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Last Wednesday marked the premiere showing of the last episode produced in Juneau for the popular cooking competition show Top Chef: Seattle.

Crews filmed, or taped cooking segments last August at various locations around the Capital City, including at a waterfront eatery, a salmon bake, on a nearby glacier, and at the Governor’s House.

All of the local residents and officials were contractually-prohibited from saying anything about the production or even acknowledging that it ever happened. At least until now.

 

It was frequently called Juneau’s “worst-kept secret” when crewmembers, chef contestants, and judges arrived last August for the week-and-a-half production of two episodes of Top Chef: Seattle.

Location scouts earlier had checked out various locations around town. The owner of Tracy’s Crab Shack, Tracy Labarge, said they were told a week ahead of time that producers were coming. But actually being selected as a site for a cooking challenge? That was last minute.

“So, we actually opened for the day. We were getting ready to open and to start serving,” said Labarge.

They just swarmed in, called us, said they ‘were going to be there.’ So, we shut down and that was it.”

Labarge lost her usual business on that wet, cool August day. But she said she was reimbursed for the crab used by the chefs.

Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development Commissioner Susan Bell said they reached agreement with producers for the Bravo TV show last March and tried to keep it under wraps since then. Sometimes they quietly referred to it around the office only as TC.

“There had been previous conversations about Alaska before,” recalled Bell. “But I think, recognizing that they were filming in Seattle, gave us an excellent way to leverage the fact that they were close,” Bell said.

The state contributed $190,000 and the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, which gets much of its funding from self-assessment of the commercial fleet, kicked in about $60,000 for the production.

State, ASMI, and Juneau Convention and Visitors Bureau officials all say they helped with location scouting, or tracking down props and set dressings.

JCVB’s Elizabeth Arnett said they also suggested a list of Juneau residents to sample the food during a cooking challenge at the Gold Creek Salmon Bake. She estimates that A Mission Productions from Los Angeles brought in as many as 125 crewmembers and put them up in the Prospector, Aspen, and Baranof hotels.

There was a huge influx of money in August for Juneau from this production.”

The four chef contestants were put up at Jorgensen House, a new bed-and-breakfast. An estimated dozen locals were hired to work on set as crew or production assistants.

A handful of local businesses also helped. Tim McDonald of Temsco Helicopters in Juneau said they were approached to take eighty cast and crewmembers up to their dog camp on the Mendenhall Glacier.

“It’s going to be good for the state tourism. It’s going to bring more people up here. And, if there are more people up here, (then) I have the possibility of selling a tour to them.”

Bell is hoping the production reaps further economic dividends with a nationwide, double-exposure of both Alaska’s seafood and tourism industries with a “third-party, unbiased commentary on destinations.”

Juneau, in particular, is featured in roughly two-hours of a top-rated cable television show that’s currently draws over 1.5 million viewers per episode.

“The value of these two shows is about $5.4 million that Juneau would have to spend to get that same sort of publicity,” according to JCVB’s Elizabeth Arnett.

ASMI’s Tyson Fick, meanwhile, calculates the promotional value to the seafood industry at nearly ten-times that, or about $48-million.

“It’s the biggest thing I’ve worked on,” said Fick. “It trends very, very well with our target market: ‘foodies,’ people with enough income so that maybe they’re interested to try Alaskan seafood because it is a for-real premium product.”

The show will also live on with reruns, DVD’s, and online at Bravo TV and iTunes.

Not only is it considered a bargain over a pre-produced commercial with airing in select markets or on a few channels, but it also may be more effective.

“There’s so much media clutter in our lives these days,” said Rick Wolk, an Assistant Professor of Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the University of Alaska Southeast.

“You tend to tune out when the ads are on. So, this is very impactful because it’s a show. Your guard is down. You’re more apt to go, ‘Oh that’s interesting.’”

Wolk says the location and product placement will come across as more credible to viewers.

Most people don’t look at it and say, ‘Oh, someone paid for that.’ The producers are good at what they’re doing. They make the show entertaining and valuable. So, it doesn’t look like an ad.”

