2026-11-05 - Visitor Industry Task Force 2.0

00:05CBJ Communications: Okay. Audio is live.

00:08CBJ Communications: All right, folks, I will call this meeting of the Visitor Industry Task Force to order. Because we're working with one mic here…

00:17CBJ Communications: I am going to do the land acknowledgement.

00:19CBJ Communications: We would like to acknowledge the City and Borough in Juvenile is on Tlingit land, and wish to honor the Indigenous people of this land. For more than 10,000 years, Alaska Native people have been and continue to be integral to the well-being of our community. We are grateful to be in this place, a part of this community, and to honor the culture, traditions, and resilience of the Tlingit people.

00:38CBJ Communications: Mr. Hipschin, would you note the role, please?

00:44CBJ Communications: Yes, the role is noted. We do have quorum. I will note that Director Pierce is also joining via Zoom today.

00:52CBJ Communications: Thank you very much. Folks, be a little patient with us. We're not working with our normal tech setup here.

00:58CBJ Communications: Here we go.

00:59CBJ Communications: All right, so before we begin today… oh, approve the agenda and approve the minutes, right? Anyone object to the agenda as approved? No? All right, we're gonna approve it. Minutes.

01:11CBJ Communications: Do we have any notes?

01:13CBJ Communications: I know it's 18 minutes, so I think we're good. Okay.

01:17CBJ Communications: So, before we get going, we have gotten a lot of public testimony on our email, which we really appreciate, but I did want to… I saw some peanes, so I want to, before we start, just cover a couple things. One thing I saw that was mentioned a lot

01:30CBJ Communications: One thing I saw that was mentioned a lot was the, 2002 tourism plan and rewriting that. We absolutely agree that there needs to be a update to that plan. It's very out of date. But considering this task force was supposed to be over a few months ago, we didn't really feel we had the time to give it the, time it deserved. If you look at the comp plan, well-written plans take a while.

01:55CBJ Communications: to, really execute properly. So, it's in our recommendations, and you see it there, but this was not really the time to do it, because we know we're time-limited.

02:05CBJ Communications: The other thing is the revolving loan fund for lowering the carbon footprint of the tourism industry. We have spoken about that, and there will be a set of parameters in our final recommendations. You can look back at previous minutes to see what we were looking at with that, but we did discuss it, and we are trying to get that up and moving.

02:24CBJ Communications: With that, I don't think there's anything else. I will say that I want to give everyone enough time to speak, and I know there are people that have a lot to get through, so I'm giving everyone 5 minutes, but if you can get through your comments quicker than that, and be courteous so that we can go home, that'd be really great, but…

02:43CBJ Communications: Please take a couple 5 minutes if you need it.

02:45CBJ Communications: All right. With that, I am going to go to our first and only person on Zoom, Jojo Gurner.

02:57Jojo - Adventure Fishing Tours: Hi there, good evening.

02:59CBJ Communications: Hi, if you could state your name, and every time you live in for the record, you have 5 minutes.

03:03Jojo - Adventure Fishing Tours: Absolutely. My name is Jojo Gurner, and I live in the Valley, specifically in Auck Bay. I am co-owner of Adventure Fishing Tours, and I just want to say thank you so much for taking time to listen to the public's comments on the tourism industry this evening. We appreciate you all being a part of the conversation.

03:23Jojo - Adventure Fishing Tours: In September, I wrote about our season on the water this past year, and I just wanted to share a few concerns we haven't heard anyone else raise.

03:31Jojo - Adventure Fishing Tours: First, the short port of calls were kind of a big deal for us this year. 90 of this year's 700 port of calls gave passengers less than 6 hours of usable time in Juneau.

03:43Jojo - Adventure Fishing Tours: Which means that our guests in particular don't have a lot of time left to explore downtown Juneau and spend money in other places.

03:51Jojo - Adventure Fishing Tours: Secondly, we really wanted to bring some attention to what guests are paying for excursions on the cruise ship. Over the last couple years, we've learned that, some cruise lines can mark up costs 30-60%, and none of that money goes to the operators.

04:05Jojo - Adventure Fishing Tours: And so we've been kind of left wondering just, like, what experience that, do we want our guests, like, as a community, what do we want our guests to have?

04:16Jojo - Adventure Fishing Tours: And, are they really getting what they are coming here for, and what can we do as a community to improve it? We'd like to see CBJ provide shore power for every ship and bring back the ocean rangers. Lastly, I just wanted to quickly mention, too, I have a project that's totally separate from the business. It's called Alaska Marine Animal Watch, and it's a community science app that's in the nature of

04:39Jojo - Adventure Fishing Tours: iNaturalist and Merlin. I sent a proposal to the VITF today outlining what the app does and how I think it could help, this…

04:49Jojo - Adventure Fishing Tours: conversation in our community, and just want to say thanks again for all your hard work. We know that it's going to take a community to protect this world-class tourism destination, and we just are excited to be part of the future of Juneau and Southeast Alaska.

05:05CBJ Communications: Thank you very much, Ms. Gerner. Are there any questions from the Task Force?

05:08CBJ Communications: Dan, thank you for your testimony. Up next, I have,

05:13CBJ Communications: Joe Bomey? Bomey? Bomey, I apologize. I'll do my best with names, so come on up and state your name and area town you live in, and you have 5 minutes. Sure, and I probably won't take 5 minutes.

05:27CBJ Communications: So, my name is Joe Bomey, I live off the road, I've been a Juneau resident full-time for 32 years.

05:33CBJ Communications: counting. Her retired career from the hospital.

05:38CBJ Communications: And one of the lucky people to be able to, play in the summer, when…

05:44CBJ Communications: Sidewalks are empty, and kayak areas are available.

05:48CBJ Communications: And hyping is available. So, and I also did put my full comments this week already on the website, so I'm going to kind of summarize a few of the highlights, if that's okay.

05:56CBJ Communications: So, my main, I guess, glaring omission that I see in the draft information that the task force has put out so far is you failed to address the second half of the vision.

06:09CBJ Communications: Which states, so let me read your vision statement. A healthy and vibrant tourism sector, protecting Juneau's heritage and cultural values, and making a positive contribution to the community's quality of life.

06:22CBJ Communications: And I think it's that second part, a positive contribution to the community's quality of life, where you miss the mark, and where I think there's significant room for improvement in the plan going forward.

06:35CBJ Communications: For years, probably for decades, the Assembly has received feedback from members of the public about diminished quality of life for residents as the number… as the cruise volume increases.

06:50CBJ Communications: And almost all of the recommendations, you have your 42 items on the spreadsheet. I had to get out my glasses to read the fine print.

07:01CBJ Communications: I'm obviously not going to go through all of them, but most of them can be mitigated if the cruise passenger numbers are less. Congestion on the roads, volume of whale-watching boats, on inflation issues and noise.

07:18CBJ Communications: All of those can be addressed if the headcounts were less. And Jeno has become, in my opinion, the pendulum has swallen way too far in the… probably the past 10 years. First.

07:30CBJ Communications: 10 or 15 years I lived here, I actually even volunteered in tourism, and found it enjoyable.

07:37CBJ Communications: But no longer.

07:39CBJ Communications: Okay, so looking at some of the specific items, and I'm not gonna… I'm not gonna hit all of them, but, I agree improving transparency between public and the tourism management departments, cruise line agencies, and

07:53CBJ Communications: Best management practices partners. As long as the items that are

08:00CBJ Communications: reported on, that are researched and summarized and reported on, get acted on. See a lot of data gathering and not a lot of action with that data over the years.

08:09CBJ Communications: The issue of housing, my comments are U.S. Coast Guard first. Let's get the stores in here, let's take care of those people, let's hire local. I realize there's issues with hiring local, but let's hire local first, if we possibly can, and let

08:26CBJ Communications: the… Cruise line companies deal with

08:29CBJ Communications: the housing issue themselves. I don't think that should be a Juno issue, I think that should be an industry issue.

08:37CBJ Communications: I am in favor of establishing some sort of a permanent Visitor Task Force. Let your group call it this, call it something else, but that is permanent. That has, that members of the public can apply.

08:49CBJ Communications: To be on the board, or commission, or task force, or committee, and it represents more than just the cruise line industry and, business interests.

