Casey Kelly

The City and Borough of Juneau should seek state financing to build facilities that would lure federal research jobs to Alaska. That’s the recommendation of a city task force that’s been looking at why so many scientists who support Alaska’s fishing industry are based in the lower 48.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center is dedicated to studying fish stocks and marine mammals along the state’s vast coastline. But about 75 percent of the center’s nearly 340 employees are based in Seattle and other parts of the Pacific Northwest.

“It’s kind of a travesty that they’re down there,” says Greg Fisk, co-chair of the NOAA Task Force formed by the Juneau Assembly last February.

The panel says the city should take the lead in pushing the federal government to relocate Alaska Fisheries Science Center jobs to the state that bears its name, and where most of its research takes place.

“It’s not as if we’re going to devastate the fisheries science community in Seattle,” Fisk says. “They already, or still have, the Northwest Fisheries Science Center with an additional 400 people still there in Seattle. So, what we’re asking for is just really normal treatment here.”

Fisk says the center, with its $60 million annual budget and payroll of $42 million, would be a boon to the state’s economy.

Juneau would get the bulk of the more than 250 jobs relocated under the task force’s plan. Other communities like Seward and Kodiak would stand to benefit as well.

If there’s an impediment to making it happen, Fisk says it comes down to cost.

“This is a total back of the envelope estimate, but it could easily be a $175 million project to move the Alaska Fisheries Science Center to Alaska, all of it,” he says. “It sounds like a lot of money, but it’s not a lot of money when you consider the long term loss that this represents to us by not having this agency here.”

To entice the federal agency, the task force recommends the city seek financing through the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority to add offices and laboratory space to NOAA’s Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute in Juneau.

Fisk admits there will be critics of the “build it and they will come” approach. But he says it worked for Newport, Oregon, where NOAA relocated its Pacific Marine Operations Center in 2009 after many years of it being based in Seattle.

“And they did it with city bonds, supported by the state of Oregon, and all secured by a long term lease agreement with the agency,” he says.

Fisk presented the task force’s report to the Juneau Assembly on Monday.

Assemblywoman Kate Troll also serves on the task force, and says the city will need to dedicate resources to make sure the report doesn’t end up sitting on shelf without any results.

“You want to get Kodiak involved, you want to have a unified approach. So, there’s a lot to be done,” Troll says.

The Assembly agreed to adopt the plan at a future meeting. It also agreed to keep the task force together to continue its work.

The Juneau Assembly met with the city’s legislative delegation, as well as its state and federal lobbyists over breakfast Wednesday.

With the city and state facing large deficits, much of the talk was about budget issues.

Juneau’s Washington D.C. lobbyist, Katie Ketchel, had some good news about a major source of federal revenue. In December, Congress passed a budget that renewed the Payment In Lieu of Taxes program, which provides money to communities nationwide that include federal land exempt from local property taxes.

“This is a large direct infusion, which is great, to the tune of almost $2 million per year,” Ketchel said.

In the new Congress, Ketchel says she’ll keep an eye on federal legislation that could benefit Juneau in terms of infrastructure, especially funding for roads and harbors.

Not surprisingly, the city’s state lobbyist, Kevin Jardell, predicted the Alaska Legislature would be preoccupied with a multibillion dollar deficit this session. Gov. Bill Walker’s bare bones capital budget includes $3 million for water treatment system upgrades in Juneau. It’s one of the few projects in the budget solely funded by the state general fund.

Jardell said lawmakers likely won’t make any moves to increase revenue this session, which means cuts to the operating budget.

“From the Juneau side, we’re going to be watching to see how those impacts affect our community, especially jobs,” Jardell said.

Gov. Walker is expected to release an updated operating budget proposal in early February.

Juneau Rep. Sam Kito III said lawmakers should not overreact to the deficit this year.

“If we have to have a decrease it should be gradual,” Kito said. “And any decrease that you have, I think most of the money for state operations is in salaries, it’s going to result in job layoffs.”

The state has more than $14 billion in savings that lawmakers can use to balance the budget this year, but Kito says that’s not a long term solution.

Kito’s district includes downtown Juneau and Douglas Island, as well as Gustavus, Haines and Skagway.

Mendenhall Valley Rep. Cathy Muñoz said lawmakers are not expecting oil prices to improve in the near future.

“There seems to be a shift globally in the prices of oil, and a long term shift. And so, we have our work cut out for us,” Muñoz said. “We’re going to have to look at all of the options, all of the revenue options. Not just looking at cutting the budget, but we have to look at new sources of revenue.”

Kito and Muñoz were joined by Juneau Sen. Dennis Egan at Wednesday’s meeting with the Assembly. Mayor Merrill Sanford invited the Juneau delegation to come back at some point during the legislative session to update the Assembly on state issues.

The city faces its own projected budget deficit of more than $7 million.

The Alaska Department of Transportation cleaned up a small landslide along Glacier Highway Wednesday afternoon.

DOT spokesman Jeremy Woodrow says the slide occurred in the White Path avalanche area of Mount Juneau, and was mopped up relatively quickly.

The National Weather Service issued a landslide warning Tuesday for several Southeast Alaska communities due to heavy rain and winds. A small stream flood advisory is in effect overnight Wednesday.

Juneau’s Eaglecrest Ski Area is halting lift operations until it receives enough snow to open at least part of the upper mountain.

General Manager Matt Lillard announced the decision in blog post on the ski area’s website.

Director of Sales and Marketing Jeffra Clough says it was not an easy decision, but so far this winter Mother Nature has not delivered enough snow to Juneau. But she says the season isn’t over yet.

“For the past several years she’s been great and given us a lot of snow, and this year, unfortunately, she’s just slow to giving us that snow,” Clough says. “But we feel certain that there’s still a lot of winter to go.”

