Author: Robert Woolsey

Charlie Rutkowski believes public transit is here to stay in Sitka. Rutkowski is the assistant director of the Community Transportation Association in Washington, DC. He first came to Sitka ten years ago to help establish the “Community Ride”; he was back last week (5-6-08) to help institutionalize it. Rutkowski says that, having added a third fixed route, the Community Ride is beyond the tipping point between experiment and acceptance, and is now looking at sustainability. KCAWs Robert Woolsey spoke with Rutkowski about how small-to-mid-range transit systems like Sitka’s keep themselves going.

Alaska kids are walking across Asia. Well, they’re actually walking across a very large map of Asia. National Geographic’s “Traveling Map of Asia” has come to Alaska, and it’s touring the state’s schools. It’s a hands- and feet-on approach to geography, and its visit is just about over. Melissa Marconi Wentzel stopped by Sitka’s Blatchley Middle School, where 7th graders were using the map to explore some complex ideas.

The Sheldon Jackson Board of Trustees has set a 90-day deadline to identify a purchaser for the core campus, the college’s most valuable piece of real estate. If no buyer is found, the Board could consider subdividing the property for sale.

Sheldon Jackson's unsuccessful tax appeal was based on two assumptions: the first that, although there are no students on campus, a "teach-out" and administration remain in place for thirteen students studying elsewhere. Second, many of the buildings on the core campus are being rented out for community purposes like a childcare and wellness center. An excerpt of college president David Dobler's defense before the board of equalization.

Sheldon Jackson College is going on the Sitka tax rolls. The $22-million dollar campus traditionally has operated under an educational exemption in state law. According to Sitka’s tax assessor, Jim Corak, that ended last summer when the college closed its doors and subsequently lost its accreditation from the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education. The Sitka assembly, acting as a board of equalization, delivered the bad news to college officials near the conclusion of a four-hour hearing Monday night (5-5-08). The financially-strapped institution – barring any successful court appeals – will have to come up with $129-thousand dollars to pay its 2008 property tax bill. An excerpt of Jim Corak's view of the college's position.

Former Sheldon Jackson College students, completing their credits through the University of Alaska, graduated this weekend (5/2-5/3). The final graduating class of the defunct historic college received their degrees at a number of UA institutions, including UAS's Sitka campus. Melissa Marconi Wentzel has this audio postcard from the ceremony.

The US Forest Service is midway through a multi-year study to determine how many people visit the nation’s forest, and what they do once they get there. On the Tongass, the nation’s largest forest, this seemingly straightforward work is complicated by the fact that there is not a single turnstile or ticket booth on any of its seventeen million acres. In the Sitka and Hoonah Ranger districts, recreation planners instead are relying on statistical modeling – and old-fashioned legwork – to find and interview visitors on any of two-hundred bays, lakes, cabins, and trails.

With the exception of Sawmill Cove Industrial Park, the city’s enterprise funds are all budgeted in the black next year. The Sitka assembly Thursday night (5-1-08) took their first look at the '09 budgets for the electric and water departments, solid waste, harbors, the airport, and the marine services center.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has canceled the Yakutat Bay spring troll fishery for the third year running. As Melissa Marconi Wentzel reports, low king returns to the Situk River are again standing in the way of this fledgling commercial fishery.

Sitka electrical director Charlie Walls has observed that only a fraction of the energy consumed in Sitka is produced by our two hydro plants. The lion's share of energy, by far, comes from oil -- as fuels for homes, cars, and boats. During an assembly budget meeting Thursday (5-1-08) Walls defended his department's research budget for wind and geothermal power, arguing that the time is now to plan for life with less petroleum. An excerpt from his assembly presentation.