09:03CBJ Communications: I'd also like to see a redefinition of how the Assembly defines small cruise ships, right? Somehow, sometime 5, 8 years ago, it had been under 500, and then it suddenly is 950 passengers, is my understanding. And I just did a little bit of looking up, but

09:23CBJ Communications: Uncruise, Lindblad, and NatGeo, and American Cruise Lines, all of those ships that come to Juneau, their passenger carrying capacity is under 200.

09:33CBJ Communications: So why do we need to call small ships? Where did that come from? That needs to be kind of identified. Because it impacts our headcount and our cruise ships and town count.

09:42CBJ Communications: I'm a strong supporter of no new or alternative teleports in town. I think the answer is reduce the number and the time frame of the noise of, helicopter flight scene, and,

09:57CBJ Communications: there's no place in town that wouldn't be further impacted with tour vans and buses on the road to deliver the passenger from cruise ships to this new heliport. And then we are dealing with more noise and more congestion in yet another neighborhood.

10:13CBJ Communications: So, I'm strongly against the new health court.

10:19CBJ Communications: I agree. I'm sorry, Ms. Bond, you're out of time. Thank you very much. Okay, thanks. Any questions from the task force?

10:28CBJ Communications: All right, Clean, thank you for your testimony. Up next, I have Bill Levy.

10:36CBJ Communications: State your name and area town you live in, and you have 5 minutes. Thank you. Bellini Downtown.

10:41CBJ Communications: Thank you. I haven't sat in on some of your meetings for some of the time.

10:46CBJ Communications: For the good work that you've done on this.

10:48CBJ Communications: Given the silos you were assigned and you had to make such for yourselves, you've done a wonderful job with many of the things that are very important to us right here at River City. However, we've left the big topics untouched, off the table.

11:03CBJ Communications: And so I ask that after the VITF is done, that we then look to the next big challenge before us, which is to think at systems level and at Earth scale. I brought a little Earth back there just to remind me of the planet that we're called.

11:21CBJ Communications: The biggest topic for us, our biggest responsibility and business opportunity.

11:27CBJ Communications: Is to accelerate reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

11:32CBJ Communications: From the fossil fuels that we burn.

11:34CBJ Communications: on Earth.

11:35CBJ Communications: In order of the week.

11:37CBJ Communications: We arrest the decline of the planet, its livability, and have shelving.

11:45CBJ Communications: In detail, I have prepared a comment letter, which I will also hand to the other primary

11:54CBJ Communications: planning groups that are going on right now, which is the Comprehensive Plan.

11:59CBJ Communications: the, Visitor… the, Southeast Alaska Transportation Plan, the Juneau Transportation Plan. All of these need to be synergistically integrated.

12:09CBJ Communications: So that when you folks have done your job, now we need to go to the next level and put all of these together should be at community level, systems level, earth-level thinking about what we want Juno to be like.

12:23CBJ Communications: In 2050, and it'd be gone.

12:26CBJ Communications: So, we have an opportunity

12:29CBJ Communications: to take a leadership role. We have a monopoly on Juniper. There's a light on Juniper.

12:34CBJ Communications: And therefore, we have market power, but we haven't reserved it yet.

12:39CBJ Communications: And I think in a collaborative way, not a confrontational way, as the city attorney said, we don't want any… anything we do out of the box is gonna result in a lawsuit. We don't want to think out of the box. We want to get everybody in the box and figure out what to do.

12:55CBJ Communications: There may be money being left on the table when recruiters companies sell their product, their spectrum of cruises.

13:04CBJ Communications: They may be underpricing their thoughts, their product.

13:08CBJ Communications: And, Alex explained, to me that when she says that the cruise ships are operating at 104% capacity, that means some people are camped out in the dining room. It just has to do with how many kids are in the, in the,

13:24CBJ Communications: cabins. But they seem to be sailing with cabins full. Can we, in Juneau and other communities in Southeast, help produce that means to access some of that money that's being left on the table to put it into the revolving loan fund, by which we can begin the process

13:43CBJ Communications: To upgrade our capital assets from fossil fuel burns to clean and converting.

13:52CBJ Communications: The global industry is very energy intensive. The Levy Foundation funded a study that we did trying to estimate the volume of cruise ship fuel being used just for propulsion and then for generation of dollars.

14:08CBJ Communications: It's about 200 million gallons per year. What's that mean?

14:12CBJ Communications: It's the prudent… if the… Federal Building, we're an oil bank, that would be 7…

14:18CBJ Communications: federal buildings full of oil that burned just in the ships. Then there's the shore excursions. Then there's the other shore side activity that goes on home ports, and the airline fuel that's being brought… is being used to bring the people to the home ports of Seattle.

14:36CBJ Communications: Look at the entire system. It's an enormous amount of fossil fuel, an enormous amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. We cannot continue drilling holes in this end of the lifeboat and expect the lifeboat to not sink.

14:51CBJ Communications: That's a little model of the lifeboat back there.

14:55CBJ Communications: So… We should also think beyond

14:58CBJ Communications: what Juneau is going to be like as global climate change accelerates. We could be a refuge city

15:07CBJ Communications: for thousands of people who are going to be fleeing sea level rise. We could be seeing a city of 100,000 people.

15:14CBJ Communications: But not if we would drive six cars around, no cost can be expanded if we had a fixed guideway transit system, which would serve the cruise ship industry as well as all visitors and the homework people.

15:26CBJ Communications: I'm sure we'll be here in the time to wrap up. Okay.

15:30CBJ Communications: And to take us beyond what you're able to do, let's assemble some teams of volunteers. We have a lot of smart people in town, maybe we could get a roundtable.

15:40CBJ Communications: begin the next phase of what you folks have so well started. Thank you. Thank you very much, Ms. Walidi. Are there any questions? I do have just one. Okay, hold on. Here, from the mic.

15:56CBJ Communications: Sorry, and apologies if I missed it. When you say that we're leaving, or the cruise ships are leaving money on the table, and something that we could do would be to help them get that money that's on the table and put it into, you know, the revolving loan fund. I wasn't clear on… on how exactly

16:13CBJ Communications: You met that. Exactly. We would say that the passenger fee now is not $25, or $15, or whatever it is, it's $115 for a passenger.

16:26CBJ Communications: That has two effects. A few and fewer people, a few people are not going to be able and willing to buy things.

16:33CBJ Communications: But, that means that 1.7 million passengers per year, or 1.6, that's $160 million that we collect in a single season and put into the revolving loan fund. You can buy a lot of clean buses, clean whale watch equipment, clean quiet helicopters, with that amount of money.

16:51CBJ Communications: Well…

16:52CBJ Communications: Is every community in Southeast gonna nick the ticket price by another $100? That's gonna be too much. We're gonna have to share.

17:01CBJ Communications: But we can start. $160 billion a year?

17:06CBJ Communications: That's… that's a good start.

17:08CBJ Communications: Thank you very much, Mr. Woody. Other questions?

17:12CBJ Communications: Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. Next, I have Yves Soutier.

17:19CBJ Communications: Sorry, I'm just gonna put a timer on. My name is Eve Sutierre, I live downtown. I also am the chair of the Juneau International Airport Board.

17:30CBJ Communications: I'm here today as a community member who is informed by,

17:35CBJ Communications: her place on the airport board. I know that you all might be interested in what we discussed on Monday. I urge you to look at the minutes, listen to audio if you can, because we did discuss how the airport is integral to this community, and also integral to tourism. So I'll move on from that, except that

17:57CBJ Communications: If there's any discussion about health boards, the airport board wants and needs a seat at that table.

18:04CBJ Communications: As a community member, though, I'm advocating for intelligent tourism.

18:09CBJ Communications: My hometown is Nederland, Colorado, and it has been overrun.

18:13CBJ Communications: My brother lives in Leadville, Colorado, which has also been overbought. He bought his house for $140,000, and now, if he were to try to buy it now, he would be absolutely shut out. What is happening there is there is zero affordable housing on the Front Range and in ski areas.

18:30CBJ Communications: are ski towns. The drive time for people who are normal people who work their normal service jobs is up to two and a half hours one way. First of all, we don't have two and a half hours of road.

18:44CBJ Communications: So, we do not have the housing for anybody in the service industry.

18:49CBJ Communications: We need intelligent growth with a hard focus on residence and on livability.

18:57CBJ Communications: I urge the CBJ, and this kind of comes in… it's informed by my position on the airport board, to encourage independent travelers.

19:05CBJ Communications: small, under-200 people cruise ships. Those ships that come in, the NatGeo ships, those people go through the airport. They either originate or their destination is here. They go through the airport. That is how our airport is funded, with passenger fee charges.

