Recent News

The local advocates who filed a petition with the City and Borough of Juneau last month to put harder limits on cruise ship tourism have withdrawn it. 

That means voters won’t see the question on the municipal ballot this fall. According to Karla Hart, one of the advocates who filed the petition, they weren’t able to gather the minimum of 2,720 signatures before Monday’s deadline. 

Hart said she still thinks there is a lot of community support for limiting the growth of cruise ship tourism, but there just wasn’t for this particular ballot measure. 

“In the conversations that I had with people, I don’t think that it’s the right initiative,” she said. “I think that we need to regroup and refocus and take on the myriad of different pieces that are really adversely impacting our lives.” 

The proposed initiative sought to impose a five-ship daily limit, cap the annual number of cruise ship visitors at 1.5 million a year, and limit daily cruise visitors to 16,000 people on most days and 12,000 on Saturdays. It also sought to shorten the season.

Those mirror agreements that the city has already signed with cruise lines. The difference is that those agreements are non-binding and voluntary, while the petitioners sought to make them law. 

The petition saw legal pushback from a tour company. The company’s attorney Scott Collins called the proposed initiative poorly drafted and “wholly inadequate in attempting to address the complexity of limiting, permitting, and penalizing cruise ship visitation.”

Hart said she may revive an iteration of last election’s failed Ship-free Saturday in a future election. But, in the meantime, she said she and other advocates plan to keep pushing for city officials and Assembly members to take action.

“I think that these efforts are important for keeping pressure on and showing that if things don’t improve for the citizens, we do have options and we are willing to exercise them,” she said. 

There are three other proposed ballot propositions currently still in the signature gathering phase. Those petitioners seek to cap the property tax rate, to remove sales tax on food and utilities and to make in-person voting the default again.

Hundreds of workers in Juneau joined thousands nationwide on Thursday night at protests to mark International Workers Day, also known as May Day. 

Cardboard signs crumbled and paint dripped as roughly 400 protesters gathered in the rain to call for better working protections and other causes at the Alaska State Capitol. It resembled many other rallies held in Juneau this year to denounce recent actions by the Trump Administration. 

Eric Antrim is the recording secretary for the local National Federation of Federal Employees union, which represents hundreds of Forest Service workers in Alaska.

“Our brothers and sisters in the labor movement have been standing shoulder to shoulder with federal employee unions and protests throughout this troubled country,” he said. “My National Federal Employees Union is more than 100 years old. We are not going anywhere, no matter how many illegal executive orders Trump signs.”

Hundreds of federal employees in Alaska have lost their jobs as President Donald Trump slashes the federal workforce. According to recent city data, the federal government is Juneau’s second-largest employer after the state, with more than 700 workers.  

Local groups organized the rally, like Juneau Indivisible, Juneau for Democracy, ReSisters, Planned Parenthood Alaska and Action Alaska. The groups have hosted a handful of other protests in recent months. The rally also tackled broader issues going on across the nation, like the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. 

X̱’unei Lance Twitchell, an award-winning writer and professor of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska Southeast, spoke at the rally. 

“When I go places, I say my name is X̱’unei. I’m also known as Lance. My middle names are diversity, equity and inclusion,” he said. 

Twitchell called on protesters to stay united amid what he called attacks on Indigenous and civil rights by the Trump administration. 

“Just because someone could say something the loudest and the strongest, and you could write your name to a piece of paper saying ‘This word is illegal, now nobody can use this word or we’ll take all the money away.’ That’s not how things work in this country,” he said. 

The rally concluded with an Alaska Native song and dance before attendees marched to the cruise ship docks. It was one of more than 15 rallies held at the Capitol since the Trump Administration took office. 

Wednesday marked Juneau International Airport Manager Patty Wahto’s final day on the job after a nearly three-decade-long career.

During her tenure as both deputy manager and manager, Wahto helped the airport navigate major industry changes like travel and security reforms after the 9/11 attacks. 

