At the end of September each year we run up to the Pass, away from the rain, under the canopy of golden aspens when the season turns patches of tundra rusty red. An unplanned camping weekend is a chance to wear dirty pants and drink warm beer and do whatever one damn well pleases in the treeless, expansive Canadian wilderness.…
A year or so ago I went looking for Mike Howard. I heard he was living at Dusty Trails, that he was sick and doctors had cut off his foot. I was hoping to write the story, “Santa Claus Is A Man With One Foot Who Lives in Public Housing.” A big guy with enough fluffy white hair and beard…
I was not expecting to say anything publicly regarding the municipal election but at recent forums our current assembly was unfairly maligned. As mayor, I pledge to work with any assembly members supported by voters, but some things need to be said. The Haines Borough Assembly elected last October has tackled three giant problems left at its doorstep by the…
Because it’s election season, people wanting political power are complaining that our town’s economy is in ruins. That’s not the truth. I know because I’ve heard that line for the 38 years I’ve lived here despite the fact that young, energetic people keep moving here and our town keeps improving. The Haines economy is doing fine, despite attempts by Alaska…
Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys. Make ’em be hydrologists and geotechnical engineers and such. That’s where the money will be. Those will be among the best-paying jobs in Southeast Alaska, where the rains are bringing down our mountainsides – and the homes, driveways and roads located on them – faster than ever. Since 2015, landslides…
Leaders are obliged to look forward, not back. That’s why I’m opposed to the ballot question that will ask voters in October if they want to increase the amount of the exemption from property taxes that senior citizens enjoy from the first $150,000 of the value of their homes to the first $300,000. Certainly that change would help lower property…
The biggest issue facing the Haines Borough isn’t the Lutak Dock. Amd it’s not the Constantine mine. It’s not the price of fish or the future of the cruise ship industry. The biggest issue facing our town is the funding of the Haines Borough School District and whether the State of Alaska – and more broadly, we Alaskans – have…
Many point to turnover at the borough – and particularly in the borough manager’s position – as a sign of community dysfunction. Those folks should look a little more closely. The deeper cause of manager turnover, as well as a major, overlooked problem with our government – is turnover on our elected assembly, the group that hires and fires managers.…
At least three seats will be open on the Haines Borough Assembly this fall, and with luck, some old-timers will throw in their hats. I’m not hoping for Biden-old and certainly not Trump-crazy, but generally the best candidates for local leadership are people who have been around this town 20 or 40 years and have paid attention. Retirees of moderate…
A recent think-tank survey found 42 percent of Haines business leaders “pessimistic,” according to Rain Coast Data, a think-tank based in Juneau. If those numbers are accurate, they’re not particularly surprising given that commercial fishing — a big economic driver in Haines — is suffering a severe downturn in prices to fishermen. A crisis occurs in the fishery about every…