19:25CBJ Communications: And…

19:26CBJ Communications: it would really be a good thing to be able to support our airport. As you all know, we had some issues with the fire trucks, we have issues with funding. These small cruise ships also help small businesses. People stay here, they stay overnight, they use the restaurants.

19:41CBJ Communications: They talk to the residents. They make it fun to be here. When I see independent travelers.

19:47CBJ Communications: on the trails, and they got there by themselves, it is a joy to show them the town I love, the place I call home.

19:58CBJ Communications: I understand that a visitor industry is important, but it's also important that this town not lose its soul like my hometown did. I go home, I do not recognize it. I go home, the only thing I want to do is actually come back to my home.

20:15CBJ Communications: I hate visiting my hometown now. I don't want that to happen to China.

20:23CBJ Communications: I also would like to put in a pitch for the bus system. We need a better bus system, and it would help with the tourists. If I could ride the bus to the airport, I would.

20:34CBJ Communications: Tourists don't need to be walking down,

20:37CBJ Communications: the road with their luggage to try to get an Uber or whatever they need to get to get to their hotel. Also, a bus system to and from the ferry. I realize our ferry system is a bit of a mess, and that's what the Southeast Alaska Transportation Project talked state about, but

20:57CBJ Communications: We use it. Tours love it. And I think that if we encourage growth in the things that we all love and that we all use, it'll make this town a lot more livable, and people will want to live here long-term. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. DA. Any questions?

21:16CBJ Communications: Mr. Dad.

21:18CBJ Communications: Thank you for being here. Couple airport questions, if you don't mind. And I'll try to answer them.

21:26CBJ Communications: Had the Ipsort Board had any…

21:30CBJ Communications: Informal discussions about alternative health workers.

21:33CBJ Communications: alternative health board ideas have been around for many years, and so have they had any discussion about that? We have not. That's one of the reasons we want a seat at the table. Right now, we're working on our airport master plan.

21:45CBJ Communications: But I would encourage folks to come to airport board meetings. We're having one next Thursday, 6 p.m. I try to run a tight ship. You're usually not there for long.

21:56CBJ Communications: -Oh.

21:58CBJ Communications: And one follow-up.

21:59CBJ Communications: Is that for two different stories on this.

22:03CBJ Communications: Helicopter inclaimments, if you will, at the airport.

22:07CBJ Communications: Are those funds partially also going to the airport? So, I am not the person to answer that, but I encourage you to call Andreas Delgadovato. He's the airport manager, and he will have that number right like that.

22:23CBJ Communications: Thank you very much, Ms. UTL. Thank you. Next, we have Brandon Hauser.

22:30CBJ Communications: Please state your name and area town you live in for the record, and you have 5 minutes.

22:34CBJ Communications: 5 minutes, alright. Brandon Houser, live out of Knock Bay.

22:39CBJ Communications: And yeah, I'm grateful to be here. I've been really struggling these summers, and it's like…

22:46CBJ Communications: getting to a point where I'm just happy to get some… some of this out. And it's funny, because 20 years ago, when I was in tourism, you know, it helped me out a lot.

22:58CBJ Communications: At this point, I'm going to just reflect on the data recommendation tracker.

23:04CBJ Communications: So, I respect the verbiage within the whale-watching category, stating that the status quo is not sustainable.

23:11CBJ Communications: And I believe that this is true, and should also be added to the helicopter flight scene category.

23:16CBJ Communications: And I'm curious, if accepted by the Assembly, when the commissioning of a noise study will take place, as is stated within the recommendation of this tracker, and how these findings may recognize that the pre-existing Disturbing the Peace Ordinance

23:31CBJ Communications: Could relate to helicopter traffic during certain hours of the day.

23:35CBJ Communications: I suggest that the data collection categories, specifically the resident sentiment survey, should include questions that allow for residents to share the potential mental health deficits that cruise ship horizontally creates. If we consider that a majority of residents cannot

23:52CBJ Communications: not barbecue on a sunny Friday without consistent noise pollution.

23:58CBJ Communications: Or that one must contend with a sizable amount of tourism

24:03CBJ Communications: when trying to hike a trail, or go fishing, go to a restaurant, I believe that it's an important factor to track within the survey.

24:11CBJ Communications: That, along with residents' thoughts on the cruise tourism season, taken up over half the year.

24:17CBJ Communications: Also, within the data collection category, under Industry Economic Impact Recommendations, I see a focus on economic contributions, but no mention of economic strains.

24:28CBJ Communications: And it appears that the lowest estimated cost has been allocated to the environmental data and public health tracking.

24:37CBJ Communications: So I'd like to see more than a simple monitoring of the CDC outbreak page, especially considering the earlier outbreaks of influenza, since cruise ships have extended their port calls well into October.

24:48CBJ Communications: And likewise, as opposed to just checking the DEC data website, how can we more vigorously investigate the increasing acidification levels of the inside passage, and how that will impact the commercial fishing industry, not to mention our ability to consume seafood without heavy metal accumulation within our bodies?

25:08CBJ Communications: To this draft's recommendation tracker, I would also like to add a reallocation of cruise industry revenue to crucial public services such as schools, fire departments, police, substance use treatment facilities, public transportation, to name a few.

25:25CBJ Communications: If we present this as a reasonable thing to do with the head tax, the city will most likely be sued. I suggest that we create a new passenger fee designed to distribute revenue to these public services and find other ways to show Juneau residents that their tolerance of this industry is noticed.

25:43CBJ Communications: As I believe, no other industry in this city demands so much resignation of space and peace from its residents.

25:50CBJ Communications: Lastly, I believe that Juno should be setting aside revenue, maybe redirecting some of the roughly $30 million estimated to reduce downtown congestion

26:00CBJ Communications: For a lawsuit defense savings, if we wish to distribute resources to the common residents of this community from additional passenger fees, if we decide that our carrying capacity has been reached and set a passenger and ship limit into law, or if we implement expectations for ships to transition to cleaner fuels.

26:19CBJ Communications: the city will most likely be sued by the multinational cruise corporations. So let us have money set aside for this inevitability so that we can have some control of what Juneau becomes for the generations that will walk these lands afterwards.

26:35CBJ Communications: Woo! Thank you very much, Mr. Hauser. Any questions?

26:40CBJ Communications: Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. Next, I have Sue Krall.

26:47CBJ Communications: Please state your name and area town, and you have a husband.

26:51CBJ Communications: My name's Steve Kroll, I live downtown. I've been downtown for about 40 years.

26:57CBJ Communications: I've seen tens of millions of people

27:01CBJ Communications: downtown. I live on Basin Road.

27:04CBJ Communications: Many millions of people report buying their house.

27:09CBJ Communications: I'm most concerned with the 2002

27:15CBJ Communications: Vision statement. He talked about the need to protect and preserve the community.

27:21CBJ Communications: I've attended most of these things that have happened since the 90s.

27:27CBJ Communications: I have very little comment about any of your work. I know you're working hard, your products suit these

27:34CBJ Communications: But if we look at what's happened over the filler years.

27:37CBJ Communications: Where has it taken us?

27:40CBJ Communications: Where it's taken us, wherever the industry… Wanted to go.

27:45CBJ Communications: The industry is much broader than the cruise lines, but essentially, the cruise lines tell everybody what's going to happen, how they're gonna do it.

27:55CBJ Communications: And we're left to clean up after that.

27:57CBJ Communications: It's an enormous amount of cost shifting.

28:01CBJ Communications: On their part, whether it's dollars.

28:04CBJ Communications: Or whether it's human wear and tear.

28:07CBJ Communications: And we have to start being serious about that.

28:10CBJ Communications: It sounds hyperbolic, But the cruise industry was willing to have their ships

28:18CBJ Communications: rip the foundations out of Venice.

28:21CBJ Communications: Until government finally forced them to stop using the Grand Canal.

28:27CBJ Communications: If they would do that to Venice.

28:31CBJ Communications: How much did they care about us?

28:34CBJ Communications: Yeah, I think we need to be serious about that. Secondly, we're always talking about our need for revenue.

28:42CBJ Communications: But the city has come to the belief that we cannot have direct revenue from them.

28:49CBJ Communications: And that when we have revenue, it's restricted.

28:52CBJ Communications: The only way we can have revenue is through, sales onshore.