State officials say the best they could do was provide the best Alaska seafood possible. ASMI’s Tyson Fick said such a promotion does have some risk.

It’s reality television. You kind of roll the dice.”

Here’s an example, from show host Padma Lakshmi during the judging of a chef contestant:

“They locals never use chum. It’s what they use to feed the dogs. But they thought yours was very delicious.”

But Alaskans also say such attitudes about chums may be prevalent only among those already used to the equivalent of filet mignon.

“Not everyone can afford to fill their freezer with king salmon,” Fick said.

Fick said it showed chums as a nutritious, affordable option.

Yeah, indeed, subsistence areas, people fed their dogs for chums salmon for hundreds of years. Why did they do that? It’s super high in protein, very healthy, very abundant. And, those things are good for us.”

The chum dish was actually Luke Fanning’s favorite. A Juneau banker and commercial gillnetter, Fanning and his wife sampled the dishes served up at the cooking challenge located at the Gold Creek Salmon Bake.

It was really a lot of fun.”

Fanning said both he and his wife were really interested in telling the story of Alaska seafood as a wild and sustainable product.

“We were really excited that it was going to be showcased on a national scale,” said Fanning.

They were interviewed on-camera afterward about the salmon and sourdough bread served up by chefs. But Fanning said his comments were severely edited and taken partly out of context. Fanning said producers used the short clip as part of the story that they wanted to tell.

“I was really trying to complement their bread. It came out… kind of sounded a little like food snob which was not my intent,” recalled Fanning.

Fanning and his wife signed non-disclosure agreements preventing them from saying anything about the production until this month, along with a hundred other Juneau participants and handful of business owners like Tracy Labarge.

I was just dying to tell people. It was fun. It was really fun.”

Tim McDonald of Temsco helicopters says they eventually had to bow out of that potential Top Chef charter to the glacier because of logistics and aircraft availability.

Is he sore that the flights were picked up by a friendly competitor in town? Not in the slightest.

“You start getting shortsided about ‘Well, it’s only going to be Temsco.’ I’m sorry. It doesn’t work that way,” said McDonald.

The consumer isn’t that infinite.”

Local businesses are already capitalizing on the increased visibility. Tracy’s Crab Shack, which is hard to miss next to the cruise ships that dock in the summer, has a Top Chef-themed online sale this month on crab bisque.

“All the judges, chefs, took pictures, signed shirts for us,” said Labarge. “A nice bit of PR for us in the off-season.”

When will Alaskans see results? When will there be a return on the quarter-million dollars?

Elizabeth Arnett of the Juneau Convention and Visitors Bureau said they can track possible increases in web traffic, phone calls, or requests for visitor guides. But any figures on the potential economic return will have to come from the businesses themselves.

So, I think for the money that got put out for this, the return on investment is going be huge.”

“But it won’t known completely for long time,” Arnett said. “The only way we are going to know that is we get reports back that these people say that they saw Top Chef and now they’re staying at the Baranof.”

Potential visitors are now making plans for this summer. But with the show’s persistence on cable and propagation on social media, Arnett expects Alaska could be food for thought for the 2014 season, as well.

 

The final Juneau episode premiered last Wednesday, Feb. 13th on Bravo TV. But there are reruns with the next showing expected to be next Wednesday, Feb. 20th and Saturday, Feb. 23rd as part of a marathon of the season’s latest episodes. You can also watch online at BravoTV.com or through other digital download services like iTunes.

Alaska’s congressional delegation today introduced new Sealaska land-selection bills.

Senator Lisa Murkowski authored her chamber’s version, which is co-sponsored by Senator Mark Begich. Congressman Don Young released the House version.

Both would turn about 70,000 acres of the Tongass National Forest over to Sealaska, the regional Native corporation for Southeast Alaska.

Murkowski’s version includes numerous changes meant to reduce opposition from environmental groups, tourism businesses and small communities.

She says it would still complete a promise made 40 years ago by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

“In terms of what we set out to do, which is to provide completion to Sealaska in terms of allowing them to select their lands that were committed, this will help finalize that selection and really work to balance the interests of all of those in the region,” she says.

