In response to Win Gruening’s latest column (“Juneau taxpayers fight back”), Gruening admits that even “marginalized groups” like those of us who seek to limit cruise ship traffic, have the right to petition our government and “air their grievances.” He goes on to say “…even the majority finds the right to petition useful when government seems oblivious to citizens’ concerns.”
The majority he is speaking of is his group, the Affordable Juneau Coalition (AJC), a group of well-heeled Juneau business people who don’t want to pay their fair share of city sales and property taxes and don’t want people to vote by mail. I’m happy that Gruening admits we “marginalized” people have the same right to petition our government as the “majority” does. Democracy is so messy!
We “marginalized” residents fighting increases in cruise ship numbers are doing so because we believe we have a right to live in our homes without having to deal with millions of visitors destroying our quality of life during the best months of the year. We are not against tourism. We are asking the voters to put the daily limits agreed to by the city and Cruise Lines International Association into the CBJ Code (five cruise ships a day, 16,000 passengers Sunday through Friday, and 12,000 on Saturdays), and set an annual cap of over 1.5 million passengers and a seasonal limit of 153 days. This means changes to these limits, while possible, will require a public process.
Let’s codify the Memorandum of Agreement because do we really believe the cruise industry is going to stick to those limits? The city just gave the green light to a new downtown dock for Norwegian Cruise Lines/Huna Totem. Goldbelt Inc. is planning two new docks for the other side of Douglas Island. There is talk of a dock at Tee Harbor. Is the voracious, foreign-flagged, non-U.S. taxpaying cruise industry going to comply with a negotiated “agreement” of five ships a day boroughwide? If you believe that I have a bridge to sell you (a second crossing?).
In regard to the three petitions filed by the anti-tax/anti-voting group, I find it interesting that those who can best afford to pay their fair share are always the ones who would rather opt out. I have railed at paying property taxes because I don’t feel that the Assembly cares a whit about the impact cruise tourism has on my neighborhood (Basin Road, a popular tour destination that runs through a small, residential neighborhood to the tune of a thousand vehicle trips per day). I believe there is a way in which the city could tax the Golden Goose in our harbor that, if anyone did a serious study, costs us millions each year to host. Why should one dime of my property taxes go to paying for an industry that makes billions of dollars in profits and pays nothing in U.S. taxes?
While I have issues about property taxes because of the cruise industry, I do see the necessity of paying my fair share — that’s what good citizens do. And I don’t believe we should tie the hands of the Assembly. We vote them in to make the tough decisions.
But don’t let just anyone vote. The anti-taxers don’t want to make voting easy. The petition that Mr. Gruening favors the most is their petition that would do away with voting by mail. The option of voting by mail is very democratic and has been used for decades in other states. Why should a person who is homebound have to figure out a way to get to a polling place when they can fill out a ballot at home and mail it in?
Please join me in signing the petition to limit cruise ships (contact me at kimmetcalfeak@yahoo.com to sign). If not now, when? When there are two million passengers a year? Three million? More? Because that’s what is going to happen if we do not limit them now. We do not need more cruise ships. And we can lower property and sales taxes if we find a way to make the billion-dollar industry that pays nothing towards the betterment of the United States pay its fair share.
• Kimberly Metcalfe is a lifelong resident of Juneau.