28:59CBJ Communications: There has to be a way, if this is going to be sustainable, That there's actual revenue.

29:07CBJ Communications: And if there is no revenue, This is not stable.

29:13CBJ Communications: I don't want to tell you that I've had

29:17CBJ Communications: Banner on my house two summers ago.

29:20CBJ Communications: Said too many tourists.

29:22CBJ Communications: And I found myself in European newspapers.

29:27CBJ Communications: radio shows, and reported widely across America.

29:32CBJ Communications: If we have to, We can't defend ourselves.

29:38CBJ Communications: Appropriately and peacefully.

29:41CBJ Communications: But geez, what an awful way to live.

29:45CBJ Communications: Finally, I think we have to talk about health.

29:52CBJ Communications: Both with congestion and pollution.

29:55CBJ Communications: In terms of what we're putting into the water.

29:59CBJ Communications: There are literally tons of heavy metals and acid.

30:02CBJ Communications: In the course of a single season.

30:05CBJ Communications: There are literally tons of carbon going into the atmosphere. Downtown is a big funnel.

30:13CBJ Communications: It's going into our loans.

30:16CBJ Communications: It's going into the water.

30:18CBJ Communications: And we have to acknowledge someday That maybe our health matters.

30:24CBJ Communications: It's not… it's not an invisible thing.

30:28CBJ Communications: And I really believe we need to take this seriously, and…

30:34CBJ Communications: One of the tragedies is people like you come out and do hard work.

30:38CBJ Communications: You're trying to be responsible, but we've piecemealed this thing so that we can never keep up with it. The most recent one is that we just found out that the dock that Huna Totem is gonna build, it actually has two sides.

30:54CBJ Communications: They told us before, there's only going to be one ship.

30:59CBJ Communications: Well, there was always going to be two ships, because it always had two sides. Now a little cruise ship can sign up, or pardon me, tie up on the other side.

31:09CBJ Communications: Only about a mil… oh, pardon me… about…

31:14CBJ Communications: It's hard to keep up with the numbers.

31:16CBJ Communications: About a thousand people in each ship.

31:20CBJ Communications: With simple math, that's about another 150,000 people across our 150-day cruise season.

31:31CBJ Communications: That seems like people to me.

31:34CBJ Communications: We really can't talk about what Gold Belt's gonna do.

31:38CBJ Communications: We know they're there. You're running low on time. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Any questions?

31:45CBJ Communications: Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. Next, we have, Joe Greenle? Joe was sitting right here, and he said he unfortunately had to leave early, so… Okay. We'll move to the next person. We'll move to the next person. Rebecca Correa.

32:04CBJ Communications: You see for me in the area town you live in, and you have 5 minutes.

32:10CBJ Communications: Good evening, everyone. My name is Rakuten. I'm a 45-year resident.

32:15CBJ Communications: Thank you for this opportunity to be here tonight. I'm mostly going to, address a recommendation on the 7th, and that's, addressing the restructuring of the roundabout across from the south.

32:32CBJ Communications: The recommendation could result in the removal of Mandela Square and the rest of the… who is the…

32:43CBJ Communications: For the international hero.

32:46CBJ Communications: Together, these landmarks honor Filipino history, deserve culture.

32:53CBJ Communications: And passed Filipino Heritage under future language.

32:58CBJ Communications: Filipinos had lived in Alaska for over 100 years.

33:02CBJ Communications: In 1904, the Filipinos had, helped install, the first telegraph using Gmail and Siena.

33:13CBJ Communications: In the 1920s and 1930s, Filipinos had worked in the fish canneries and the Alaska Chinat.

33:25CBJ Communications: Today, there are approximately 3,000 children who work in the region, contributing to this city's economic

33:37CBJ Communications: And social vitality with their labor.

33:42CBJ Communications: I'm deeply concerned that the restructuring of the roundabout is already underway.

33:49CBJ Communications: the DOTs were, and CBJ supports.

33:55CBJ Communications: The question I have… Is that, is there an alternative?

34:02CBJ Communications: A discussion about alternative solutions to the removal of these landmarks.

34:12CBJ Communications: Other than maybe we can add more flowers?

34:18CBJ Communications: I'm not sure, and I have to admit, because I didn't want.

34:22CBJ Communications: had an opportunity to attend other discussions, and that's obviously an amazing book.

34:29CBJ Communications: But I'm thankful for this discussion, this forum tonight, and the opportunity to be able to share my concerns about this recommendation.

34:42CBJ Communications: And is hopeful that for a good discussion.

34:46CBJ Communications: Amongst the committee and the assemblies.

34:50CBJ Communications: Well, before it's coming.

34:52CBJ Communications: Thank you.

34:54CBJ Communications: Thank you very much, Ms. Carrillo. Are there any questions for the vice versa?

34:58CBJ Communications: Survey, go ahead.

35:01CBJ Communications: Thank you for being here.

35:05CBJ Communications: I don't think any of us were aware that this DOT project

35:10CBJ Communications: necessarily was going to remove or restructure Mineral Squiff at all, in our perception, so…

35:17CBJ Communications: We have some work to do on that, to get some better information from CBJ and from

35:24CBJ Communications: VOT. So, thank you for calling that to our attention, and thank you for your letter today, too.

35:29CBJ Communications: Thank you, Mr. Day. That's reassuring. Yeah, not a question, Mr. Day, but I will allow… Thank you very much, Mrs. Cirillo. You're free to go, and I think the Mayor is back there if you want to talk to her about that a little bit.

35:44CBJ Communications: All right, next we have Carla Hart.

35:52CBJ Communications: Thank you, I'm gonna take Eve's guidance and start it. Oh, I'm not giving myself enough to do that. Take it through.

36:02CBJ Communications: Thank you, I'm Carla Hart, I live on the Bath Loop. I have shared with you in May, and again, I think in August, that Haines Commercial Tourism Management

36:13CBJ Communications: project or program, and ask that you consider it. I've seen it dismissed as being too much work for the staff, and that's the only discussion that I observed on it in the meetings that I've served with you, which has been all that you retreat in your last meeting.

36:29CBJ Communications: I ask you to go back again and give serious consideration to having a commercial tour permitting program for every single tour that is offered in Juneau, regardless if it's on city land, state land, federal land. Haines is doing this

36:46CBJ Communications: It has been working. Would it be a huge undertaking for Juneau? Yes.

36:51CBJ Communications: Would it give us an opportunity to actually address many of the issues that are not actually addressed in your work? Yes, it would. It would do an awful lot, and it would also give you a chance for a lot of data collection

37:06CBJ Communications: Through the permitting process that you could then use to alleviate concerns or issues, like housing for non-residents.

37:15CBJ Communications: Like, how big is the workforce? Who are they? Where are they coming from? What are they doing? You could have so much information, and you could have control over the tourism industry if you looked at the Hanes Tourism Commercial Tour Project.

37:29CBJ Communications: as a foundation, and gave it real serious consideration, and dismissed the how big and it's going to be hard for staff. You can charge fees, you can find the money for it if you want to do it.

37:41CBJ Communications: So that would be my first request. It's in the comments from May, and again from August, I think.

37:49CBJ Communications: Second, your data collection. I think that collecting data with the intent that you're collecting data to defend yourself against the lawsuit is absurd. We should be collecting data to solve problems in Juneau.

38:04CBJ Communications: What are the housing problems? How many non-resident housings are there? What are these issues? What are that issues? Have a reason to collect data that's not defending yourself from a lawsuit. I feel pretty confident that the tourism surveys that we've done

38:18CBJ Communications: would give any judge in any federal court adequate things to see that we're really impacted. So, think about why you're collecting data, and only collect the data that you need to make the community better and healthier.

38:34CBJ Communications: Helicopter noise, of course, has to come up.

38:37CBJ Communications: Studying alternative teleports is just absurd. It's just another way to kick the can down the road. We know that noise is dangerous for health. We know that noise impacts… where's my little list of here?

38:51CBJ Communications: It's really well documented.

38:55CBJ Communications: That noise exposure at low levels can trigger stress hormones, increases the risk of heart disease, leads to mental health issues, and causes cognitive impairment.

39:07CBJ Communications: CDC recently did a report, or released a report, that showed 3,700 Juneau residents are suffering from severe emotional strain.

