Quality versus Quantity
Dear Editor: We want visitors to very favorably remember Sitka as being different from other communities. We want residents to enjoy sharing the town with others. We want businesses to succeed financially at their endeavors.
Quantity consists of modifying human interactions, land and sea use, and most significantly, compromise. The visitors are compromised by the volume of their kind, we as residents are compromised by their presence. Small business success is compromised simply because quantity requires lower margins.
More does not always mean better. Think of the fishing industry; more fish in a given year or too many types of fish lead to lower value. Quantity in another way may be viewed as commodity rather than finished product.
Sitka deserves to be recognized as a high value destination rather than another port of call. We need to protect our economy from the influence of external factors such as the foreign owned entities that rely on quantity for their profit margins.
International trade is essential, look at where most of our consumer products are manufactured – Asia. The lower cost of manufacturing is why we benefit from international trade. What is unique about the cruise visitor industry is, in essence, requiring U.S. business owners to accept operating at lower standards of profit by accepting higher volume of visitors.
Sitka and Alaska have a history of foreign trade and the visitor industry can be viewed as a continuation of that legacy. The cruise industry is a world-wide multibillion dollar enterprise. Alaska tourism is engaged in the world-wide export of memories and experiences. We are a raw material necessary for the international travel industry. Even though our visitors are principally U.S. and Canadian citizens, the industry is driven with a world-wide perspective.
Yes, we need a visitor industry. Yes, we benefit from the cruise industry and it can benefit also from limitations. Life is a negotiation and the community of Sitka has the legal right to negotiate terms that all of us benefit from.
Establish an ideal number of total visitors (not just the cruise industry) and learn to live with the amount for a couple of years. Quality does not happen overnight. I suggest no more than 250,000 total visitors. Each year evaluate the success and failure of local businesses to determine what business endeavors are succeeding and which are failing. I believe the evaluation of the failure rate will find the total revenue for certain activities cannot be fixed with economies of scale. Be prepared to experience numerous startups that emotionally the owners want to succeed but, in the end, the net income just is not there. A low barrier to entry may imply many things, but it does not address the inherent risks of financial success.
I also believe the city should consider a head tax that provides the funding for the direct demands of the visitor season. Not doing so is in form subsidizing the visitor industry at the expense of the residents. The city already has wagered the industry provides adequate sales tax as an integral part of its financial support. One cannot ignore the again inherent risk that is associated with visitor spending (or lack thereof) and demands on the community infrastructure. Thank you,
Bradley Shaffer, Sitka
Human Trafficking
Dear Editor: Did you know according to the 2019 FBI Uniform Crime Report:
Alaska leads the nation in sexual assault (four times the national average).
Alaska leads the nation in child sexual assault (six times the national average).
Ninety-two percent of trafficking survivors report being abused as children. We know that trafficking is happening in Alaska. With these horrific statistics in mind, here is one thing we can do about it:
State your support for House Bill 68 & Senate Bill 66 which provide legal protection for trafficking victims and increased penalties for traffickers.
In Sitka, our legislators are representative.rebecca.himschoot@akleg.gov and senator.bert.stedman@akleg.gov. You can track these bills at akleg.gov.
This information was provided by ASHTA, Alaska Stop Human Trafficking Alliance, and was made available at the Stop Human Trafficking table at Sea Mart on Jan. 13 which Sea Mart offers as a community service. Thank you Sea Mart and the volunteers who were there at the table.
Mary Stevens, Sitka