She said her retirement is bittersweet. Managing a small airport meant she never knew what she might have to do each day to ensure planes got on and off the runway safely. She recalled a particularly memorable day back in 2006. 

“It was snowing so hard that our airfield crew couldn’t keep up with the lights. So we had some of our management crew — including myself — out there clearing the lights out on the runway,” she said. “So, you never know from day to day whether it’s going to be all hands on deck out on the airfield or assisting with everything here in the office.”

She announced her plans to retire late last year. The city is already searching for her permanent replacement. Former Airport Manager Dave Palmer will serve as interim manager. Palmer was also Juneau’s city manager at one point.

Wahto said she is optimistic for the future of the airport. City leadership and the airport’s board are currently updating its master plan. 

But she said she is curious to see how the recent federal funding cuts and workforce reductions may impact Juneau’s airport directly. While federal revenue is only projected to make up about 2% of the airport’s overall budget this fiscal year, millions in federal grants help pay for infrastructure and safety projects.

“As far as we know, I think the telltale is going to be next year – next federal fiscal year – to see what happens,” she said. 

Wahto said she is not aware of any significant changes to the airport’s federal grant funding or its workforce as she departs. But nationally, former Federal Aviation Administration employees and their union say hundreds of workers have been let go from their positions, including roles related to aircraft safety. 

The city closed the window to apply for Wahto’s position earlier this week. The airport board will make the final decision. Wahto said she’s not sure how she wants to enjoy her retirement yet, but she plans to stay in Juneau. 

A construction company has applied for a permit with the State of Alaska to study an area off the coast of Douglas Island for the design of a new cruise ship facility. 

The project is in cooperation with Goldbelt Incorporated, a local Alaska Native corporation, which owns the land on and adjacent to where the study would occur. The data gathered would inform the design of two separate cruise ship docks, and facilities for a small boat harbor and boat launch. 

A public notice of the proposed study was posted on the state’s website on Thursday. 

Last fall, Goldbelt announced a partnership with Royal Caribbean Group to develop a new cruise ship facility on the backside of Douglas Island. But since then, little information about the project has been shared with the public or city officials. 

On Thursday afternoon — the same day the notice was posted — a representative for the cruise line was part of a public meeting with the Juneau Assembly alongside other cruise lines to discuss a variety of industry-related topics. 

During the meeting, the representative dodged questions from the Juneau Assembly about the status of the project.

Goldbelt owns nearly 2,000 acres of land along the northwest coastline of Douglas between False Outer Point and Point Hilda. Satellite imagery over the past month shows portions of the land have been cleared of trees. Officials with the company have not shared whether the activity is related to the dock project and did not respond to a request for comment Friday. 

According to the application with the state, Goldbelt plans to partner with Turnagain Marine Construction, a construction and engineering firm based in Anchorage. The study would involve mooring a barge in Stephens Passage and drilling approximately 28 geotechnical boreholes to study the marine environment of the area. 

The application states the project would “provide safe harbor for two cruise ships and passengers during the visitor season, while helping to decrease cruise ship visitor traffic in downtown Juneau.”

The study would last five months, between June and October. The actual start date would depend on a few factors like contractor availability, permit authorizations and environmental factors.

The application is currently open for public comment. The deadline to submit comments is May 7. 

The president of Southeast Alaska’s largest tribal organization called for unity as proposed federal funding cuts could drastically impact the future of the tribe. 

On Wednesday, more than 120 delegates of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska met for the first day of its 90th annual tribal assembly in Juneau. 

Its president, Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson, told delegates during his State of the Tribe address to remember the values and strengths of their ancestors and fight for the tribe’s future.

“Today, we face new challenges, political division, environmental threats and the continued impacts of colonial systems,” he said. “But our power is in our connections to each other, to our land, to our ancestors and to the generations still coming.”

Peterson expressed concern to tribal leaders during an executive council meeting earlier this week about proposed federal cuts that he said have the potential to slash a third of the tribe’s funding from the government. 