39:16CBJ Communications: What if some of that severe emotional strain is triggered by the very industry that we think that we rely on? The helicopter noise, the buses, the traffic, the whale watch that I can't go on a hike. Gather data that helps us to understand how to fix those problems, and then use a commercial tourism permitting process

39:35CBJ Communications: To fix those, Sorry, I have so much that I…

39:42CBJ Communications: Had to limit my list, and now I've lost it.

39:46CBJ Communications: And the final one is been raised by others and also relates to health. We do not have adequate shore power to protect the community's health.

39:57CBJ Communications: The cruise industry is not just putting CO2 into the air and generating carbon change.

40:03CBJ Communications: The cruise industry is burning diesel and putting diesel exhaust into the air. That's ultrafine particulates which go… can go directly from your nostrils into your brain, carrying heavy metals at pretty shocking levels.

40:17CBJ Communications: It can go from your lungs into your bloodstream. We know diesel pollution is really bad. We can calculate how much diesel pollution is there. We should not kick that can down the road. We should look at limiting cruise ship trap.

40:31CBJ Communications: Levels to that which we can protect the public health.

40:35CBJ Communications: So, I ask you to look at the health impacts of the cruise industry very closely.

40:40CBJ Communications: And, since the… Yeah, and then finally, there's a little comment that just…

40:47CBJ Communications: is really offensive to me, which was looking at the Tourism Best Management Practices hotline and identifying individual people, and

40:58CBJ Communications: Somehow shaming people for calling the hotline multiple times, and yet there's nothing on that recommendation that says, let's look at the,

41:07CBJ Communications: Let's look at the businesses, and what businesses are called about all the time.

41:11CBJ Communications: So, I think you guys got that completely wrong. Okay. Maybe Ms. Hart. Any questions in the task force?

41:18CBJ Communications: Seeing none, thanks for your testimony. I think I inadvertently skipped Bob James. Yes. I'm here. Yes, you're here. Come on up. And you have 5 minutes.

41:31CBJ Communications: Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for the hard work you do.

41:35CBJ Communications: You must be having fun, or you wouldn't be doing it. And I want to thank this lady for his continued work on climate issues and what we might be able to do here in Juneau. He's been doing it for so many years.

41:49CBJ Communications: So, my name is Bob Janes, I live in the mountainside area in Juneau. I am in the whale watching business, and I'm gonna start with a rhetorical question. I don't know why there's no one

42:02CBJ Communications: In the whale watching industry on this task force.

42:06CBJ Communications: I… I… I don't know if you can give me an answer. Well, I know you can't tonight, but I would… I would highly recommend thinking about that. There are… there are people in this community

42:19CBJ Communications: Residents of this community that are in the oil washing business, and many of them have great… a great deal of experience in

42:27CBJ Communications: what goes on in the water, the behavior of whales, the behavior of boats, the behavior of their captains, and I just think that that inclusion in your recommendations

42:39CBJ Communications: would be extremely valuable, both to you and the community. So, it's probably too late to do anything about it now, but as you look at your recommendations, think about what someone in the whale-watching

42:54CBJ Communications: Industry would bring to the table, and… and wonder why it's not there right now. Why haven't you had that? I don't know. So, we're… we're there to work. I hope… I hope that, you find a… a balanced

43:10CBJ Communications: solution to this issue. I know that, self-management can work, well, since guided self-management can work, well, if people have the,

43:23CBJ Communications: the tools to do it. I also know that, many of… many of the recommendations are going to be very costly to the city and to the operators. so…

43:34CBJ Communications: If there's any desire to

43:38CBJ Communications: budget money and run a tight ship, then self-management is something to consider and look at, and had I been on the committee, or someone else had been on the committee that is in whale watching and knows what they're talking about, I think they would be able to

43:55CBJ Communications: tell you that self-management can work if given a chance. So,

44:00CBJ Communications: I think that's about all I have to say. Thank you for your time, your effort, your…

44:05CBJ Communications: your concern, and thank you for being here tonight. Thank you very much, Mr. James. Any questions in the past books?

44:13CBJ Communications: Seeing none, thank you for your testimony.

44:15CBJ Communications: Next, I have Sue Schrader.

44:22CBJ Communications: Fit your name, area town you live in, and you have 5 minutes.

44:27CBJ Communications: Good evening, Task Force, staff, and officials. My name is Susan Schrader, I live in West Juneau, and I lived in Juneau for 35 years. Ironically, I lived the first 18 years on back loop, the helicopter noise got so intense.

44:45CBJ Communications: that my husband and I moved to West Juneau, and now we are confronted with fixed-wing flow plane noise. And please, believe me, the flow plane noise is significant, and why it's not been suggested, referenced anywhere in the recommendations, I'm at a loss. I heard you say, oh, we solved that problem with the turbos. No, you haven't.

45:05CBJ Communications: Anyways, first of all, I do get it.

45:09CBJ Communications: The City Attorney has just about guaranteed that no matter what the Assembly may try to do to rein in the crucial Industry CBJ will be sued.

45:19CBJ Communications: So, you all need data.

45:22CBJ Communications: Numbers. Fast. Preponderance of evidence to support the contention that our quality of life

45:29CBJ Communications: Should be more important than the industry's profits.

45:33CBJ Communications: And thus, so many of the recommendations envision more studies.

45:38CBJ Communications: Repeat those that we've already done 20 years ago.

45:41CBJ Communications: Are helicopters really more noisy?

45:45CBJ Communications: We need hard data.

45:46CBJ Communications: Not simply the feedback of hundreds of residents who have been complaining about helicopter noise.

45:54CBJ Communications: What you are asking the Assembly to engage in

45:58CBJ Communications: is what I call analysis paralysis.

46:02CBJ Communications: As though studying a problem long enough

46:05CBJ Communications: Will make the problem, or at least those people complaining about the problem, simply go away.

46:13CBJ Communications: Quote, CBJ seeks a healthy and vibrant tourism sector generating business opportunities and employment for Juneau citizens.

46:23CBJ Communications: Protecting Juneau's heritage and cultural values and its natural resources, and making a positive contribution to the community's quality of life, close quote.

46:35CBJ Communications: So reads the vision statement, Resolution 2170.

46:39CBJ Communications: That was adopted 24 years ago.

46:43CBJ Communications: And that vision… From my understanding of reading what's at the website.

46:48CBJ Communications: We're supposed to be guiding your work over the past 11 months.

46:54CBJ Communications: And unfortunately, I do not see that vision reflected in the multitude of recommendations in your spreadsheet.

47:03CBJ Communications: Hundreds of comments have been provided in the appendices of the annual surveys, and as well as the comments, over the months here to the task force.

47:13CBJ Communications: that expressed concerns that Juneau has exceeded our carrying capacity for Prudence Tourism.

47:22CBJ Communications: And many of us ponder, why all the budget woes, all the budget blues that we hear about.

47:28CBJ Communications: When we have given our town over to 1.7 million cruise ship passengers, For several seasons.

47:35CBJ Communications: Please.

47:37CBJ Communications: Acknowledge that to protect this community's sense of well-being and our quality of life.

47:42CBJ Communications: The Assembly needs to do more than simply sanction more studies

47:48CBJ Communications: More crossing yards. More covered benches.

47:52CBJ Communications: CBJ staff and elected officials need to show us the residents of Juneau.

47:57CBJ Communications: that they are not in the pocket… wait, I'm sorry, let me state it more fully.

48:02CBJ Communications: That the Assembly is not unduly influenced.

48:05CBJ Communications: By the cruise industry.

48:08CBJ Communications: Thank you. Thank you very much, Ms. Schrader. Are there any questions in the task force?

48:12CBJ Communications: Seeing none, thank you for your testimony.

48:15CBJ Communications: Alright, next I have Alex Salma.

48:20CBJ Communications: Okay. You're not supposed to find this one. They are not. Next I have, Nate Valley.

48:31CBJ Communications: Please state your name and area town you live in. You have 5 minutes.

48:36CBJ Communications: How much…

48:42CBJ Communications: Well, I…

48:43CBJ Communications: Good evening, my name is Nate Belir. I, live in the Valley right now. Some of you may know me, I moved here in 2009 from Key West, of all places.

48:52CBJ Communications: Where we have cruise ships. You would get free ships in, and you could improve.

48:58CBJ Communications: just trying to get anywhere in town has been impossible. The people weren't spending money in their community. But what Key West did was they got smart, where every 10 years, the Navy would dredge the channel.

49:10CBJ Communications: And they would actively work with the community to determine how wide and healthy it was. So, by doing that, Key West has been able to keep the bigger ships out. And now when you go to Key West, you're lucky if there's one ship a day when you come in.