Clough says Eaglecrest will look at ways to add skiing opportunities should the snow arrive this year.

“This isn’t the first time this has happened. It’s just unfortunate that it’s the first time in recent years that it’s happened,” Clough says. “So we’re looking at, you know, being open on Friday nights, possibly extending our hours in the spring time, closing 5 o’ clock or 6 o’ clock in the evening on weekends or holidays.”

The city-owned ski area has a long-established no refunds policy for season pass holders. Fortunately, Clough says, they’ve rarely had to use it.

For now, the mountain will be staffed by a skeleton crew. The ticket office and equipment repair shop will be open Thursday through Monday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For the latest conditions on the mountain go to skijuneau.com.

Calling all gamers: Juneau’s first ever board game convention is happening next weekend at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center.

Platypus Con 2015 is being organized by Platypus Gaming, a nonprofit that formed last year. President Josh Warren was interviewed on KTOO’s A Juneau Afternoon last week.

“A large part of the facility will be open for anyone to grab a table and play a game,” he said. “We have a board game library of over 300 titles that you can just check out and take and find some friends to play games with, as well as two tournaments, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.”

The tournaments will feature the popular game Settlers of Catan. There will also be demonstrations of lesser known titles, as well as card games, and classics, like Risk and Monopoly.

“One of the things we’re really trying to provide is not only some beginner games that people can come right into – Settlers being one of those and Ticket to Ride – but we also have a lot of games that have just now come out. Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Colt Express, things like that,” Warren said. “So we’re going to have games for experienced players as well as new players.”

Warren says he loves getting together with friends on a Friday or Saturday night to play games. He also says he’s been to board game conventions Outside, and wanted to bring the experience to Juneau.

“And I felt that there was a strong enough community of board gamers in Juneau to have our own, where it will only cost a small amount of money to come instead of a couple thousand,” he said.

A weekend pass to Platypus Con is $25 for adults or $10 for kids under 14. Single day passes for adults are $15.

Hours are 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

A local playwright has spent the past few years exploring the lives of Juneau’s homeless population and the people who work with them. The result is the new play “A Lifetime to Master,” which debuted this week.

About three years ago, Merry Ellefson was driving home from cross-country skiing with her son near the Mendenhall Glacier, when she turned onto Back Loop Road and noticed a young man staggering down the street. She stopped to help, and found out he was homeless.

“He was maybe 19 or 18, and I just remember he was really intoxicated. He had nowhere to go,” she says. “It wasn’t like, ‘I’m going to do something. I’m on a plan.’ It was just like, ‘I don’t know anything about this.'”

That incident inspired Ellefson to learn more about homelessness in Juneau. Since moving to the city 24 years ago, she’s worked on and written several plays for Perseverance Theatre. “A Lifetime to Master” is based on nearly 60 interviews she did with people about Juneau’s homeless situation.

“People who are or have been homeless,” she says. “People whose lives or jobs intersect with the homeless. A lot of members of our Juneau Coalition on Housing and Homelessness. People in the school district. Friends. I’ve overheard people at coffee shops or on the streets.”

While the play is about Juneau, Ellefson says its themes resonate beyond.

The title comes from the tagline for the board game Othello: “A minute to learn, a lifetime to master.” Ellefson says a pastor she interviewed connected that phrase to the great commandment from the Bible: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” As she went about trying to understand homelessness in Juneau, she says she kept those two ideas in mind.

“I learned that there’s as many reasons for being homeless as there are people who are homeless,” Ellefson says. “That the issues range from poverty and economics, to family, to community responsibility, to substance abuse, to I think a third of Americans are one paycheck away from homelessness, to domestic violence. There’s a lot of issues that overlap.”

The main character in the play has Ellefson’s name and guides the audience through her interviews.

“It’s really a lot of listening to a lot of stories that are rarely heard in our community, are very hard to hear, as well as some quite uplifting stories of those people whose lives are dedicated to helping people who don’t have homes,” she says.

On a recent evening, the cast of “A Lifetime to Master” runs through lines at rehearsal in McPhetres Hall at the Church of the Holy Trinity in downtown Juneau. The walls are covered with tarps, and actors pop up from lumpy mattresses to say their lines.

Director Shona Strauser has been involved with “A Lifetime to Master” for two years, ever since she read an early draft of the play. She says it’s the most powerful production she’s ever been part of.

“It’s touching and it’s people we know and see,” Strauser says. “You know, you’re going to see people in this play that you would see on the street or at their job.”

The Juneau Coalition on Housing and Homelessness estimates more than 500 residents of the city don’t have a permanent roof over their heads. Strauser says the cast and crew hope the play sparks community discussions about homelessness, and even inspires people to act.

“It’s in your face, this play is in your face,” she says. “And I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s the idea that you are in this community, and that everybody is around you, and you’ve got to do something, otherwise you’re turning your back on people.”

MK MacNaughton, who plays Merry, says it’s sometimes easier to start conversations about issues like homelessness through art.

“We mostly don’t walk up to people on the street and launch into deep personal stories or ask intimate questions. So art provides that opportunity,” she says.

Michael Patterson lived on the streets from age 9 to 37, and was interviewed by Ellefson during her research. He says the play is just the “tip of the iceberg” for what homeless people go through every day, but it’s full of truth nonetheless.

“I think if we can allow this to really touch all of our hearts and come together closer as a community, you know, then we have a better chance of maybe finding a real working solution to finally do something about this problem,” Patterson says.

Generator Theater Company is producing “A Lifetime to Master.” Ellefson also received support from the Rasmuson Foundation, the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council, the Juneau Community Foundation and several other local businesses and nonprofits.

The play runs through Jan. 25 at McPhetres Hall.