The two governments in Sitka get together for a meal and an informal meeting a couple of times a year. Most recently, two days before the community will be swarmed by cruise passengers.
Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz apologized for what is likely to be a wild start to the visitor season.
“So the goal going forward is to not have 9,000,” said Eisenbeisz. “A week ago, it wasn’t. This port call was added very late in the agenda. So Thursday will be busy. What a way to kick off the season.”
There will be three ships in port on Thursday in Sitka – rather than two – with a total passenger capacity of 9,300. The late-comer is the Nieuw Amsterdam, which notified Sitka’s port director about a week ago that it was making an unscheduled call. Combined, the three ships have several thousand crew, many of whom catch a shuttle for the seven-mile ride into town, and can raise the actual number of visitors into five figures.
Sitka officials at the meeting were wary of a possible citizen initiative that would limit summertime cruise visitation to less than half of last year’s record season. The mayor cautioned the Tribal Council that recent efforts by city hall to establish a Parks & Recreation program, assume responsibility for maintenance of the schools and the Performing Arts Center, and to take over management of the school swimming pool, would all be jeopardized by limiting cruise ship calls.
Mayor Eisenbeisz described a simple trade-off: increased tourism or local amenities.
“I think that’s a choice that community can make,” he said. “The other side of not having buses on your streets, is not having a parks & rec program too.”
Tribal Council member Lillian Feldpausch, however, thought the argument was overstated.
“What is it going to take to be able to run at minimum some of these programs?” she asked. “Because that’s kind of like holding people hostage to say, ‘You don’t have these, you know, we don’t get the funding for these, say goodbye.’
Mayor Eisenbeisz said it was not his intention to hold anyone hostage, and that more work needed to be done on tourism. Rather than impose a season limit, he believed Sitka could better manage a daily limit, and one day a week with no ships at all.
Municipal administrator John Leach said the city was investigating a regional strategy to manage cruise traffic, because if Sitka enforced a day with no ships, the cruise lines would go to other towns, and possibly increase congestion there. He wanted a solution that didn’t involve the courts or a ballot initiative.
“Because when it goes to the ballot box, there’s, there’s legal implications on either side pro or against,” he said, ” and it’s going to affect another community.”
As for the cruise passengers, no one disputes that their arrival will be both an economic and culinary boost. A new food truck offering Hawaiian Doughnuts is parked downtown, along with another specializing in Cuban food. “Welcome back to all the food trucks as well,” the mayor said. “I’m pretty excited about that.”
