October 28, 2013
Monday PM

Ketchikan is the child of prostitution and smuggling so it should come as no surprise that it is steeped in scandal and corruption. Long before I arrived, environmental concerns shut down the the town's primary industry. Hardworking loggers and pulp mill workers were forced out and a new industry grew out of the modern gold rush of tourism. The transition was slow and painful but the new revenue revitalized a depressed economy.

The locals are somewhat tolerant of outsiders who come up each year to staff the various tourism businesses but the general attitude is that the outsiders are carpetbaggers who are up here to steal the money that the locals are busy stealing. Unfortunately for the locals, generational welfare, rampant drug use, and an astounding suicide rate leaves beleaguered Ketchikaners no choice but to tolerate the seasonal influx of workers.

The money Ketchikan reaps from the tourism industry is staggering. Between the city sales tax and the head tax on the cruise ships, I estimate that over $40 million in taxes are generated each year. This money is spent building endless fire departments in a town that gets 13 feet of rain a year, buying $10,000 generators for $250,000 and spending lavishly on a visitor center with a dazzling array of high tech surveillance that would make the NSA jealous.

The Ketchikan Visitors' Bureau (KVB, or KGB as it is known by tour operators), plays favorites and enforces its rules by fiat in an effort to control the market and ensure that only the tour operators they favor succeed. Strangely, convicted felons, alcoholics and meth heads are overlooked and deemed "colorful". The real enforcement is done with the high tech surveillance equipment to isolate tour operators cooperating with each other in the float plane industry.

If I sound somewhat bitter, it is because I am. I was banned from the visitors' center for a minor infraction that involved showing a picture of an Otter float plane while working in a booth that only had a Beaver available. Laughable. But I'm not laughing. My ability to produce was severely curtailed by this uneven enforcement and cost me thousands of dollars.

That said, Ketchikan is a beautiful town and a marvelous place to live. Enjoy it, but keep your eyes on those that are tasked with shepherding it into the future.

Sincerely,

James O'Neill
Ft. Myers, FL

Received October 22, 2013 - Published October 28, 2013

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