49:22CBJ Communications: So…

49:23CBJ Communications: now that that's… I say that as someone who was Key West, I enjoy going there, but I've seen the impact of over-tourism. Now, when I moved here in 2009, I hated cruising. That Kirby day had brought me on my very first ship that summer in 2009,

49:38CBJ Communications: When we did a luncheon on one of all in America ships.

49:42CBJ Communications: And I've had a change of heart. Now I'm pretty much retired from the airline business, where I was a director of sales and marketing, and I'm a full-time travel agent.

49:52CBJ Communications: I'm now at 410 days at sea. I've been on 33 cruise ships and been to over 70 ports. I have seen the impact of cruising, both good and bad, and so I'm able to talk out of both sides of my mouth with this, because I live here. We have such an amazing community. We have such an awesome environment.

50:09CBJ Communications: And it's sad when people call me and say, hey, we're coming up on the Disney Wander, we're not coming in general, why is that?

50:17CBJ Communications: That's just one ship out of many who are not coming into Juneau.

50:20CBJ Communications: And then when you look at some of these other ships coming in, they're not even getting off because they've been here.

50:25CBJ Communications: Already, or because of whatever reason, we're seeing over tourism, the excursions are getting too expensive. So we've got a lot to talk about and a lot to digest, and the thing people are forgetting is.

50:36CBJ Communications: as I cruise the world and been to these cruise ship ports, TDMP's made a huge impact. You know, when I see it in Naples, when I see it in Perth, Australia.

50:47CBJ Communications: What happened to that momentum here in Juna? You know, what happened to us actually setting the standard? Everyone keeps saying, and I've argued these statistics with both Carla and Alex, people don't realize we're in the top 10 in the world.

50:59CBJ Communications: No other cruise ship port except 6 get the same amount of ships in every day that we do. Now, the difference is, we're seasonal, and we're not embarking and disembarking like Miami or the other places.

51:11CBJ Communications: But it breaks my heart when I go to Cozumel, and I go to Nassau, and I talk to the security guards, and I talk to my friends on the ship, and find out half the people didn't get off.

51:22CBJ Communications: Well, guess what happened this summer?

51:24CBJ Communications: I went on board Celebrity… one of the celebrity ships, asked my friend who was working on board, said, hey, just wondering, how many people didn't get off the ship today?

51:32CBJ Communications: It's close to 2,000.

51:35CBJ Communications: That should be alarming. We need to fix this. We need to do something to make sure that we are having a good positive impact for a cruise ship. Tourists, we are welcoming to the cruise industry, but we can also set the standards, too. Because if… you know, like, when we went to Greece, I paid 20 bucks when we docked in Nicholas. That is brand new.

51:54CBJ Communications: Italy just put out so many taxes. IC just put out limits. Why are you afraid of that cure? Why are you not afraid to say, hey, we need to have some serious discussions about the sizes of ships?

52:03CBJ Communications: You know, I was at Cruise360, and Frank Del Rio from Norwegian Brad, hey, Norwegian Bliss Encore, we designed these for Alaska, we designed these with Alaska Mine.

52:15CBJ Communications: Well, why don't have something where we say, look, this is the size we're comfortable with, here's what we want. Instead, we're taking a back seat, and we're being passive.

52:23CBJ Communications: And we're all being delusional, let's be honest, because these ships are being replaced by newer ships that now allow more 3 and 4 people per cabin. So, for instance, Canard, we no longer have the Canard Queen Elizabeth coming in.

52:37CBJ Communications: And she had a maximum capacity of 2,500 people, although her birth count was only 2,000.

52:43CBJ Communications: Well, now Carnival Corporation is moving in another ship that's Lord Rakuten at 3100, because of the maximum tenants.

52:51CBJ Communications: 3900.

52:54CBJ Communications: So…

52:55CBJ Communications: You know, and it's not just them, it's also Royal Caribbean. Royal Caribbean has ships that can have up to 5 people in cabin.

53:01CBJ Communications: So we need to think about this, and it's not the fact that we should be putting in actual lengths, but we need to come up with a way to make it more enjoyable for people. That's manageable for us, because otherwise, they're just going to skip us.

53:13CBJ Communications: And same thing with the small cruise seats. I know Simone made a comment about that.

53:17CBJ Communications: Unfortunately, that business isn't doing very good.

53:20CBJ Communications: National Geographic is parking two ships. They sold Sea Line and Sea Boot. Those are gone. Last Veteran Cruises is gone, and that hasn't been replaced. Running a little low on time. Okay, so we need to really think about this, because what they are being replaced with are Explorer 2.

53:34CBJ Communications: They're being replaced with Fitz-Carlton. These are ships under 900 people that are paying them $10,000 a person to come here to see our community and spend money here.

53:43CBJ Communications: That's what we're going to be talking about, is how we have quality tourism, and how we have affordable limits that actually work and make sense.

53:51CBJ Communications: Thank you very much. Are there any questions?

53:53CBJ Communications: Seeing none, thank you for your testimony.

53:55CBJ Communications: Next, I have Robbie Jones.

54:05CBJ Communications: Hi, my name is Robbie James, and I live in Twin Lakes, no worries.

54:10CBJ Communications: Thank you for allowing us the time to talk tonight. I thought it was going to be 2 or 3 minutes, so I can actually talk, kind of slow here instead of rushing through this.

54:19CBJ Communications: So, on October 5th, the Juneau Economic Development Council hosted its annual economic indicator insights event.

54:28CBJ Communications: At this meeting, they presented that Juneau's population is shrinking. During a breakout session, they asked all of us a question.

54:37CBJ Communications: How to make Juneau a place where adults ages 28 to 40, and families with children a more likely place to come and stay.

54:48CBJ Communications: Juneau's whale watching Industry demonstrates how tourism can attract and retain young people, helping keep our community thriving.

54:57CBJ Communications: Many of our management teams came to Juneau for a seasonal job and turned that opportunity into careers, home ownership, and families of their own.

55:08CBJ Communications: Each summer, we welcome new young people who fall in love with Juneau and choose to stay, whether they continue in tourism or pursue other careers in Juneau.

55:20CBJ Communications: We also proudly employ many seasonal and year-round locals.

55:26CBJ Communications: I strongly disagree with the Visitor Industry Task Force recommendation that the current whale-watching status quo is not sustainable, and that future tapering of our industry is suggested. Doing so would reduce many benefits, many of the benefits tourism brings to Juneau and her local family businesses.

55:46CBJ Communications: As the interim chairman of CWAP, we are actively working to address concerns and have solved many. We are committed to working together and with the community to find solutions and improve how our industry operates.

56:00CBJ Communications: Here are examples of continued practices and new guidelines starting in 2027. Number one.

56:07CBJ Communications: We have extended our Statter Harbor no-wake zone by 500 yards. We have plans to help reduce congestion for locals, at the Satter Harbor loading zone.

56:21CBJ Communications: Coughlin Cut is now considered a no-wake zone at all times, and however, most companies have actually agreed to avoid the Coughlin Cut all in all in 2027.

56:33CBJ Communications: AIS will be on all inspected whale-watching vessels.

56:37CBJ Communications: Number of inspected whale watching, we'll have a limit to the number of inspected whale watching vessels around a group of whales.

56:46CBJ Communications: We will continue following Wilson's guidelines, regardless of NOAA funding or program status.

56:54CBJ Communications: And the last one is all… we will have an all-industry captain meeting, training, and individual company captain sign-off.

57:04CBJ Communications: So I agree that involving local scientific experts is important, but the decisions should be based on data and facts, and not opinions.

57:16CBJ Communications: At Gaston Guiding, we operate a citizen science program with a dedicated science team and multiple ongoing studies.

57:24CBJ Communications: Our review of the past four seasons showed that 2026 had our highest number of whale sightings identified, whales identified in a single day, days of bubble net feeding activity, and individual bubble net feeding whales.

57:38CBJ Communications: We also continue to see new calves in Juneau each year, and I'd be happy to share our full report with the Visitor Industry Task Force and anybody on the Assembly if you're interested.

57:51CBJ Communications: As a locally… as a local family-owned business.

57:54CBJ Communications: We want to work together to address community concerns and find solutions. We believe we can manage these issues as an industry without unnecessary government regulation and potential legal implications. Thank you.