Both bills transfer about 68,000 acres to Sealaska for timber harvest and development. They remove about 26,000 controversial acres on or near northern Prince of Wales Island and replace them with other parcels.

Sealaska Vice President and General Counsel Jaeleen Araujo says the new acreage is near some previously-logged areas.

“There was some infrastructure already in place on north Prince of Wales, so we had to find other alternatives that would have proximity to infrastructure that would be helpful in timber development,” Araujo says.

She says Sealaska supports the new measures.

The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, an umbrella environmental group, has been one of the groups critical of the legislation.

SEACC Attorney Buck Lindekugel says he hasn’t seen Young’s bill and is still looking through Murkowski’s measure. But he sees some significant improvements.

“Senator Murkowski has shown some solid leadership and tried to address some thorny issues that were raised by Southeast Alaskans. There is a lot of bittersweet stuff here, particularly with some of the timber lands. Nobody’s going to be happy with all of them. But both Sealaska and Senator Murkowski helped avoid some real controversial places,” Lindekugel says.

He says his group will run the measures by its membership before taking a formal position.

The Alaska Forest Association backs the measures.

Executive Director Owen Graham says Murkowski’s version makes too many concessions. But he says they’re needed to keep the logging industry alive.

“We’re holding our nose on the conservation areas. We don’t think there’s anything special about them. They’re certainly not needed because there are other protections for the land. But we’re willing to accept those conservation areas in order to get this bill done quickly,” Graham says.

Both bills also cut the number of small parcels set aside for tourism, energy or other economic development. They also reduce the acreage to be selected as sacred or cultural sites.

Murkowski’s version increases the required stream-buffer zone from 66 to 100 feet to protect three salmon spawning areas. It also balances Sealaska’s timber selections with 150,000 acres of conservation areas.

Don Young spokesman Michael Anderson says that’s where his version differs.

“The House bill doesn’t contain any conservation set-asides. Though the two bills convey the same overall acreage to Sealaska, the House bill includes a few more small parcels. The House bill does not include any buffer requirements beyond what is required in the Alaska Forest Practices Act,” Anderson says.

Similar legislation was introduced in previous Congresses.

Young’s version passed out of the House as part of a larger lands package last year. Murkowski’s bill did not make it to the Senate floor.

She says it will have a better chance this year. That’s because Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, took over chairmanship of the chamber’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

“He has pointed out to me numerous times that he’s very pleased with the fact that we have engaged in this level of sit-down and dialog with everyone from the administration to the energy committee staff, to those within all aspects of industry, whether they’re fishermen, environmental groups, tourism. I think he’s impressed by the process that he’s seen,” Murkowski says.

She says Wyden has agreed to move several land bills out of the Natural Resources Committee. Sealaska would not be part of the first package, which will only include measure that already cleared the committee. But it could be in a later version.

A vote on a controversial bill involving cruise ship waste has been put off until next week.

House Bill 80 would strike provisions of a citizen’s initiative requiring cruise ships to meet clean water standards at the point of discharge by the 2016 season, and allow the vessels to release waste into mixing zones. The bill was introduced by the governor’s office, and it easily passed the House last week.

During a floor hearing Wednesday, Democrats made five attempts to amend the bill. Some received support from coastal Republicans, but all amendments ultimately failed. The most popular would have kept the current cruise ship regulations in place, but it would have given vessels more time to meet stricter standards. Five Democrats were joined by Republicans Peter Micciche of Soldotna and Bert Stedman of Sitka in voting for the amendment. Ten Republicans voted against it.

Senator Cathy Giessel, a Republican from Anchorage, argued against the amendment by citing a report from a state science panel, which states that incoming wastewater standards would be impossible for cruise ships to meet.

“The science advisory panel which most recently met found that there is no more advanced technology available, nor is there any technology on the horizon coming down the track, to improve the wastewater discharge that is currently in place,” Giessel said.

