It’s easy to throw up your hands about local politics, about the issues that divide us, about the excruciating difficulty we have resolving many of the shared challenges we face as a community.
So it’s helpful to remember that right here in Haines we have tackled problems and put them behind us. We forget our victories, and that’s too bad. Here are a few worth remembering:
Dog control. The problem of loose dogs was one of the issues that launched the effort to start a local government here way back in 1910, when the City of Haines was incorporated, according to historic accounts. Loose dogs were still an issue 80 years later, consuming considerable time at council meetings and space at the newspaper into the 1990s.
A central problem was the city was unable to find a person who wanted to serve as dogcatcher. The job was just a stepping stone in the public works department to positions people wanted: Operating heavy equipment.
Solution: A group of citizens dedicated to the welfare of domestic animals formed Haines Animal Rescue Kennel, which contracted with the municipality to help look after pets. Nary a word is heard today at public meetings about dogs running astray.
Student lunches. For decades, Haines schools offered no lunch program. Students, especially ones from struggling families, were chronically malnourished, relying on junk food or going without. A parade of students marched downtown each noon for pop and candy bars.
Solution: The school developed a school lunch program, starting with microwaved, processed food and eventually expanding to development of a cafeteria, addition of a late afternoon meal and a menu of healthy and local foods, some grown by students. Long-time teachers testified about the difference the lunch program made to student performance and morale. Most recently, the lunch program was extended through summer. No one’s complaining.
Teen drinking and driving. About 30 years ago, the incidence of intoxicated young people hurting or killing themselves behind the wheel was a regular and dreaded drumbeat. Teachers, parents and social workers wrung the hands, held meetings and tried various programs to make students act responsibly.
Solution: Eventually, adults recognized that “just-say-no” didn’t prevent youth drinking, nor did student “education.” Instead, many parents focused instead on the driving part of the equation, telling their teens to stay put after drinking parties, or offering to give them rides home when they got drunk, no questions asked. State troopers also shifted enforcement away from underage drinking and toward drunken driving.
Minor consumption may be as prevalent here as it’s ever been, but mutual trust, honesty and common sense have eliminated the lethal element.
Downtown decay. Less than 10 years ago, four large, empty buildings and two prominent, barren lots made our Main Street look like a ghost town. As consumers turned to the Internet and big box stores in Juneau, surviving small shops and businesses struggled to keep their doors open.
Solution: The Haines Borough paid $40,000 for a downtown revitalization plan, the Chamber of Commerce formed a committee of business owners to pursue improvements according to the plan, and the Chilkat Valley News launched a series of articles about the problem of downtown decay and the process of reversing it.
The borough sold the two vacant lots to the local brewery and a new hotel, a social service agency moved into one of the buildings and Chris Thorgesen, a newcomer to town, bought the other three and moved businesses into them. A local arts group started First Friday promotions that brought crowds to Main Street that hadn’t been seen for years. It was a hodgepodge effort, and it still needs work, but our downtown was brought back from the brink, and is improving.
Replacing Lutak Dock. Three years ago, the Haines Borough was beside itself with fret about the Lutak Dock, the government-owned freight terminal that was collapsing into the waters of Lutak Inlet. Engineering consultants hired to study the problem estimated the cost of repairing the dock at between $20 million and $60 million. On vacation in Skagway, a Haines assembly member visited the freight office there and learned that the region’s freight company had built its own dock in Skagway, on land leased from the municipality.
Solution: The assemblyman passed the tip on to the manager, and the manager asked the freight company if the Skagway arrangement might also be extended to Haines. The company agreed. The roll-on portion of the dock will be rebuilt and improved under the deal, ensuring our town can receive food, fuel and other supplies. The historic dock is still crumbling, but an enormously expensive repair isn’t necessary at this time and may never be.
These are just a few examples of problems our town has solved. Surely readers can come up with their own.
We still have a long, to-do list but as we work on that list, it’s encouraging to remember that we’ve already scratched some big items off it.