jarvis Street substation to make up the difference, with a fuel surcharge on our electric utility bills. In average years of rainfall, our generation capacity is about 158 gwh, but we can’t predict in advance the yearly rainfall.
In 2020, our Assembly passed a resolution declaring a climate emergency. However, it was never followed by setting quantitative decarbonization goals such as the federal government has done by intending to cut national carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 in comparison to 2005 emissions. Sitka is lucky to have had earlier estimates of its 2003-6 emissions in a 2010 climate action plan. The Pacific Northwest National Energy Laboratory is helping our sustainability coordinator with a current emissions inventory right now, although it will not include cruise ship tourism and marine emissions. In the meantime, this community needs to establish its priorities for allocating our energy needs.
Cost of living is a concern for many in Sitka. Heat pumps save money on heating our homes and hot water over fuel oil, propane, and resistive baseboard heat. If we decided to reserve electric load for home heat pumps for 2000 of Sitka’s 3,700 residential power accounts (heated with fossil fuels) at 6.1 megawatt-hours (mwh) each, we need 12.2 gwh. Electric vehicles save money on fuel and maintenance costs over internal combustion engine vehicles. If we reserved electric load for 3,500 EVs of the 7,105 cars and pickups  registered in 2023 at 3.6 mwh each, we need 12.6 gwh. Together, reserving electric load for home heating and EVs to lower cost of living, we come up with 149.8 gwh total including our 2023 electric load. This exceeds by 12% what our two hydropower dams generate in a dry year, but would be covered by hydropower in an average year.
However, we have already committed electric power to the new SEARHC hospital which will open at the end of 2025. We estimate its additional electric load requirements to be 5.1 gwh/year on the basis of conversations with SEARHC, although electric load consultants to the Electric Department in 2018 estimated a higher usage of 8.6 gwh. The latter report estimated that homeporting a new Coast Guard cutter here would add 2.2 gwh. Even in an average rainfall year, we can barely accommodate these new loads without using diesel generation. We haven’t considered decarbonizing tourist or school buses, the RIDE, fishing and recreational fleets, heating for businesses and industry, or cruise ships in port.
We need community discussion on our electric load priorities, Sitka’s growth, and what additional renewable resources to plan for and finance.
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Kay Kreiss, Transition Sitka

Bingocize Back
At ANB Hall
Bingocize is back at ANB Founders Hall 1-2:30 p.m. Fridays.
The activity includes exercise, Bingo and how to prevent falls. It includes, prizes, snacks and other activities. Its free and open to all.

Candidates Sought
For STA Council
Sitka Tribe of Alaska Tribal Council candidacy packets are now available.
On Nov. 12, eligible voters will elect four members of the Sitka Tribal Council and the Tribal chairman for two-year terms.
STA citizens age 30 and older who have lived in Sitka for at least 12 months directly preceding the election may be eligible to run for office.
Candidacy packets are available at STA headquarters, 204 Siginaka Way. The deadline to submit candidacy packets is Oct. 11. For information, contact Election Supervisor Rachel Roy, at rachelroy907@gmail.com or 907 738-1186.

Troll Fishing in
Deep Inlet Updated
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has issued information concerning commercial salmon trolling in Deep Inlet Terminal Harvest Area.
The THA is closed to terminal rotational fisheries for the season; however, through the end of the summer troll season at 11:59 p.m. Monday, Sept. 30 the waters of Deep Inlet are managed under traditional summer troll fishery regulations and remain open.
Waters within 500 yards of the fresh water of a salmon stream are closed to commercial salmon fishing, and these restrictions apply under traditional fishery management for those waters within Deep Inlet Sept. 21-30, the department said.
Harvest from the waters within Deep Inlet through Sept. 30 should be reported as statistical area 113-41 on salmon troll fish tickets.

Pioneers of Alaska
Meet Wednesday
The Sitka Pioneers of Alaska Igloos will meet 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2,  p.m. at the Salvation Army.
The meeting will begin with a dinner. Attendees are being asked to take a side dish. Door prizes will be given at the close of the meeting.

SFS, Coliseum
To Screen
‘Robot Dreams’
The Sitka Film Society and Coliseum Theater will screen the Academy Award-nominated animated film “Robot Dreams,” 5 p.m. Monday, October 7, at the Coliseum.
The 2023 animated tragicomedy[6] film, based on a 2007 comic of the same name, is the story of a friendship between a dog and the robot he creates. Nominated for an Oscar for best animated film, this Spanish-French coproduction has garnered awards at international film festivals. The 102-minute film is rated PG-13. Tickets are $10 at Old Harbor Books and the door.