58:09CBJ Communications: Thank you very much, Mr. James. Apologies. Anyone have any questions?

58:14CBJ Communications: Seeing none, thank you for your testimony.

58:16CBJ Communications: Since guessing at names has not been the best for me, I have last name, Wolf.

58:21CBJ Communications: Thank you. Please state your name and area town you live in, and you have 5 minutes.

58:31CBJ Communications: My name is Dawn Wolf, and I do… I live in the, Twin Lakes area.

58:38CBJ Communications: I have to apologize, I'm a terrible public speaker, but I have to thank you all for being part of this Visitor Task Force. I can't believe it's been 10 months, I think that's a lot.

58:51CBJ Communications: And I'm cutting out my speech because a few things have already been mentioned, because I do think that there was a miss by not having somebody in the well-watching.

59:01CBJ Communications: Industry at the table, because there's a few things there that I think we could have clarified.

59:07CBJ Communications: So, focusing on your recommendations, number 20 recommends that not leaving the well-watching industry, that we need to change the status quo.

59:19CBJ Communications: And recommends a managing and licensing of the well-watching vessels. I'm not exactly sure what another license

59:30CBJ Communications: Would accomplish, and what exactly it's going to fix.

59:34CBJ Communications: Since…

59:37CBJ Communications: part of the well-watching industry, that means that every vessel that it operates out of Statter Harbor is already licensed. So we're talking about another license.

59:49CBJ Communications: And, you know, why wouldn't we just be dealing with Satter of Harbor? We already have this license, it's called a permit, but what's the difference?

1:00:01CBJ Communications: And, you know, we are charged additional fees, which really goes to the operations and improvements of Statter Harbor, which

1:00:11CBJ Communications: supports the community in a big way. What does this other licensing fees support? Not 100% sure.

1:00:24CBJ Communications: Are you recommending eliminating the passenger for hire, so we have one license? I don't know if I'm recommending that's a good… I'm not clear on all of that.

1:00:36CBJ Communications: The other thing I wanted to mention is that CWAP, Southeast Alaska Well Watching Association, has become significantly more active.

1:00:51CBJ Communications: At first, we sort of formalized together, and we couldn't get everybody on board. Took that long time Kirby remembers with TBMP.

1:01:02CBJ Communications: And, you know, finally, we have all of the operators. It's like, it was herding cats a little bit, but we did it! And,

1:01:11CBJ Communications: it took a while for everybody to agree on everything, but we knew that we just… we didn't give up. You know, we thought, alright, let's keep going. Well, now, this year, we are…

1:01:21CBJ Communications: You know, going to formalize, become an actual nonprofit organization with memberships, and we really do believe that

1:01:32CBJ Communications: Given the jurisdiction, the multiple jurisdictions that the well-watching industry operates under, it would be hard to

1:01:44CBJ Communications: how do you police that? And that the policing of us, we believe.

1:01:51CBJ Communications: It's best by it ourselves, and we do believe in

1:01:55CBJ Communications: like, as Robbie had… I guess I'm going to go back and say a lot of things that he said, but we are willing to do that, and there is one little recommendation in there, which you… I think in number 21, you recommend that you move the buoy

1:02:13CBJ Communications: further for the entire community. I don't agree with that. I think, let the well-watching industry, let us make that individual change. And if it's still… if…

1:02:28CBJ Communications: All the community boats are still making all those big waves.

1:02:33CBJ Communications: to the local… those two docks, then… then move it. I… I don't think you need to do that because of the well-watching industry. We will change. We… we started that at the… in September. It was a little late going on.

1:02:48CBJ Communications: But we… we just changed where our no-wake zone was.

1:02:53CBJ Communications: And it… it seemed to work. Anyway,

1:02:59CBJ Communications: Again, as Robbie points out, we do have a science tour, a citizen science tour, and we do have a lot of experts that are… that work for us. And within there, there was a recommendation that said.

1:03:12CBJ Communications: We need to ask an expert what is the amount of oats that should be around whales. Well, you know… Okay, so, I am going to… just met Brent.

1:03:27CBJ Communications: mentioned that a… yes, the well population is increasing. It's hard to argue against that, and that there have been studies by Dr. Pierce who

1:03:39CBJ Communications: They studied… she studied the hormones during COVID, when there wasn't any well-watching boats, and then in the presence of whales, and there was no… no change. Thank you! Thank you very much, Ms. Wolf. Any questions in the task force? Dana, thank you for your testimony. Next I have Mike Pillen, please.

1:03:59CBJ Communications: Yeah. Fit your name and area town you live in, and you have 5 minutes. I'm Mike Pilling, okfe. Thank you guys for…

1:04:06CBJ Communications: Doing the dirty work.

1:04:08CBJ Communications: Well, appreciate it.

1:04:10CBJ Communications: It's been at it for a long time.

1:04:12CBJ Communications: the first, I'd like this committee to recommend to, City Council,

1:04:21CBJ Communications: that they recommend to Lisa Murkowski and whoever else we have in Congress soon, that they change the rules on the head tax.

1:04:31CBJ Communications: You know, it's a federal thing.

1:04:33CBJ Communications: And I think if… if Juneau, stepped forward and said, We need more than… a few bucks.

1:04:41CBJ Communications: We want to… we want to double that.

1:04:43CBJ Communications: City of Juno has got a huge impact by this $1.6 million.

1:04:48CBJ Communications: And I think if Juno stepped out and asked for our congressional people, to change that law.

1:04:57CBJ Communications: I bet you catch cans, stagway, Bar Harbor.

1:05:04CBJ Communications: everybody would change it, but I think right now, maybe we're gonna have a,

1:05:09CBJ Communications: a congressional situation, but they just might recommend it. I mean, even $5 more per passenger would really help our schools, our city bus.

1:05:20CBJ Communications: We get electric buses, we don't know.

1:05:23CBJ Communications: Right now, we're kind of just fighting to keep Eagle Crest open, and that money's…

1:05:28CBJ Communications: They should give it to us to spend the way we want to, not let the cruise ships decide whether we're going to build a,

1:05:36CBJ Communications: Could… couldn't…

1:05:37CBJ Communications: make a whale statue or not. That should be Juno's money. And this was put together way back in Don Young's day, when we had one or two cruise ships. Things have changed worldwide. They're building, like, 125 cruise ships right now.

1:05:54CBJ Communications: And they're, they're coming here, they're going all over the world.

1:05:56CBJ Communications: And we're not changing the rules on… on the impacts.

1:06:00CBJ Communications: Of our challenge and every child.

1:06:03CBJ Communications: I'd like to know your guys' opinion on what happened in Bar Harbor, Maine. That was kind of a… and that affects us, and I think Laredo, Mexico, last month or two months ago.

1:06:14CBJ Communications: They just put a cap on cruise ships, they didn't want more…

1:06:18CBJ Communications: So anyway, I'd really like you guys to address that, or think about that, to ask the Assembly, to ask Lisa Company. Also, I'd like

1:06:25CBJ Communications: you guys to recommend, Ocean Rangers come back. Dunleavy, that was the first thing he did, was chop that. And, I don't know why, I mean, we weren't paying for that. The cruise ships were paid for that.

1:06:38CBJ Communications: What do we have to hide? Let's bring Ocean Rangers back. I have a really good friend, when he got canned, he was an ocean ranger. He's an engineer.

1:06:48CBJ Communications: We've been conversations with Tim, and

1:06:51CBJ Communications: I think they were doing a pretty good job, and they… he talked about, you know, pipes of water going elsewhere, they seem to get out of town. He came to Juneau a lot.

1:07:00CBJ Communications: So I'd really encourage you guys to bring Ocean Rangers back.

1:07:03CBJ Communications: I'd also like you guys to define, the bill that…

1:07:08CBJ Communications: the docks out of North Douglas. How many ships is that in town? Like, in town? It seems like it's kind of the elephant room.

1:07:17CBJ Communications: Does that mean we get 7 ships a day?

1:07:20CBJ Communications: We're, you know, we're arguing over the size of ships.

1:07:23CBJ Communications: And it seems like we need to save

1:07:26CBJ Communications: Those guys say, well, that's gonna take two ships out of downtown.

1:07:29CBJ Communications: They're gonna go out there, and I don't believe it. I think we're gonna have… Two more ships.

1:07:36CBJ Communications: Let's see… And, obviously, everybody… I was talking about helicopter noise.

