ON PARADE – Children dressed as their favorite animals hold a Sitka Spruce Tips 4-H Club banner as they march down Lincoln Street on Earth Day, Monday. The Parade of Species was held in recognition of Earth Day. It was hosted by Sitka Conservation Society, University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service and the Sitka Sound Science Center. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly its regular meeting Tuesday approved dou [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
“We want to hear from the public, what they value i [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Sitka schools were notified at around noon today that the city administrator had re [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Sitka High’s track and field athletes faced off aga [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
Alaska is getting an infusion of nearly $125 million to build and [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
The Alaska Senate voted unanimously on Monday to make it easier f [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
The Alaska House’s Rules Committee has eliminated, at least temporaril [ ... ]
By DAVID A. LIEB
The Associated Press
A conservative quest to limit diversity, equity and inclusion in [ ... ]
By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
Alaska’s three-member, bipartisan congressional delegation is sid [ ... ]
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
April 23
At 3:14 a.m. a downtown bar report [ ... ]
Vaughn Blankenship
Dies at Age 91
Vaughn Blankenship, a longtime Sitka resident, died Tuesday at SEARH [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
With about a month left before the end of the regular [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The city will hold a public meeting Wednesday for pub [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
With only days to go before the statewide Native Yout [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
The Daily Sitka Sentinel and KCAW-FM Raven Radio won awards Saturday at the [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
To address a surge in mental health problems among young Alaskans [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
A bill passed Thursday by the Alaska House of Representatives wou [ ... ]
City to Conduct
Relay Testing
The city electric department is conducting systemwide relay testing th [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Another lawsuit that has implications in Southeast Al [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly on Tuesday will consider final reading o [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Competing in their first home games of the season, Si [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
Citing what they characterized as unacceptable risks to wildlife [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
The Yup’ik village of Newtok, perched precariously on thawing permafro [ ... ]
Daily Sitka Sentinel
AN OPINION: Assembly Should Hold Off Action on Voters’ Rights
By Thad Poulson
Editor, Daily Sitka Sentinel
The members of the City and Borough Assembly have earned our thanks for the thoughtful and orderly way they have been dealing with the challenging fiscal issues that are affecting all Sitkans.
I believe it is not out of line to ask them to take the same kind of careful look at an ordinance on Tuesday night’s meeting agenda that might appear to be merely a housekeeping matter. It’s far more than that.
If approved, Ordinance 2018-18 would repeal seven existing sections of the city code requiring voter approval for the sale or lease of city land or tidelands over a certain value, and similar restrictions on the demolition of city buildings.
Passage of this ordinance, in our opinion, would be a mistake. In any event it deserves more detailed consideration by the Assembly than is possible when it is an item in the midst of a crowded meeting agenda.
Over the many decades that the special land sale and lease provisions have been in force, they have never caused any complication or delay in the routine process of selling or leasing tracts of city lands and tidelands. It is not true that passage of Ordinance 2018-18 will “free up” any more city property for sale than is now available.
It is also not true that the special provisions that are up for repeal are invalid under the state constitution. The city’s outside counsel claims they are unconstitutional, but he is hardly an impartial source, having battled the citizens group Sitkans for Responsible Government all the way to the Alaska Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court did not rule on the constitutionality of the Sitka law, but it did reject every other claim by the city in its attempt to defend its rejection of a Sitkans for Responsible Government initiative petition application.
If the Assembly wants to pursue its investigation of whether its land sale and leasing policies are constitutional, it needs to get the opinion of a knowledgeable, impartial outside authority.
One thing that the current controversy has brought to light is the desirability of updating the land sale valuations requiring a public vote: a 2018 dollar is worth quite a bit less than the dollar of 1992.
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20 YEARS AGO
April 2004
Michael Stringer, environmental specialist for Sitka Tribe of Alaska and a founder of the community garden, takes the concept of Earth Week literally. This weekend he hopes others will share his appreciation for “earth” and things growing in it by joining him in preparing the community garden just behind Blatchley Middle School for another growing season.
50 YEARS AGO
April 1974
Classified ads Houses for Sale: Price dropped to $36,500 for 2-story, 4-bdrm. carpeted home on Cascade. Kitchen appliances, drapes, laundry room, carport, handy to schools.
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