But Senator Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat, took issue with that reasoning. The report issued by the cruise ship science panel has come into question after one of its members publicly disagreed with its findings. It came under additional scrutiny this weekend, after the Anchorage Daily News found evidence that the panel’s report was never supposed to be considered final.

“The panel was misled, and that’s really unfortunate that they were misled on two key points,” said French. “One, they were told that they would be able to finish their work. Two, they were told their report would never be the basis for legislation.”

The bill is scheduled to come back for a final reading on the Senate floor on February 19th. Following the floor session, Majority Leader John Coghill said that the reason for delaying the vote was to give three absent senators the chance to vote on the bill. Democrats Lyman Hoffman and Donny Olson, and Kodiak Republican Gary Stevens were all excused from Wednesday’s floor session.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has previously stated that they would like to have cruise ship permitting rules finalized by February 15. DEC did not respond to a request for comment on how the delayed vote would affect their timeline.

A Pacific Northwest development expert says Southeast leaders are on the right track toward improving the region’s economy. 

A large group of Southeast business, government and other leaders have spent the past two years searching for ways to grow the region’s economy.

They’ve formed what are called “clusters,” each focusing on a particular industry or group of connected businesses: Ocean Products, Renewable Energy, Mining Service and Supply, and Visitor Products.

“If that list were to expand, I think it would really tax the resources of the organizations that are helping companies, as well as the companies themselves,” says Patrick Quinton, executive director of the Portland Development Commission.

He addressed cluster initiative members during the 2013 Southeast Innovation Summit at Juneau’s Centennial Hall, organized by the Juneau Economic Development Council. 

Quinton’s organization used the cluster process to develop the Portland area’s clean technology, outdoor recreation products, software, and advanced manufacturing industries.

“This is a very long-term process,” he says. “You’re fundamentally talking about changing the nature of the economy. You’re talking about diversifying the economy. Those changes take a long time.”

Southeast’s initiative began a little more than two years ago.

Quinton says it’s made good progress so far. Those involved have engaged industry and the government agencies that can help.

“In a few years, you would want to see how successful are you in executing the plans that have been laid out,” he says. “So if you have two or three initiatives, what kind of progress are you seeing there? And I would imagine three or four years out, you would want to see some actual change in the job numbers and the economic output.”

He says he doesn’t know enough to about the region to predict what will work best. But he’s intrigued by the Mining Service and Supply focus.

“Import substitution is the more technical term. But how do we replace services that are being provided from distant places with more local services? And Juneau seems to be well-positioned to be the more local provider of those services,” Quinton says.

He says cluster-process leaders have to make hard decisions, and it’s not a democratic process. Otherwise, he says, the effort will lose focus.

Hear earlier reports:

“Cluster” groups advance economic priorities 

“Clusters” to identify economic strengths, opportunities

It will soon be illegal to hawk goods, services, tours, or food and beverages in Juneau’s historic district.

The Juneau Assembly has approved an ordinance to prohibit commercial sales on downtown streets.  The tourism industry asked for the law.

Princess Tours spokesman Kirby Day told the Assembly Monday that hawking is on the rise in Juneau during tourist season, and he wants to nip it before it becomes a problem.

“I mean somebody walking up and down the sidewalk trying to sell a watch, saying ‘go back to my store,’ those types of things,” Day said.  

Downtown Business Association President Larry Spencer said a poll of board members indicated they were unanimous in their support for the new law, which goes into effect next month.  Spencer said sidewalk sales reduce a visitor’s experience in Juneau.

“I think things are confusing enough when people get off the ship to not add another layer of tenseness to the atmosphere,” Spencer said.

And Spencer said downtown businesses hawking their wares also disturb Juneau residents.

“We develop a bad reputation I think with our locals when they come downtown in the summer time,” he said.

CBJ Attorney John Hartle said the law is patterned after a Skagway ordinance that has already been upheld by the Alaska Supreme Court.

“No mobile sandwich boards, no passing out leaflets and brochures on the street, or more importantly, badgering people,” Hartle explained. “This restricts person to person effort solely intended to interest pedestrians in, or to solicit the participation of pedestrians in commercial transactions  for private profit with a business.”

