I was stunned at a recent borough assembly meeting when a self-described “fiscal conservative” characterized public funding of the nonprofit Haines Chamber of Commerce as unnecessary. For most of its history, the Chamber received support from our municipality, and for many of the same reasons that funding other nonprofits makes sense: The chamber does necessary jobs for cheap. First, the…
There will be no more ravens, at least in terms of street names, at least for now, and we mean it this time. That’s about all borough officials can muster after stepping into the quicksand of what we call streets and roads around here. Some efficiency-minded public employee questioned why our town has a Raven Drive, Raven Road and Raven…
Don Turner Jr. has another petition going. He wants to know, in detail, what our borough’s public works crew is doing every day. Turner can’t believe our roads aren’t in better shape and he wants to do something about it. I suggest he put in for public works director next time that job opens and find out. I can’t testify…
“March Madness” refers to the effect of big winter on small brains. Cold and darkness topple the frontal lobe, resulting in events that cannot be explained. Husbands leave wives they never deserved. Underqualified and overpaid workers quit their jobs. Villanova beats Georgetown by shooting 79 percent from the floor. Stuff happens in March. So we shouldn’t be surprised that Alaska…
Due largely to the state and federal governments abandoning their obligations to our town and schools, along with voters’ passage of an ill-considered additional senior property cut last October, the Haines Borough is expected to face a sizable budget shortfall this spring. There will be talk of cutting programs to save money. Here’s an easy reduction the government can make…
People like to say that landscape painter Gil Smith was the first Haines hippie, kayaking here from Skagway, a company town, back in 1940. An art school graduate, Smith built a stone-clad house at Zimovia Point and like many hippies thereafter, supported his art with government work – humping a wheelbarrow and surveying for the federal road commission on the…
Old friends say they can’t believe I’m mayor, but it’s human nature to not believe things can happen until they do. Donald Trump was elected president twice, for crying out loud. As Jim Hightower famously said, “If God had wanted us to elect leaders, he’d have given us candidates.” I didn’t expect or want to become the town mayor when…
Through an effort I’m pushing as mayor, the Haines Borough, Chilkoot Indian Association and Haines Chamber of Commerce will hold three lunches in February aimed at connecting with residents 40 and under. The “40 and Under Summit” is intended to be a quick and easy polling of our younger generation, who they are, why they’re here, what they need to…
Young Road residents in December made quick work of a proposal to site a cell phone tower in their neighborhood. About 20 of them showed up at a Haines Borough Planning Commission meeting and effectively torpedoed the idea. Developer Roger Schnabel, seeking to build the tower on his own hillside property, withdrew the proposed location, which never made it to…
There’s an old expression about living in Juneau: “When you’re no longer happy skiing in the rain, it’s time to leave town.” I’m hoping we don’t get there, at least not soon. I didn’t sign up for Juneau when I moved here 39 years ago. But my wife woke me up early last Monday so I could get out skiing…