About Me
In 2016, my partner Julie, and her son Austin, traveled to Alaska for a long-anticipated wilderness adventure. They were hoping to go into the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. It was May and ANWR would be too inhospitable to travel to. So, by chance, they landed in Haines and flew with Drake to Lituya Bay, where they camped and trekked with the brown bears.
“We have to move to Haines!” That’s all Julie could talk about when she returned to San Diego.
So, in the Fall of that year, Julie and I moved from California to the Mosquito Lake neighborhood of Haines. We have been active in the Upper Valley ever since, working at the Mosquito Lake Community Center and serving on its board.
I’m a California boy, now gone North. Now, some people have some strong opinions about California, but you know, you have to grow up somewhere. I grew up in the southeast part of Los Angeles in the city of South Gate. I attended undergraduate school at the University of California Santa Barbara. My medical school was the University of California San Francisco, and I completed my Obstetrics/Gynecology residency at the UCLA/Harbor General Hospital in 1977.
I started a single practitioner practice in Torrance, California in 1977. I developed this into a five provider practice with more than twenty employees and two locations. During my time there, I served several years on the hospital’s Board of Directors. I sold my practice in 1991, and then joined the full-time medical school faculty of the UCLA School of Medicine.
After five years of teaching, I went back to practice spending time in California, Tennessee, Missouri, and Texas. During this time, from 1997 to 2017, I experienced living in both rural and urban areas.
Policy
I intend to consider both the economic health of Haines, as well as its environmental health. We need Haines to be a place where young people can stay and be successful, and where they can raise their families with financial security. We must also realize and respect the natural beauty that we are blessed with in Haines. It is hard to imagine a more beautiful place on earth. Our tourism industry depends on maintaining this natural beauty and the many opportunities for outdoor activities that it provides. And as residents, we also enjoy these activities of cycling, kayaking, boating, skiing, fishing, and hunting. We can’t risk losing these.
Our commercial fishing industry relies on the clean waters and adequate infrastructure that the borough provides. Haines without its fishing industry would be unthinkable.
Issues
Education
I view the Haines Borough School System and the Haines Library as our educational cornerstones. ‘Cornerstones’? – no they are our true gems. The borough should be generous in its support of both institutions. From kindergarten to 12th grade, our children are taught and cared for by a team of dedicated, superb teachers. We are very lucky to have such a great school system and we cannot take it for granted.
The Haines Library provides for everyone’s reading enjoyment, from literary classics to the newest best-sellers. Summer reading programs and fun Trivia Nights allow all ages to participate in community activities. It’s no wonder that our library has won so many National Awards.
I will always strongly support the financial viability of both the Haines Borough School System and the Haines Library. It’s a top priority.
Tax Revenue Modification
A very necessary evil – yes, that’s what taxes are. We can’t live without them and enjoy the good life here in the Chilkat Valley. We want to use these moneys wisely. Waste is not acceptable. As an assembly member, I will always be careful regarding how taxes are raised and about how your tax money is spent. As a resident of the borough, you need to know that the tax money the borough spends is making your life better.
Where we raise our tax money should be examined regularly. Considering this, I would encourage the borough to remove taxes from grocery sales. A grocery sales tax hits the least economically healthy among us. It is what is called a ‘regressive tax’. Currently, the borough only taxes ‘Transient Lodging’ at a pitiful 4% rate. A higher Transient Lodging tax rate will not scare off tourists. Hotels, motels, AirBnbs, etc. will not suffer. Whether the tax rate is 4%, or 6%, or 8% will not change any vacationer’s or visitor’s plans to travel to our beautiful destination. I believe that this increased Transient Lodging tax would make up for the loss in tax revenue from grocery sales. Furthermore, it would leave many of our neighbors with a little more cash in their wallets.
