A strong voice for a healthier Juneau
City management of tourism is a priority for over half of Juneau, and if done well, could strengthen our economy, including opening more housing for a year round workforce, while reducing adverse impacts.
Check back for more details on the following topics.
Housing
Juneau has lots of vacant jobs, we lack adequate housing availability. Why? We’ve added hundreds of units and our population remains fairly flat. Housing units tied up in seasonal worker housing are counter to a year round population.
Tour Permitting
Haines has been permitting commercial tours for years. This allows them to reduce or avoid community impacts, gather data important in managing tourism, and address concerns that arise. Permitting could address flightseeing noise and whale watching impacts.
Air Quality
Diesel air pollution is extremely harmful to health, including respiratory, neurological, and cardiac, as well as being carcinogenic. Cruise ships emit massive volumes of air pollution, and prevailing winds direct pollution up Gastineau Channel to much of the community.
Rightsizing Cruise Tourism
Thanks to Bar Harbor activists, CBJ now knows that Juneau CAN limit cruise ship tourism. How many cruise ship passengers are best for Juneau overall?
Climate Change
Juneau adopted a Climate Action and Implementation Plan in 2011. We’ve made progress; we cannot ignore the climate implications of the tourism industry.
Basic Community Services
Schools, roads, water, sewer, trash, recycling, transit, social services, health care, public transit, community planing, fire and police, recreation, and libraries are all vitally important. We could maximize unrestricted revenues from cruise ship tourism to support these basic services.
Karla Hart for Juneau Assembly District 2 