Dear Editor: The State of Alaska is proposing a courthouse in the Stratton Library on the Sheldon Jackson Campus. Located within the Campus, the Stratton Library is adjacent to the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, the Sitka Sound Science Center, the Alaska State Museum, and the community playground. The Sheldon Jackson Campus is a hub of education activities for preschool children to college students.
We have grave concerns about safety especially in regards to children.
Issues we have identified:
Courts are not compatible within educational settings because their work includes cases that involve drugs, homicide, and sexual violence.
The campus is a pedestrian campus. Every day preschool children walk past Stratton Library on their way to the community playground, buses drop off students, families drop off and pick up children, and college students flow between classes & volunteer assignments.
Courts have high traffic and parking demands that would create unsafe conditions for kids. Traffic is already an issue with playground users, day care and preschool drop off/pick up flow, buses with cruise ship visitors for the SJ Museum, employee vehicles, and visits by the public.
Parking is already severely limited for all user groups and Sitka Fine Arts Camp provides parking as a courtesy to the public for playground use.
The Sheldon Jackson Campus is home of the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, Young Performers Theater, the Hames Center, Sitka Sound Science Center, the Alaska State Museum, the Sitka Music Festival, Three to Five Preschool, Woocheen Preschool, Sheldon Jackson Child Care Center, Sitka Counseling, Youth Advocates of Sitka, and Outer Coast Undergraduate Program. Students from University of Alaska and Americorps also live on campus during the year and many other visiting student groups are hosted in the Sitka Fine Arts Camp dorms.
The public can share their concerns about the proposed courthouse with the Sitka Planning Commission by attending an in-person meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. at Harrigan Centennial Hall or in written comments at planning@cityofsitka.org. Thank you.
Roger Schmidt, Director,
Sitka Fine Arts Camp
