As a 54-year resident of Juneau I have seen the summer cruise industry grow from a single weekly 600-passenger ship May through August to the current influx of 1.6 million from April to October.<\/p>\n
At various times in my life locals have tried to exert some sort of control or taxes on the cruise industry. Two have been successfully implemented, but many others have failed.<\/p>\n
When the Marine Passenger Fee Program was started in 1999 the cruise industry and supporters promised doom and gloom for cruising in Juneau.<\/p>\n
When the Ocean Ranger Program started in 2006 the cruise industry and supporters promised doom and gloom for the Alaska cruise industry.<\/p>\n
Has the industry died because of those two successful efforts? I think it is self-evident that cruising to Juneau and Alaska is bigger than ever.<\/p>\n
Don’t believe them now when they tell us that Ship-Free Saturdays will destroy the cruise industry. Don’t vote against it thinking that if the initiative passes cruising to Juneau will end. Vote against the initiative because you don’t want a weekly break from the hordes that invade our town, fill our sewers, catch our fish, harass our whales, pack our streets and cram our buses.<\/p>\n
Rob Roys<\/p>\n
Juneau<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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