Tourism
Dear Editor: Over the past year there was a lot of discussion about the number of tourists that were in town. That Sitka no longer felt like a small town anymore. As a pedestrian I found little to complain about. I thought the city did a good job of adapting. Closing the street on more crowded days was great. Although some of them were slow walking or just stood in the way, it was fairly easy to weave through. The real conflicts were between motor vehicle traffic and the pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Parking spaces were lost and people crossing the street were a hazard. The buses clogged up traffic and polluted the air.
This brings to mind another problem Sitka has. There is way too much motor vehicle traffic on the Sitka roads (mostly still powered by fossil fuel.) If pedestrians run into each other there is not a great amount of harm done. Even if a bicycle is involved it is probably not life threatening. The mass and speed of a motor vehicle is a whole different story. I don’t have the numbers, but I believe 30 or 40 buses put out more air pollution than the thousands of cars driving on our roads every day. Anyone walking along Sawmill Creek or Halibut Point Road can see the amount of traffic and hear the incredible amount of noise it makes would not call it a small-town identity.
In the past when I went to cross a road, in order not to back up traffic I wait for a good break in the traffic. That is getting to be harder and harder, because the breaks are becoming fewer and fewer and shorter and shorter.
In the 1980s the tobacco companies began a disinformation campaign to sow doubt about the dangers of smoking cigarettes to a person’s health. The theory that, if you say something often enough the public will believe you, worked for a while. The same tactic has more recently worked in politics. The denial of global warming is working the same way. The earth and its inhabitants take a long time to recover and adapt to these changes. Right now the climate is changing so fast many species are dying off and in danger of becoming extinct. In parts of the world people are dying because of floods, fires and famine – is it any wonder there is a lot of immigration happening in the world right now? When a person says ‘‘drill baby drill’’ they might as well be saying ‘‘die baby die.’’
I saw a report that said that changing our lifestyle will have little influence on the environment, because politics plays a much larger part. The American consumer is a political force. If gasoline is too expensive, don’t buy it. I have heard it many times said, ‘‘I have no choice.’’ That is not true. With a little schedule planning and the help of rain gear and packs we could reduce if not stop our need for gasoline. Sitka has hydro power so changing to electric cars and bikes are good choices. We have a bus system that is under used. Whatever happened to walking?
This town had a big influence in reducing the overharvest of the Tongass. It seems it should have a big influence on how much impact fossil fuel has on this town and the world at large. If it is legal to tell the McGraws how much business they can have at their dock, it should be just as legal to dictate how much gasoline the fuel companies can sell.
There was a time when 100-pound king salmon ran up the Columbia River. There were abundant wildlife on land and sea, and the air and water were clean. The only way we are going to Make America Great Again is to give the whole thing back to the Indigenous peoples. I am afraid it is too late for that to work.
Wayne Dye, Sitka
End TB Now Act
Dear Editor: Congress is back to work after the election. One of the first things it needs to do is pass the End Tuberculosis Now Act. Why?
Tuberculosis (TB) is the deadliest infectious disease in human history. In 2023, TB killed 1.25 million people. The End TB Now Act (H.R. 1775) would require the U.S. to prioritize TB resources to areas around the world most affected by the disease and set up measures to track and improve success.
The Senate already passed this bill. The House must now pass it before the end of this year or the legislative process must start all over. It makes no sense to waste our bipartisan elected officials time to begin from scratch again.
TB anywhere is a threat everywhere. This bacteria does not recognize country boundaries. International travel is on the rise and Alaska remains in first place nationwide to hold the highest rate of TB.
Go to https://tinyurl.com/TBNIHAK
We urge Rep. Mary Peltola to share her Alaska TB knowledge with her colleagues in the House and press them to vote and pass the End Turberculosis Now Act without delay.
Michelle Friedman, Donna Donohoe
Mim McConnell, Krisanne Rice
RESULTS members, Sitka
Presentation Thanks
Dear Editor: I was so happy to appear at the Kettleson Memorial Library on Nov. 17 to share some of my latest novel, “Big Breath In.”
We had a wonderful turnout and I was so moved to see so many of my old friends there.
I have to thank Margot O’Connell from the library staff and Ashia Huff from Old Harbor Books for making the night so successful. I also want to thank Rob Woolsey and Ted Howard from KCAW for getting the word out. I miss Sitka terribly but it’s good to know that I can always come back and reconnect with friends.
John Straley, Sitka
