As a former U.S. government teacher, Juneau Assembly member and mayor, I usually start getting phone calls for information about voting (ballot issues especially) a couple weeks before an election. It has begun.
Oct. 1 is election day for the City and Borough of Juneau. Except with mail-in voting, the excitement of election day is gone.
Taking your grandchildren with you to the mailbox to put your ballot in the mailbox is not the same as taking them with you to your voting precinct, going through the registered voter process, voting your ballot behind a curtain, and placing your ballot in the ballot box and getting the “I voted” sticker. Let’s talk about that another day.
Meanwhile let’s call out the propositions.
Proposition 2 is a no. Let’s clear up one thing right away. Proposition 2 (“Ship-Free Saturday”) has nothing to do with free shipping on Amazon, UPS, etc. Please don’t ask me about that one again. This would forbid cruise ships in town on every Saturday and cost us $4 million in city revenue from ship passengers on Saturdays. That’s major.
However, the last Prop. 2 “Whereas” in the voter guide was the worst. This proposition prohibits cruise ships in town on July 4.
I love the Fourth of July in Juneau. It usually is sunny; we share the same corner to watch the parade with two old-time Juneau families who have been here longer than our 56 years; we love the homespun parade complete with marching bands, old cars, trucks, bikes and trikes, and enough candy being tossed to give your kids and grandkids a sugar high for a week.
It would be un-American to not want to share the Fourth with fellow Americans whether they came in on a cruise ship from Seattle or arrived by dinghy from the Taku. Definitely a no on Proposition 2.
Besides whoever wrote the last “Whereas” couldn’t have been from Juneau as it says to keep the Fourth of July ship-free so we can enjoy the Fourth on downtown Juneau streets and the waterfront all day long.
Everyone knows the real action takes place late on the evening of July 3 in downtown Juneau and on the Fourth of July after the Juneau parade when we all head to Douglas for the rest of the day. By 1 p.m. on the Fourth, downtown Juneau streets and the waterfront are deserted. Vote no on 2.
Propositions 1 and 3 deserve the same treatment — no. Public safety communication equipment and a wastewater treatment facility definitely are “needs” not “wants.” But that is not the question. The question is why do they have to borrow to bond when we have money available?
Proposition 1 for public safety communications is purported to actually cost $24.4 million and Proposition 3 wastewater treatment facility another $10 million. We have almost $12 million set aside already for public safety communications. There was $16.3 million in the new City Hall account and several million for the capital civic center, plus unrestricted budget reserves that will be built back up with property taxes and sales taxes that are flowing into CBJ coffers this year.
We can address these needs now with money we already have instead of buying bonds for our children and grandchildren to pay off. To bond or not to bond, that is the question and the answer is no.
Not on the ballot is Valley flooding. The restricted $16 million-plus budget reserve (rainy day account) should be used for the Valley flooding. It will require a plan to pay it back. We can all get behind that.
One of my granddaughters always tells me what the significance of the current day is. While Oct. 1 is election day in Juneau, she said we will also celebrate International Coffee Day and National Homemade Cookie Day on Oct. 1. So, brew or buy an Americano coffee, rustle up a cookie or two, and vote.
• Ken Koelsch was Juneau’s mayor from 2016 to 2018, U.S. Customs and Border Protection port director between 1996 and 2014, and a local high school teacher from 1969 to 1996.
