{"id":69688,"date":"2021-04-14T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/letters\/opinion-its-time-juneau-residents-have-our-say-on-cruise-ships\/"},"modified":"2021-04-14T22:30:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T06:30:00","slug":"opinion-its-time-juneau-residents-have-our-say-on-cruise-ships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/letters\/opinion-its-time-juneau-residents-have-our-say-on-cruise-ships\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: It&#8217;s time Juneau residents have our say on cruise ships"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I read with interest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/ballot-initiatives-seek-to-curb-cruise-ships\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wednesday&rsquo;s front page story<\/a> about cruise reformers filing three initiatives. In the article, the Downtown Business Association&rsquo;s president, is quoted as saying: &ldquo;It feels like we are being kicked when we are down.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>I view these three initiatives differently.<\/p>\n<p>The first one asks that ships with over 250 passengers not dock before 7 a.m. and leave by 7 p.m. This modest restriction would allow Juneau residents to enjoy evenings without congestion and noise on the roads, in the air, and in the harbors, including Auke Bay. I would welcome this return to somewhat normal summer nights.<\/p>\n<p>The second initiative seeks Saturday free of big ships. In 2019, Juneau had about1.3 million passengers. If Saturday were ship-free, we would have 1 million.<\/p>\n<p>Can we live with 1 million per season?<\/p>\n<p>The third calls for a moratorium on ships over a certain tonnage; these ships typically carry more than 4,000 passengers. If passed, this restriction would start in 2026, giving the industry and businesses five years to prepare.<\/p>\n<p>In my view, rather than hurting the business community, the cruise-reform activists are seeking a balance between our quality of life and a better experience for all Juneau visitors. The ever-increasing numbers of cruise passengers have displaced independent, stay-over travelers who spend more money in town, and Juneau is sadly getting a reputation for over tourism.<\/p>\n<p>Each initiative stands alone, one could sign one ,two or all three. It&rsquo;s time that all Juneau residents have our say.<\/p>\n<p><em>Pat White, <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Juneau<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8226; <em><ins><em>Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire. Have something to say? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/opinion\/have-something-to-say\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Here&rsquo;s how to submit a My Turn or letter.<\/a><\/em> <\/ins><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Activists are seeking a balance between our quality of life and a better experience for visitors. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":69689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":14,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-69688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-letters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69688"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=69688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}