Browsing Category : Haines Issues

Lessons of the Haines Pool Sauna Project

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The Haines Pool sauna project didn’t turn out as planned. It turned out much better. Understanding the history of this project is important to knowing how Haines works and to learning how citizens can advance projects in our community even in the face of indifference or opposition from powers-that-be. The sauna was proposed by former borough consultant Darsie Culbeck in…

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Over Time, Louie’s Crazy Dream Is Coming True

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Louie Nelson was a worker bee. The Mud Bay homesteader, inventor and musician liked getting things done. On the Haines Arts Council in the early 1990s, Louie could be counted on to advocate for more brass instrument music and to provide fruit juice for the refreshments stand at every performance.  At council meetings, Louie also advocated for a marching band.…

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The Manufactured Crisis

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The policing-outside-the-townsite issue that the Haines Borough Assembly can’t seem to resolve is a manufactured crisis. This issue is made of nothing because nothing has changed in local policing except that the number of Alaska State Troopers posted in Haines was reduced from two to one in January 2017. State troopers are still responding to emergencies outside the Haines townsite,…

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Assembly Can Easily Resolve Access Disputes

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Before any more lawsuits or ill will between neighbors, the Haines Borough needs to identify and acquire access to popular public trails, beaches and waterways. In the past five years, longtime users of Chilkoot River and Viking Cove faced off in court against property owners and the results were disastrous. Besides costing tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees,…

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Tourism Fund Raided, Decimated

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If you operate a business that relies on visitors, you might have an issue with the Haines Borough. It’s been robbing you. Let’s start with a bit of history. Since October 1987 when it was approved by City of Haines voters, 1 percent of municipal sales tax has been dedicated to “tourism development and promotion.” The money was intended to…

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Dissolve the Mining Forum Committee

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In spring of 1989, following the published plans of Geddes Resources to open North America’s largest open-pit copper mine 100 miles up the road from Haines, resident Jim Stanford organized a public meeting. Stanford said his meeting would be an objective discussion of the mine proposal. As Geddes officials themselves hadn’t yet come to town to explain their plans, the…

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On Missing John and Ray

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I am missing John and Ray these days. I am missing them like the grandfathers I never knew, or like a crochety uncle I did know. I am missing their visits to the newspaper office, with letters-to-the-editor in hand, or with musings on some local issue, or with questions about a meeting they missed or with a private opinion they…

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Why Independent Marketing Is Critical

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The most important thing you need to know about tourism in Haines is that the town markets itself independently. We pay 1 percent of sales tax toward a program we direct to bring the kinds and numbers of visitors we want. Want more Canadian visitors? We can advertise in Whitehorse newspapers. Want more cruise ships? We can send a delegation…

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Support 1 Percent, Tourism Department

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If you like Haines the way it is, you have an investment in tourism and in the 1 percent sales tax that funds our local program. Tourism happens in Haines on a small and varied scale, and that’s no mistake. It’s the result of 35 years of stops and starts, ideas, ventures, failures and corrections that’s largely been led by…

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A Smarter, Cheaper Alternative for Garbage Issues

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When I ran for borough assembly in 2016, I opposed a plan developed by a borough-appointed Solid Waste Working Group for a government takeover of garbage services locally. I’m still opposed to that plan because I believe it’s too expensive – up to 1 percent of sales tax or $628,000 annually, along with tipping fees – and it’s unnecessary. When…

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