Hartle said it’s difficult to draw the line between expressive speech protected by the First Amendment and commercial speech, but the key is the ability to sell another way .

“If someone is supporting their religious cause and they’re selling little pictures for a dollar or something like that, you just can’t prohibit it, that’s what the First Amendment is for.  But things like selling tours, the Supreme Court has said that’s commercial speech. It’s more robust.  It has money behind it,” he said.

Commercial businesses can advertise, he said.

“They’ll find another way.  They’ll go on the radio, they’ll get on the tour ships, and they’ll put up a sign.  They’ll find another way to get to those customers,” Hartle said.

The new law does not prohibit street vendors that already have city permits, unless they leave their booth and start soliciting sales on the sidewalk.  It also does not affect panhandling, which is allowed but restricted as to where, when and how it can take place.

The ordinance limits the ban on hawking to the downtown area.  The  sandwich board often seen selling furniture or pizza at McNugget intersection would not be affected.

Update 9:45 a.m.

The Senate Finance Committee on Friday advanced a bill that would roll back discharge regulations on cruise ships.

House Bill 80 has already passed the House. The Finance committee is the last stop on the Senate side before the bill moves to a floor vote.

The legislation, sponsored by Governor Sean Parnell, would would scrap a requirement that cruise ships meet stricter water standards by 2016. Under a rule put in place by a 2006 citizens’ initiative, vessels would eventually have to make sure they’re not releasing an excess of ammonia or copper at the point of discharge.

This bill would let them release waste into mixing zones instead, like ferries or municipal treatment plants.

Deputy Environmental Conservation Commissioner Lynn Kent told the Finance committee that cruise ships are already treating wastewater at a high level and that won’t change.

Original post:

A piece of legislation that would roll back discharge regulations on cruise ships could appear on the Senate floor as early as next week. It’s already passed in the House, and on Thursday the Senate Finance Committee invited the public to comment on it.

The testimony lasted more than two hours, even though the committee had planned to meet for only 90 minutes. And for the most part, the people who spoke expressed concern that the cruise ship wastewater bill could damage the marine environment.

“I guess I’m a little perplexed right now that we would risk changing the perception of purity and environmental beauty,” said Anchorage resident Bernhard Richert.

The bill he’s talking about would scrap a requirement that cruise ships meet stricter water standards by 2016. Under a rule put in place by a 2006 citizens’ initiative, vessels would eventually have to make sure they’re not releasing an excess of ammonia or copper at the point of discharge.

This bill would let them release waste into mixing zones instead, like ferries or municipal treatment plants. Advocates of the bill say it’s unfair for cruise ships to be held to a different standard, and they say that cruise ships are already using advanced wastewater treatment technology.

John Binkley is the president of the Alaska Cruise Association, and spoke in support of the bill.

“The ballot initiative moved the bar to a different level that was unattainable,” Binkley said.

He cited a report issued by a state panel of engineers, scientists, and fishing and cruise industry representatives that there wasn’t evidence to prove that further technological upgrades would provide “significant environmental benefit.”

But critics of the bill took issue with that statement. Chip Thoma was invited to testify on behalf of Responsible Cruising in Alaska, and he says that most of the cruise fleet is already complying with the stricter discharge requirements.

“It’s not impossible, because we’re meeting them,” Thoma said.

Questions were also raised about the impact that copper levels have on salmon health and migration. Senator Anna Fairclough, a Republican from Eagle River, asked that the Department of Fish and Game weigh in on the bill before it moves to the Senate floor.

“We’ve heard several people testify with concerns about subsistence fishing and habitat,” Fairclough said. “And I know that Fish and Game is endeavoring to start some research specific on king salmon runs and how our fish are moving in and out of the streams.”

In a follow-up interview, Fairclough says that getting Fish and Game’s input shouldn’t have an effect on the speed at which the bill moves through committee.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has previously stated that they would like to see action on the bill by February 15, so they can begin work on their discharge permits.