During his speech to delegates, he specifically referenced a traditional food distribution program that was ended by the Trump administration. He said the cut is a setback in a much longer fight.

“Federal policies took our lands, restricted our harvest and undermined our food sovereignty,” he said. “This program was helping us rebuild that connection to our food, to our health and to who we are.”

The tribe also works closely with federal agencies like the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which were both hit by the Trump administration’s sweeping federal workforce and spending cuts. 

The theme of the three-day assembly is “Honor the Past, Empowering the Future.” This year’s assembly is also a constitutional convention, meaning the tribe will consider proposed changes to its constitution. 

Delegates traveled to Juneau from different villages in Southeast Alaska, Washington and California. The tribal assembly will consider amendments to its constitution Friday morning before adjournment that evening. 

Right next to Bethel city hall, there’s a dumpster with “Black Lives Matter” painted on the front. Last week, someone took a can of spray paint and crossed those words out.

Bethel’s dumpsters are usually painted by children in summer art camps. This year, because of COVID-19, those camps were canceled. Margaret Hannah, an art teacher at the high school, decided to open up the project to anyone in the community, and she provided few rules on what could go on the dumpsters.

“This is my first community art project,” Hannah said. “I did say no profanity, but I didn’t say no politics.”

When the city’s landfill manager saw the finished dumpsters, he sent an email to the city manager that read, “All of them are pretty positive, however one of them is real political and I need your advice as to whether it should be painted over or left as is?”

He was referring to the Black Lives Matter dumpster.

Then-city manager Vincenzo “Vinny” Corazza acknowledged that it was a sticky situation that could attract protest no matter what the city decided to do. In the end, he directed the landfill manager to treat the Black Lives Matter dumpster the same as any other. It wound up right next to the police station, where police chief Richard Simmons watched it get unloaded.

“And we started laughing because we’re like, ‘oh, they didn’t mean to put that here,’” Simmons said.

It didn’t stay for long. Corazza said that he had conversations with Simmons about the dumpster, after which he decided to move it.

“They did not ask it to be removed, but I got the sense that it needed to be removed,” Corazza said.

Simmons said that neither he nor the police department opposed the Black Lives Matter message on the dumpster. He said that his concern was that, because the police station is isolated away from the rest of town, no one would see it.

“It wasn’t going to stay here when I saw it, because it’s not the place where it should be,” Simmons said. “It needs to be out where it’s seen.”

When asked whether he supports the Black Lives Matter movement, Simmons said that it wasn’t his place to take a public position.

“Our official policy in the police department is neutrality, and fairness, and trying to be just for everybody,” Simmons said.

Taking the police chief’s advice to display the artwork more prominently, Corazza decided to move the dumpster right next to city hall.

“Usually city halls and council chambers are your public forum where people can redress government,” Corazza said. “And so this will be sitting right at city hall. I thought it was very appropriate to have it here, an exercise of free speech.”

Not everyone liked the new location. Several community members wrote to the city manager asking for it to be painted over. One email read “I am offended that such a dumpster exists … The nature of that dumpster promotes negativity and hate.”

Then, last week, someone crossed out the words Black Lives Matter with spray paint. The city got in touch with Madelene Reichard, one of the community artists who had decorated the dumpster. She went and repainted it.

“Are we disappointed? Sure. But we will repaint it 1,000 times if we have to, because it’s a message that we believe in,” Reichard said. “I think that we can all agree that we shouldn’t be just killing people, especially not based off of skin color.”

Pictures of the vandalism and the restoration were posted to Facebook, where they quickly garnered hundreds of comments from community members.

Initially, the art teacher said that she regretted not setting stricter rules for what should decorate the dumpsters, but now she’s changed her mind.

“I do not regret it. I am glad that this dumpster was painted, and I’m glad that these conversations are happening,” Hannah said. “I think that the more conversations that we have, the better chance we have of dealing with the racism that still exists.”

As of now, the dumpster is back next to the city offices. Black Lives Matter remains the message.