Dear Editor: Like many people who call Sitka home, whether you arrived recently or your family has been here for generations, I care deeply about this place and its future. I believe we all want the same thing: to protect what makes Sitka special while ensuring the community can thrive for everyone who lives here.
In her recent letter, Martina Kurzer referred to me as the “front man” for the cruise lines and suggested that I’ll eventually sell out to them. I do operate the dock that serves cruise ships. But those comments miss who I really am, and what my family has always stood for in Sitka.
My family has been part of Sitka’s community and economy for nearly 200 years. I graduated from Sitka High 28 years ago, following my dad who walked in that same gym 54 years ago and his mother before him. I’ve been fortunate to grow up in a family that built businesses here—and now, I’m working to provide those same opportunities to my kids.
Just last week, my daughter, who graduated from Sitka High last year and finished her first year of college, came home to work with me for the summer, learning the operations side of the dock. One thing she is helping me with is the Tourism Best Management Practices (TBMP) program, which my company is administering in cooperation with the city Tourism Commission. That program is about helping to manage tourism responsibly and addressing community concerns.
I’m not going to pretend I don’t have an economic interest in this debate. I do. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about the town I was raised in and the community my kids are growing up in. I believe we can have a strong economy and protect what makes Sitka special at the same time.
I also think we need to be honest that not everyone sees Sitka’s “quality of life” the same way. For some, that might mean fewer visitors. For others, it means a balanced economy that includes tourism. I respect both perspectives, but I don’t believe Sitka can, or should, shut the door on visitors to a levels that cause significant economic harm. I believe we can address concerns and keep the significant benefits that tourism provides to our community.
That’s why I was part of the Tourism Task Force and worked to implement the Memorandum of Understanding with the City that sets daily limits and created Saturdays without large cruise ships. Quiet Saturdays were a Sitka-made compromise, through a public process, that no other Southeast town has done. We’re not trying to be Juneau, Skagway, or Ketchikan, and we never will be.
If we go too far with Proposition 1, the impacts won’t stop at the dock, they’ll ripple through Sitka’s economy, schools, nonprofits, and services we all count on.
I hope people will vote NO on Proposition 1. Sitka’s strength has always been in finding a balance that works for the community, even when we don’t all agree.
Chris McGraw, Sitka
