April 07, 2006
Friday

Editor, SitNews:

Why Vote YES on the Port Improvement Bond April 11th? Because the cruise ship tourism industry positively affects every person in our community, whether they work in tourism or not.

How? $152 Million in 2004 spent directly into our economy by tourists, cruise lines, and cruise ship crew members. It is widely known that money spent in a community circulates 3 to 7 times throughout the local economy, thus making tourism in Ketchikan responsible for generating as much as 1/3 to 1/2 of our total economy. The figures for 2005 were even larger.

What does this mean for the citizens of Ketchikan? It means many local year-round jobs because businesses make enough in the summer to keep their local employees through the winter. Non-profits and government-funded organization are able to operate in part because of funding generated by cruise ship industry and visitor tax revenues. Government jobs at all levels are funded in part from tax revenues generated by the industry, and the business associated with the industry.

Jobs and business revenues are also created by the trickle-down effect. Anybody who works in the industry spends their money to live here on apartments, houses, cars, gas, food, restaurants & bars, clothes, entertainment, contractors, and more, not to mention property and sales taxes.

These businesses, employers, employees, and government agencies that benefit indirectly, in turn spend money and employ people who spend money, and so on. This indirect economic benefit is the true power of this industry.

So why is this Bond Vote so important to Ketchikan? Because our port facilities are outdated and cannot accommodate many of the modern cruise ships, and therefore the cruise visitor industry is going to experience an approximate 11% decline for this 2006 season, and the same for the 2007 season. Unfortunately, the cost of doing business, running our government, our hospital, the cost of inflation, and the cost of living continue to increase. Without a YES Vote on April 11th, we are most likely going to see a continuing decline in the tourism industry, which means a decrease in public and government services, a decrease in donations and funding of non-profit and charitable organizations, and increases in property and sales taxes, as well as lower wages and fewer jobs for our local work force.

The bottom line is that tourism actually supports and improves our standard of living, by fueling our economy.

Please Vote Yes on April 11th if you want to see continued job and business opportunities in Ketchikan. Vote Yes if you want to keep our property and sales taxes low. Vote Yes if you want to improve our public, government, hospital, and charitable organization services. Please Vote Yes on April 11th if you want to see a Positive Economy in Ketchikan.

Chris Parks
Ketchikan, AK - USA


About: Chris Parks writes he is a "Concerned citizen, 7 & 1/2 year resident, general manager of a major year around business in Ketchikan."

Related Information:

April 11, 2006 Special Election Port of Ketchikan Improvements Project

Detailed Project Description;
Ask A Question, Get an Answer;
Special Election Information;
and much more... click here

 

 

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