October 12, 2011
Wednesday PM

Mr. Bailly has a good point. Unfortunately it doesn't have much to do with the need to provide adequate customer service facilities for cruise ships and vendors. Most citizens could come up with a variety of public needs that government should be addressing.

Needs involving safety for kids..... elderly ...... underprivileged ......... drug abuse ........ alcoholism ....... mental illness ..... music education ..... arts in schools ..... school nurses ... officer friendly... etc. The Ketchikan city & borough fathers (persons of leadership) are faced daily with a myriad of these types of decisions and fortunately for our town and economy they have seen fit to invest millions upon millions of tax dollars to support the cruise line industry. In return the cruise lines pay substantial taxes and port fees to tie up to those multi-million dollar docks. But it doesn't stop there. The cruise line passengers flood into our town purchasing what tourists want to purchase and paying city and borough taxes on almost each and every sale. But it doesn't stop there. Every shop owner, tour operator and their 100's of employees take their paychecks and purchase local goods and services and the prices include sales tax to the city & borough.

If the city had not invested multi-millions of dollars in cruise ship related infrastructure, Ketchikan's economy would be dismal. It would be prudent for Ketchikan's government officials to inquire of other Alaskan cruise destinations and the cruise lines themselves to see how best to meet the needs and concerns raised by Jill Gates. We need to take care of the cruise ship industry NOT so we can ignore the safety and social needs of our community but so that we CAN insure the health of an industry that is so important in providing the economic base that allows us to address safety and social needs in Ketchikan.

Kindly,

Rob Holston
31 year resident & owner/operator of Lighthouse Excursions, Inc.
Ketchikan, AK