Evy Kinnear is one of five candidates running for two open seats on the Assembly. The municipal election is Tuesday, October 4, 2016. (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)
Evy Kinnear is one of five candidates running for two open seats on the Assembly. The municipal election is Tuesday, October 4, 2016.
My name is Evy Kinnear and I’m a candidate for the Assembly.
I came to Sitka in 2002 – January 1st to be exact. I came because I met an extraordinary man who was to become, two years, later my husband. I stayed because of him and because we shared a passion for an idea that would evolve to Fortress of the Bear.
Nowhere in the background of growing up and raising my children in the San Fernando valley did I foresee a life in Alaska, nor the founding of a bear rescue center. Yet everything I have done led me here.
In the years that followed I came to know a town, a community, and a group of friends that I’ve come to love and admire. I learned quite a bit in this adventure. I learned you can have a great idea and a passion and even knowledge to carry out an idea, but if it’s not well received by the community, it can be a daunting endeavor. Having a few key people listen and support your vision can change its course, as it did for us.
This enterprise, my background as a middle school teacher in the heart of south central Los Angeles, a business owner, and a single mother, have suggested that serving on the Assembly might bring a dynamic to the Assembly table that would serve this community well.
I want to encourage and support all that makes the Sitka economy stronger. We must invest in what will make living here affordable for everyone. We cannot continue to raise utility rates because of climate changes or tax citizens to meet our shortfalls.
I do not have all the answers to grow our economy, but I know there are inspired citizens that have ideas and those need to be nurtured. It is a given that the government provides support services that will allow us to provide for ourselves and our families.
A few questions we need to answer are:
1) What is the bare minimum we can live with so we can minimize the cost to our community? Starting with the CBS, could there be hiring and salary freezes? Furlough days?
2) How can we creatively utilize our electricity, so that the cost burden is minimized? City utilizing electric vehicles? Develop the industrial park multi-purpose dock to service marine-based businesses?
3) What can we do to create new revenue streams? Continue to assist like-minded citizens to form coalitions to resolve needed services, as has happened with the Hames Gym, the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, and now we’re looking at a new playground? Value-added fisheries? New and enhanced tourism and convention commerce? Can the new laws around marijuana help us?
I focus on the economy, because the beauty of where we live, its charm and its power, are among its assets. For some that is enough, but with shifting demographics and cost of living expenses, this is what is on the table and must be addressed. When we shift towards an economy that creates jobs and provides a liveable wage, we will be on a course that will allow for infinite possibilities.
Municipal elections are Tuesday, October 4th, 2016. Precinct 1 will vote at Grace Harbor Church located at 1904 Halibut Point Road. Precinct 2 will vote at at St. Gregory’s Catholic Church located at 605 Lincoln Street. Polls will be open from 7am to 8pm. Absentee/advanced voting will be available weekdays from 9am to 5pm at City Hall (3rd floor) beginning Monday, September 19th and will continue through Monday, October 3rd.