Solid Waste Management
Discarded truck tires, an old, ragged sofa, distorted and tangled metal material – we’ve all seen these eyesores when we walk, hike and drive throughout the borough. Why does this happen? Are our neighbors just lazy and inconsiderate? Of course not. But the borough has not made it easy to rid ourselves of trash and our unwanted items. And just as streams find paths of least resistance, some of us just dump things where it seems convenient. It’s wrong. It happens. Can the borough help? Weekly trips up FAA, our cars and trucks being assaulted by each unavoidable pothole as we approach the dump, are unacceptable as a solution. And the people living on FAA Road would appreciate the decrease in unnecessary traffic. I think that the borough can help with this, and as an assembly member I will work hard to improve our trash pickup.
Door-to-door is a non-starter. We are a large, spread-out community. Trash routes that might be used in more densely populated towns in the lower 48 will not work here – at least not economically. Talk about spread-out! Just imagine how many trucks and employees you would need to hire and pay for such a scheme.
Here’s what might be tried: The borough could identify and allow for a few well-located places in the townsite, termed ‘Central Transfer Points’, where we could bring our weekly trash and recycle items once a week for deposit. The contracted solid waste company, CWS, then would provide pickup of all materials at these few sites on a weekly basis – NO MORE TRIPS UP FAA ROAD TO THE DUMP, HOORAY! Every three months, these sites could be used for large item, electronics, and hazardous waste disposal. Just a thought, but it might work. We really must do something.
Housing Shortage
Haines has a housing shortage. And affordable housing is absolutely in short supply. People looking to come to Haines to work – new teachers, nurses, service workers, tourist employees, and others – people who might want to make Haines a permanent home – cannot find places to affordably live. It’s a huge problem. The Hilltop Subdivision with its planned 65 lots might be a start, but it is unclear whether these residences will be “affordable”. As an assembly member I will pursue workable solutions to this problem that will not change the nature of the Haines community.
Lutak Dock Usage
A new Lutak dock is currently being planned for. $2.4 million of our precious borough funds will be spent to build this new dock. Whether Haines needs a new, full dock structure is not at all clear. Haines requires a dock for the Delta Western transfer of fuel from its barge. This is a given. And Haines needs dockage for the AML barge on a weekly basis. And again, no one will dispute this. But this dock capacity already exists. If repairs are needed to the RORO dock, this might be accomplished more economically by dolphins, such as exist at the cruise ship dock. Why do we need more dock capacity? For ore trucks? Build it and they will come? Seems a bit financially risky to me.
My mind is open to being educated on these issues. I certainly do not have all the facts. I am keeping an open mind..
Small Boat Harbor Development
Our marina is full and there is demand for more slips for small boats. The small boat harbor is critical for our commercial fishermen. Plans already exist for expansion of the harbor, but no money has been allocated to construct the new docks. These new docks could increase the opportunities for our commercial fishermen to expand their business. It seems to me that this would be a good idea. Perhaps it would be better to spend the proposed Lutak dock money for this development.
The 800-pound Gorilla in the Room
Yes, the Palmer/Constantine mine. Do I have any thoughts about this? Of course I do. Who doesn’t?
This mineral ore mine is too close to the headwaters of both the Klehini and Chilkat Rivers. Proceeding with this project is extremely short-sighted. Yes, there would be jobs – well at least for a few years until the mine closed. Yes, the mineral ore yield-percentages appear, at first glance, to be good. BUT it has the potential to ruin both the tourism industry as well as the fishing industry. I don’t want to roll the dice that this project will NOT result in contamination of these rivers. No more healthy, clean water. No more salmon runs. No more bald eagles. No more commercial fishing. No more tourism.
It’s just too big a risk to take.
Of course, the borough has no say in the permitting of this mine. It is up to the State and the Federal government. Just like you and me, the borough assembly can only voice its concerns. It cannot pass any ordinances, or make any policies, that would encourage the mine or stop the mine. But I know someone would want to know what I thought.
I'd love to hear from you.
If you have any concerns or ideas regarding the borough, please contact me at BillJurewitz@gmail.com
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