Fundraiser Thanks
Dear Editor: Thank you so much to all who donated, helped with set up and clean up, and all who shopped ’til they dropped at the Sitka Pregnancy Center Garage Sale Extravaganza! The donations were amazing with truly something for everyone. Thanks to all of you, funds were raised to help provide needed items for Sitka families. We appreciate you, Sitka!
Sitka Pregnancy Center Board
Cruise Ships
Dear Editor: Here are a few observations on the cruise ship issue, and recommendations for the community and the city government to consider.
First, the recommended cap of 300,000 cruise passengers in Jeff Budd’s Monday LTE is, I believe, highly excessive.
Going back 15 years, from 2008 to 2019 (so pre-COVID) the average was 152,000 passengers. Three of those years exceeded 200,000 (including one over 250,000). It seems that many Sitkans considered those higher years excessive.
The nine years 2010 through 2018 averaged only 124,400 (range 90,800 to 177,500).
For 2010 to 2016, cruise visitation was quite stable, averaging 113,000 (range 90,800 to 129,400).
The latter two averages seem to be good targets to consider.
On the city’s end-of-season survey, I suspect answers were colored by survey context that we are stuck with a huge amount of cruise visitors, and can’t do anything about it. An entirely different matter the survey didn’t delve into is what limits the citizens of Sitka want to have.
Limits Sitka should consider requesting (if not requiring) of the cruise lines include: annual passenger number; number of days per week without large ships; maximum number of large ships anchored or docked (and their combined number); daily number of bus trips; and the season length.
This fall Bar Harbor, Maine, set two examples of what is possible. The town council made a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with each cruise line, brokered through Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA, the industry organization involved in Sitka). The MOA cuts annual cruise visitation by about 30%, using passenger limits that vary by month and by eliminating two shoulder months.
The town council did the MOA in an attempt to defeat a citizens’ initiative limiting cruise ship visitation to no more than 1,000 per day. That’s for all ships combined, including passengers and crew going ashore. On Nov. 8 the initiative passed, with 58% of the vote.
A final observation: it’s best for Sitka if excessive cruise visitation is only the briefest spike. Delay in making cuts must be avoided, so that economic dependencies don’t develop that make it hard to attain less visitation that is right for Sitka. Urgent action is needed!
The city should forcefully but politely demand that cruise lines cut back dramatically for 2023. The abuse Sitka is suffering is due to the industry’s misjudgment and marketing, and it should own that – and reverse.
Larry Edwards, Sitka