1:07:44CBJ Communications: And, and the whale watch boats, because it impacts everybody. And I don't know how…

1:07:52CBJ Communications: We can decrease helicopters.

1:07:56CBJ Communications: There's nowhere in town you can really get out of the helicopter noise. Now, you gotta plan your hikes early in the morning, get up the trail and down the trail before 11 in the morning, and not everybody can do that. Because after 11, especially if you're walking around by the glacier, it's very impactful. And it seems to me the only way you can

1:08:15CBJ Communications: Slow down the helicopter thing or the whale watch thing is numbers. That'd be bringing two more ships in Douglas?

1:08:23CBJ Communications: You know, it's just more numbers.

1:08:26CBJ Communications: My last point is, if,

1:08:29CBJ Communications: the North Douglas, deal happens. I hope you guys don't let them ferry those people into Off Bay. We've got enough traffic in Off Bay. I feel sorry for anybody that lives on North Douglas, they're about to get it.

1:08:45CBJ Communications: And, but Arne Bay…

1:08:48CBJ Communications: It's already packed with a lot. Okay, that's it. We have 30 more seconds if you'd like to wrap up. No, I'm wrapped. Okay, perfect. Any questions?

1:08:57CBJ Communications: Seeing none, thank you for your testimony.

1:09:00CBJ Communications: Then we have our final testifier, Chris Letterman.

1:09:07CBJ Communications: Yeah, so your name and area and town you live in, and you have 5 minutes.

1:09:11CBJ Communications: Make it good you're wrapping up.

1:09:13CBJ Communications: No pressure, right? Good evening, and thank you, Chair Atkinson, as was Mayor Melvin. Members of the Visitor Industry Task Force 2.0.

1:09:27CBJ Communications: My name is Chris Letterman, I live in the Midden Hall Valley. I've lived in the Valley for 31 years, and I'm testifying tonight on behalf of our family business.

1:09:37CBJ Communications: CIS, Alaska Glow Tours, Harbor Mars, Outback Alaska, and Junior Lighthouse Tours.

1:09:43CBJ Communications: One point that I wanted to stress that has been

1:09:48CBJ Communications: I think, come up a couple times. We do employ about 70% generalized, and contribute about, $1.5 million in payroll to the local economy.

1:09:58CBJ Communications: 15 months ago, city leadership, met with some of our… some representatives of our company.

1:10:04CBJ Communications: And, it gave us the feeling that restrictions on whale watching were not being considered.

1:10:12CBJ Communications: And, that we would have a seat at the table if that ever changed.

1:10:18CBJ Communications: Yet throughout this testimony tonight, and the VITF 2.0 process, commercial whale watching has lacked representation on… on your task force.

1:10:30CBJ Communications: And to add to that, we are somewhat alarmed here at the final hours to hear and see some of these recommendations that are coming out around regulation and, potentially putting in a cap or some other kind of permit.

1:10:45CBJ Communications: Recommending a limited entry licensing program and operating permit caps

1:10:51CBJ Communications: as outlined in your Recommendation 20, at an estimated cost of almost $300,000 is kind of putting the policy before, what things we feel. And I would urge, and we urge, that the task force reconsider Recommendation 23,

1:11:09CBJ Communications: committing more CBJ funds to engage local scientists and support research through nonprofit grants. We urge a comprehensive review of all the existing NOAA studies, before calling on more research or rushing to impose restrictive licensing frameworks.

1:11:28CBJ Communications: The next point I wanted to make was targeting the, Statter Harbor with permit caps under Recommendation 20.

1:11:35CBJ Communications: That will not reduce boats on the water. I just want to make sure that that goes on record. City authority ends at the docks, so capping municipal harbor access will simply push the operators to private facilities outside of CBJ control.

1:11:53CBJ Communications: Furthermore, in Recommendation 29, explicitly acknowledged tracking non-Juno-based vessels in local waters.

1:12:02CBJ Communications: Proving that Harbor permit caps will merely pick winners and losers, punish local businesses that have invested in the public infrastructure, and will harm Doxy Harbor's revenues without managing the overall resource.

1:12:16CBJ Communications: Our operators, as the James have spoken tonight, are already trying to make these meaningful voluntary commitments, that align with your Recommendation 21 and TBMP.

1:12:30CBJ Communications: We have more improvements in discussion for the 2027 season, some of which have already been talked about tonight, but I'll hit just a few. A 10-minute loading dock turnaround, extending the no-wait zone, as well as, offering a designated fuel spot for local recreational voters at a fuel box, because we know that's been a… that's been a…

1:12:49CBJ Communications: A friction point, for all of us.

1:12:53CBJ Communications: All of these things we've… we've shared with the mayor, and I want to acknowledge… I want to appreciate… I want to publicly go on record appreciating that she's acknowledged them.

1:13:03CBJ Communications: Meanwhile, it appears that city leadership is seeking a costly regulatory structures.

1:13:09CBJ Communications: while offering little assistance in forcing the rules that are already on the books. And this is an example that we live with in the industry. When non-commercial traffic blocks commercially permitted parking stalls at Brotherhood Bridge.

1:13:24CBJ Communications: We pay the $5 per person, but we receive no support when we call and complain that there are non-commercial vehicles blocking our permitted commercial spots.

1:13:37CBJ Communications: And we're forced to absorb that complaint through the TDMP process.

1:13:46CBJ Communications: Additionally, I just want to, on the topic of permits and fees, our industry pays

1:13:53CBJ Communications: layers of permits and fees already on the exact same gas. About 30 seconds left. Okay, loan zone permits, standard harbor drop-off permits, pasture Bire fees, and escalating per-person fees at points of interest and city parks.

1:14:08CBJ Communications: I think you all know and have heard about the Doxy Harvard Plan to increase their passenger feed by 266%.

1:14:16CBJ Communications: And just know that that is separate from the marine passenger fee, right? These are different fees, and it's just a whole layered structure. So I would just… I would just please, as you go forward. So…

1:14:30CBJ Communications: That's really odd fucking shit to me. Thank you very much, Mr. Letterman. Any questions?

1:14:34CBJ Communications: Seeing none, thank you for your testimony.

1:14:37CBJ Communications: All right, that wraps up all our testifiers. We're gonna go to Director Pierce in a moment for some process things, but I just want to say thank you all for coming tonight and sharing your testimony. We really appreciate you taking the time on your Thursday night.

1:14:52CBJ Communications: If you have any other comments, or if you weren't able to get through everything, feel free to reach out to us through email, or, I suppose talk to us once I let them all go, and we really appreciate the time. Director Pierce, I'll go to you.

1:15:08Alexandra Pierce: Thank you. I just want to make some comments on process. Thank you to everybody who showed up to testify tonight.

1:15:13CBJ Communications: One second, one second, Dr. Pierce your kind of quiet, we're gonna bring you out there.

1:15:18CBJ Communications: Alright, try it on.

1:15:20Alexandra Pierce: Is it better now?

1:15:21CBJ Communications: Yes.

1:15:22Alexandra Pierce: Okay, great. So, thank you for everybody who came out to comment tonight. Appreciate you being engaged in the public process.

1:15:29Alexandra Pierce: And I just want to talk about process briefly. The task force will come back together to, review the draft recommendations based on what you've heard tonight.

1:15:41Alexandra Pierce: on the 12th, that's next week. We are working on… I've been working today on compiling the comments that we received via email already.

1:15:53Alexandra Pierce: And providing a summary of those, to kind of help parse through the large volume of public input that we've received.

1:16:02Alexandra Pierce: We will also do that with the comments that we've received tonight and add those. We'll try to get that out to you tomorrow so that you have some time to review and digest. Of course, staff and the task force are reading every single public comment.

1:16:18Alexandra Pierce: But trying to aggregate all that information, is also important so we can get a kind of holistic view of what we're hearing from the community.

1:16:27Alexandra Pierce: And then the final report is due to be reviewed on December 17th.

1:16:33Alexandra Pierce: For this task force effort. So, again, everybody, thank you so much for coming out. Thank you for… to the task force for your commitment over these… this last year or so of, of hard work, and,

1:16:48Alexandra Pierce: we will see you all on, or at least the task force members and anybody who decides to join, next Thursday.

1:16:57CBJ Communications: All right, thank you very much, Director Pierce. With that, our next meeting is November 12th, 2026, and I will call us adjourned.

1:17:05CBJ Communications: Nope.

1:17:09CBJ Communications: Admirable thing.

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