Dear Editor: It really is possible to love the tourists, but still not want things to be overrun or out of control to the point where I avoid going downtown! I love being a tourist myself, but I don’t want to travel to places where I have to practically fight my way through over-crowded sidewalks and stores.
I have lived here in Sitka for 26 years, and have relied on income from tourists for filling up the Biorka Guest House, for buying my handmade pottery, and now for attending the Storytellers dance show, where I am a narrator. So I am not against tourism or tourists – no, far from that! But I know that the cruise line corporations will ALWAYS be after a bigger and bigger profit margin, especially for their investors, top management, and CEOs. So I can’t rely on them to look out for my best interest, or my community’s. We, the people of Sitka, have to look out for our best interest, and safeguard our precious town. That means limiting the number of tourists, so that we don’t feel overwhelmed, and the tourists don’t either.
I live downtown, close to Market Center, and I really dread getting in my car to drive towards town. Last summer, I almost hit a tourist jaywalking from downtown to the Centennial. Thank God, I stopped in time! Dangerous jaywalking in the summer is an everyday occurrence now. And so is my inability to get internet and phone bandwidth.
When I think of safeguarding the future, I think of limiting the negative influences of such large numbers of tourists, and also limiting the number of huge cruise-ships in our pristine ocean, which we gratefully rely on for sustenance. It is better to set limits now; it will be much harder to do so in the years ahead if we give the cruise lines free rein now.
Please don’t let the corporations make you fear the future, or control your better judgment by creating doubt and uncertainty in your mind. Vote YES on Proposition 1 to safeguard Sitka’s beauty, and the way of life that you love.
Auriella Hughes, Sitka
